President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

Bower was later informed of her positive drug result, which was used by a LCCYS caseworker to remove the baby from her mother—even though the child tested negative for opiates. Bower denied using any drugs, and claimed the Supreme Pasta dressing she ate before going into labor contained poppy seeds. Mother and child were kept apart for 75 days, and after being reunited, Bower sued LCCYS.   read more

The common link among the 10 counties is frustration with the Democratic-controlled legislature, which has been accused of ignoring the concerns of northern Coloradoans on issues like gun control, oil and gas drilling and renewable energy. Liberals have made fun of the secession talk, saying the new state could be called “Weldistan” or “Fracktopia.”   read more

As the storage capacity of cell phones rises, that position could become harder to defend,” wrote Timothy Lee of The Washington Post. “Our smart phones increasingly contain everything about our digital lives: our e-mails, text messages, photographs, browser histories and more. It would be troubling if the police had the power to get all that information with no warrant merely by arresting a suspect.”   read more

Fewer personnel are volunteering because drone pilots lack opportunities for promotion to higher ranks. Also, the military hasn’t done enough to cultivate respect within its ranks for these non-traditional pilots. The same reasons explain why the dropout rate for drone operators is three times higher than that for traditional pilots.   read more

The Interior letter states that Keystone XL could cause displacement of species, “increased predation rates and predator travel lanes,” more collisions between wildlife and automobiles and power lines, “increased wildfire risk … and increase in poaching,” as well as other problems. Shortly after the State Department released its draft report in March, the EPA criticized the assessment, saying it did not account for how the project might affect underground water supplies.   read more

The two lawmakers estimate that a $50-per-ounce tax could raise up to $20 billion annually for the government. This amount would exceed what the treasury receives through taxes on alcohol ($7.9 billion) and tobacco ($15 billion), they claim. Another House bill (the Small Business Tax Equity Act) would allow the Internal Revenue Service to provide breaks on federal income taxes for marijuana businesses.   read more

Rusbridger told the BBC News that “given that there were other copies and we could work out of America, which has better laws to protect journalists, I saw no reason not to destroy this material ourselves rather than hand it back to the government.” He also said that there is little point in fighting the government in court.   read more

From 1776 to 2011, Youngstown did not record a single earthquake. But from January 2011 to February 2012, 109 tremors were recorded, according to research (pdf) published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. The strongest quake, on December 31, 2011, had a magnitude of 3.9. What changed? In December 2010, a well was dug in neighboring Pennsylvania to pump wastewater produced by fracking.   read more

“The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court,” U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said in a written statement to The Washington Post. “The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders.”   read more

The GAO said Medicare beneficiaries often don’t know that their doctors stand to profit from the use of radiation therapy. Urologists “referred a substantially higher percentage of their prostate cancer patients” to radiation therapy when they owned the equipment (linear accelerators) or had financial ties to those who provided the treatment, the report said.   read more

For the first time in about 30 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had to withdraw from the National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs because it could not afford the travel costs. Meanwhile, representatives from Europe and Asia attended the event. Pentagon officials grounded by air travel cuts have not been able to use video conferencing as a substitute due to lack of online security.   read more

Officials with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which oversees the food inspection system, say government inspectors were unable to use the computer system for two days earlier this month (August 8-9). This led to meat at 6,500 plants going out to stores, restaurants and other locations before it could be checked for E. coli bacteria and other contaminants that can cause food poisoning.   read more

Created in 2007 following a recommendation by the 9/11 Commission, PCLOB has done little if anything for six years. Finally, though, PCLOB has its first-ever executive director, Sharon Bradford Franklin. With Franklin and others in place, the board finally held a public hearing (on July 9) to discuss the NSA’s surveillance programs exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden.   read more

Since the creation of the post in 1989, Americans’ attitudes towards marijuana have changed, with a majority in recent polls showing support for legalizing it. Dissolving the Office of National Drug Control Policy would also save the government money, considering its annual budget is around $300 million. Pro-legalization proponents were frustrated with Kerlikowske, a former police chief of Seattle, who refused to alter his tough stance on keeping marijuana illegal.   read more

Included with the units and pens are air conditioners to provide cool air for piglets that eventually will be slaughtered as part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) agribusiness program. The Texas Civil Rights Project’s Prisoners’ Rights Program has documented fourteen cases in which prisoners died of heat stroke between 2007 and 2012.   read more

In a new Census Bureau report, the government calculated that 58.2% of U.S. residents age five and older who speak a language other than English at home speak English “very well” and another 19.4% speak English “well.”   read more