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

The bill would allow educators and parents to strike a child up to 10 times on their covered rear end, using hands only. It also permits “reasonable physical force” to restrain a child during the spanking. Bruises that result from this would be allowable under proposed the law. Additionally, the legislation would allow parents to give permission to others to spank their children. In addition to school officials, such people could include caregivers and high school students who are over 18.   read more

A classified document revealed that a U.S. law firm was monitored while representing the government of Indonesia in trade disputes with the U.S. The monitoring was performed by the Australian Signals Directorate, which works closely with the NSA to share intelligence on global threats. A lawyer involved in the trade talks said, “I always wonder if someone is listening, because you would have to be an idiot not to wonder in this day and age."   read more

The Obama administration has been moving aggressively to shift federal agencies closer to a paperless state by embracing new technology options. But this move has angered the companies that produce paper products, which are now fighting to stymie the administration’s plans. Under the cover of a group calling itself Consumers for Paper Options, the paper industry has lobbied members of Congress to roll back some changes implemented in recent years.   read more

The survey, involving 2,200 people and conducted by the National Science Foundation found more than 90% think scientists are “helping to solve challenging problems” and are “dedicated people who work for the good of humanity.” Just over 25% of respondents didn’t know the Earth revolved around the sun. More than half (52%) didn’t know human beings evolved from earlier species of animals.   read more

Many Republicans never liked the idea, but some liberals in New York have now voiced concerns about Common Core. Many of the new critics say the state rushed into testing students on the new standards before new standardized tests were ready—resulting in a two-thirds failure rate. Teachers have said they weren’t trained sufficiently in the new curriculum, or that the proper textbooks and education materials weren’t provided in time.   read more

The researchers concluded in their report that most of the slurs were not aimed at any particular person, and that about half of the time, the language was intended “in a non-offensive, non-abusive manner, to express in-group solidarity or non-derogatory description.” They added that “the racially-prejudiced tweets appear not to be uniform in nature; we suggest that a proportion of such tweets might be described as showing a ‘casual use’ of slurs.”   read more

Being gay or lesbian is a dangerous reality in many parts of the world. To date, at least 77 nations have anti-gay laws. Nearly half of these countries, 38, can be found among Africa’s 54 states. The most recent African country to target homosexuals is Uganda. President Yoweri Museveni announced last week that he would sign legislation making anyone convicted of a first-time homosexual act subject to 14 years in prison.   read more

Peter “PistolPete” Valentin has been sued 28 times since 2006 “on allegations of running slash-and-burn raids that left dozens of lives in ruins while resulting in few criminal convictions,” wrote the N.Y. Daily News reported. Vincent Orsini has been sued 21 times. But he’s cost the city more in settlements, $1.09 million, compared with $884,000 for cases involving Valentin. A total of 55 NYPD personnel were named as defendants in at least 10 lawsuits apiece over the past decade.   read more

The allegations included one instance in which a prosecutor told a mother whose five-year-old daughter had been assaulted by an adolescent that “boys will be boys.” Another case involved a woman who was raped, but prosecutors decided not to pursue charges, telling the victim, “All you want is revenge.” County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg had argued in court that the DOJ had no jurisdiction to investigate his office.   read more

Judge James Wynn wrote for the circuit court that the legislature’s action constituted “blatant viewpoint discrimination squarely at odds with the First Amendment.” He also noted that the state never denied that it was engaging in discrimination by allowing only “Choose Life” plates. “Instead, North Carolina contends that it was free to discriminate based on viewpoint because the license plate speech at issue was solely its own,” Wynn wrote.   read more

With just three-quarters of the membership it had at its peak in 1979, the United Auto Workers (UAW) hoped to start turning things around by unionizing an auto plant in the South for the first time. But despite no opposition from Volkswagen (VW), the factory’s owner, employees in the Tennessee plant rejected the UAW’s effort to join the union. In a closely watched election, workers voted against becoming part of UAW, 712 to 626.   read more

Almost half of immigrants who fight deportation win their cases, according to a recent study. This is a marked improvement from their success rate only five years ago, and denotes the lowest level of deportations since regular tracking began two decades ago. The Transactional Records Clearinghouse at Syracuse University said immigrants have won 49.7% of the cases in the 2014 fiscal year, which began in October. In 2009, immigrants won only 23.8% of the time.   read more

USAID quickly canceled a request for proposals for photographers to present “positive images” of the agency’s work in Afghanistan. USAID had hoped to use social media to counteract what it said were negative images of the agency’s work. “USAID should instead be focusing on accomplishing mission goals, not glossy propaganda,” said POGO's Scott Amey. “Waste, fraud, and poor performance have already resulted in billions being lost, let’s not throw additional money down the drain.”   read more

A new legal debate has arisen over the use of technology that can record license plate information. On one side, privacy advocates want laws to prevent the technology from infringing on individuals’ privacy rights. On the other side, producers of the readers claim their free-speech rights are being restricted by such laws. “It’s one thing to take a photo,” Sen. Todd Weiler said. “It’s another to take photos every 80th of a millisecond, and then store that data...”   read more

A Pakistani anti-drone activist who was released more than a week after being kidnapped says he was tortured and interrogated about his work on drone strikes during his detention. The action came as Kareem Khan was preparing to leave Pakistan to testify before German, Dutch, and British parliamentarians about drone strikes. Khan has taken legal action against former Islamabad CIA station chief Jonathan Banks and the government of Pakistan over their roles in drone strikes.   read more

Wright Allen was clear in her pronouncement that courts must act to ensure civil rights for all. “Notwithstanding the wisdom usually residing within proper deference to state authorities regarding domestic relations, judicial vigilance is a steady beacon searching for an ever-more perfect justice and truer freedoms for our country’s citizens,” she wrote.   read more