In an attempt to end the war caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. President Donald Trump has offered to return Alaska to Russia in exchange for Russia pulling its troops from Eastern Ukraine. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said he would agree to the proposal if Trump also returned Fort Ross and the Russian River in California, Russia sold Fort Ross to Mexican citizen John Sutter in 1841.   read more

Dick Faulkner was part of a World War II bomber crew headed for factories supplying the Nazi war machine. But their plane, “Berlin Playboy,” encountered German antiaircraft fire. Another B-17 flew straight into the Playboy, slicing it in half. Faulkner managed to jump out of the crippled aircraft and deploy his malfunctioning parachute. He was the only crew member who made it out alive.   read more

Authorities in Mexico say they have killed Nazario Moreno, leader of a notorious drug cartel for the second time. That’s right, the second time. Moreno, head of the Knights Templar, was reportedly killed by police in a shootout back in 2010. But his body was never recovered following the incident. The rumors of his survival fueled a perception of him as a mythical, legendary figure. Mexican officials now admit that Moreno wasn’t killed four years ago. But they say he is dead now.   read more

To export natural gas, companies first have to convert it into a liquid to facilitate transporting it. Once it becomes Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), it can be loaded onto special tankers and shipped across the Atlantic (or the Pacific. But once it gets delivered to some far-flung port, LNG has to be reconverted into a gas to make it usable. That means the country receiving American LNG exports has to have a regasification plant. Ukraine currently has zero regasification terminals.   read more

The committee completed the report in 2012, but submitted the report to the CIA for vetting. Since then, the report has been in limbo with none of it available to the public. But committee members have said it discussed how CIA personnel misled Congress and the Bush administration about the techniques it was using to interrogate prisoners. It also shows, according to committee members, that the harsh techniques did not result in the information that led to the capture of Osama bin Laden in 2011.   read more

A study by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) associates a 5.7-magnitude earthquake in Oklahoma—the most powerful in the state’s history—with the practice of injecting wastewater from fracking into the earth’s crust. The quake occurred on November 6, 2011, near Prague, Oklahoma.   read more

U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama have all contended that the treaty, which forbids imprisonment without trial and arbitrary killings, among other abuses, does not apply to actions taken outside the United States. This interpretation has allowed these presidents to violate anti-torture and other provisions by holding prisoners outside the United States, including at Guantánamo Bay and at “black sites” around the world.   read more

The Kansas Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the state’s method for funding schools created too many disparities between districts and must be modified. The state had cut payments to less-wealthy districts during the recent recession. Restoring that money will be difficult, thanks to massive tax cuts enacted by the state’s Republican governor, Sam Brownback, and its legislature.   read more

Many teens aren’t aware that hookah pens and e-cigarettes are often the same thing. Both devices use a fluid that contains flavor. With devices marketed as e-cigarettes, the fluid also contains nicotine. But the fluid used in hookah pens and vape pipes, which comes in flavors such as bubble gum and chocolate, often contains nicotine as well.   read more

Because the military did not recognize PTSD until years after the conflict ended, many veterans were denied government benefits and other opportunities had they received a discharge for medical reasons—something many veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who suffer from PTSD now receive.   read more

In states where medical marijuana has been legal, pot has been sold by cooperatives and small businesses. But with the legalization of marijuana for recreational use in Colorado and Washington, can the corporatization of the marijuana business be far behind? The state of Washington is mulling regulations that would virtually eliminate cooperatives and the dispensaries that are now giving advice with the marijuana they sell.   read more

With revenue drying up, municipalities have had to invent new ways to bring in funds to their coffers. A Florida city might win the prize for creativity, installing a red-light camera at an intersection next to a hospital, targeting those who are on their way to the emergency room.   read more

Liew and Maegerle, along with three other individuals, stole chemical manufacturer DuPont’s recipe for titanium dioxide, a widely used chemical responsible for $17 billion annually in sales. Titanium dioxide is a whitening agent that is used in products ranging from paints and plastics to toothpaste, sunscreen and cosmetics to the insides of Oreo cookies, the “M”s on M&M candies and the honey mustard sauce served at McDonald’s and Wendy’s. On food labels it often goes by the name “E171.”   read more

Scientists say they have found a way to cure newborn babies infected with HIV. In March 2013, doctors reported that a child was cured of HIV following an aggressive drug treatment implemented just 30 hours after birth. Some experts were skeptical, waiting to see if the experiment could be successfully repeated elsewhere. It was, this time in Long Beach, California Dr. Anthony Fauci said the two cases “could lead to major changes” in the treatment of children born with HIV.   read more

The power plants, transmission systems and other facets of the U.S. electricity grid have become popular targets of hackers, putting at risk America’s ability to keep everything that needs power up and running. Last year alone more than 150 cyber attacks were unleashed on the energy sector, according to a new report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. The loss of power means businesses come to a stop, transportation systems shut down and financial institutions cease to facilitate commerce.   read more

The Obama administration is backing a corporate polluter in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that has implications for U.S. Marines and their families exposed to contaminated water. CTS Corporation is trying to avoid liability for pollution it caused. A victory for CTS would represent a defeat for the Lejeune parties, and the Obama administration—despite the president’s professed support for the environment and veterans—seems just fine with that outcome.   read more

The Justice Department is going after Sprint in federal court claiming the telecommunications company overcharged law enforcement agencies for wiretapping costs. It says Sprint inflated its bills to the FBI, DEA and other agencies by 58%--overcharging by $21 million--causing "significant loss to the government’s limited resources.” It claims Sprint tried to get away the overbilling by disguising it as other spying costs. Sprint denies the allegations.   read more