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 latest news on suicides in the U.S. Army was both promising and discouraging, as the number of suicides among active-duty personnel went down, but those involving National Guard and Army Reserves went up. Overall, the total number of Army suicides declined from 325 in 2012 to 301 in 2013, representing the first reduction in more than a decade. But the good news was diminished by the fact that the number of suicides in the Guard and Reserves increased from 140 in 2012 to 151 in 2013.   read more

The Postal Service continues to lose money by the billions, and no one in Washington has figured out a solution to the problem. But a new—or rather old—idea has surfaced that could receive consideration by policymakers: Turn the Postal Service back into a bank. The Post Office once operated as a bank by offering low-interest savings accounts. This service lasted from 1911 to 1967, and the Inspector General for the Postal Service thinks it might be time to offer financial services again.   read more

The release of this information “creates some good headlines for tech companies on the defense in the wake of the NSA leaks,” wrote the Post's Andrea Peterson. “But that's all transparency reports produced by tech companies are about: good PR. They don't represent a meaningful way to measure the true scope of governments' access to private data.” “Congress should require the government to publish basic information about the full extent of its surveillance,” said ACLU's Alex Abdo.   read more

The Republican Party is raising money for congressional races by putting up websites that pretend to represent Democratic candidates and that accept contributions that will go toward defeating the very same Democrats. In Florida, the National Republican Congressional Committee created a website that gave the appearance of backing Democrat Alex Sink for Congress. But a closer examination revealed contributions made through the site would “help defeat Alex Sink and candidates like her.”   read more

A record number of wrongly convicted people were set free last year in the United States, according to a new report by a group that tracks exonerations. The National Registry of Exonerations said 87 prisoners were exonerated in 2013, the highest ever totaled. About two-thirds of the 87 exonerations involved rape and/or murder convictions. Many of the overturned convictions were a result of false confessions coming to light or the discovery that no crime was actually committed.   read more

The death of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has elevated the issue of heroin addiction and its fatal consequences in the United States, where use of the narcotic has increased significantly in recent years. Nationally, almost 670,000 Americans over the age of 12 used heroin in 2012—an increase of nearly 300,000 people, compared to the number of users in 2007.   read more

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has again demonstrated that a military partnership with the United States beyond this year may not continue. After stalling for months on a new security agreement, and falsely blaming American forces for recent civilian deaths, Karzai has now been exposed for conducting secret talks with the Taliban without any involvement from Washington. The latest move by Karzai has only further eroded a strained relationship with the U.S.   read more

Dissatisfied with President Barack Obama’s reforms for the NSA and Congress’ lack of progress on the same front, state lawmakers across the country are introducing legislation to limit the spy agency’s snooping on Americans. To date, a dozen states ranging from Alaska to Mississippi are considering bills to limit their state’s involvement with NSA surveillance programs.   read more

Being poor can be very costly, despite what conservatives say about low-income people having it easy because of government programs. Poverty is something affecting more Americans these days. At least 15% of the country lives in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That translates into more than 46 million people. Half the population is categorized as “near poverty” and about three-fourths live paycheck to paycheck.   read more

The rate that American women are having abortions has reached its lowest level since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the early 1970s. Fewer than 17 abortions for every 1,000 women were recorded in 2011, the most recent year for which figures are available, according a paper (pdf) published by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. That rate was only slightly higher than the one in 1973, when abortion became legal in the U.S.   read more

Pregnant women living near natural gas wells face a higher risk of giving birth to children with neurological and heart defects, a new study shows. Specifically, babies born to mothers in areas with many wells (more than 125 per mile) were more than twice as likely to have spinal or brain defects—and had a 38% greater risk of congenital heart defects—than those living with no wells within 10 miles. Both types of birth defects are considered fairly rare.   read more

HealthCare.gov may be working better, but it still has some serious problems that are causing headaches for tens of thousands of Americans who tried to sign up for insurance. At least 22,000 individuals experienced errors while choosing a health plan, and these Americans contend they were charged too much for their insurance, were given the wrong coverage, or were denied coverage altogether.   read more

As Americans in the economic middle struggle to keep up, many businesses have decided to focus on the demands of the wealthy. But retailers and restaurants that have long catered to the middle class are fading because middle-earners have so little disposal income these days. Many companies are filing for bankruptcy or closing their doors because they cater to the middle class. These include Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants, Sears, J.C. Penney, and Loehmann’s.   read more

Congressional aides in the U.S. House are supposed to wait at least one year after quitting their jobs to become lobbyists or accept other private sector jobs that utilize their Capitol Hill experience. But many former staffers avoid this restriction by exploiting loopholes in federal rules. About 1,650 congressional aides have become lobbyists within a year of leaving Capitol Hill. At least half of them were able to do so without any restrictions.   read more

More than 2,200 people have been killed by U.S. drones operating in Pakistan since 2006, according to a report obtained by the U.K.-based group The Bureau for Investigative Journalism. The document, compiled by the Pakistani government, lists the date and time of each strike, the number of people killed and injured in each attack and, in some cases, the names of the victims. The Bureau redacted many of the names to protect their identities.   read more

How successful you think Obamacare is might depend on the state in which you live. In states controlled by Democrats, more than twice the percentage of eligible people are enrolled in Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance programs than in states controlled by Republicans, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study reported in the National Journal.   read more