Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more

The analysis identified at least 2,300 doctors who received industry payments between Aug. 2013 and Dec. 2015 despite histories of misconduct. Hundreds of doctors were disciplined for severe offenses, including providing poor care, inappropriately prescribing medications, bilking insurance programs, even sexual misconduct. At least 40 physicians had their licenses revoked, in most cases permanently. More than 180 had their licenses restricted. Almost 250 were placed on probation.   read more

The Texas RR Commission has been reluctant to acknowledge any connection between drilling and earthquakes, despite the conclusions of scientists in other states. But the EPA said: "In light of findings from several researchers, its own analysis of some cases, and the fact that earthquakes in some areas diminished following shut-in or reduced injection volume in targeted wells, EPA believes there is significant possibility that North Texas earthquake activity is associated with disposal wells."   read more

The report said NYPD's Intelligence Bureau regularly let deadlines pass before asking to extend investigations into political activity, and often failed to explain the roles of undercover officers, as required. ACLU's Lieberman said they stood by “allegations that there were often no valid reasons for the NYPD to open or extend investigations of American Muslims." She said the surveillance "was highly irregular [and] operated in a black box..."   read more

Texas college students will carry concealed guns into classes when the fall semester begins Wednesday, as a federal judge refused three professors' request to keep concealed handguns out of their classrooms. The professors claimed the law was unconstitutionally vague, violated their academic freedom and due process, and could endanger people in their classrooms. "We will continue to fight for lethal weapon-free learning environments at U.T. and in the state of Texas," said Prof. Carter.   read more

Dismissing the Democratic Party and minority voters' disenfranchisement claims, the court upheld Ohio's elimination of a week of early voting. Critics claimed Republicans placed an undue burden on black voters when they passed Senate Bill 238 and eliminated early voting in 2014. "Both the [evidence and testimony] and the substantial support found in the record stand in opposition to the majority opinion's blithe assertion 'that it's easy to vote in Ohio,'" Judge Stanch wrote in her dissent.   read more

A federal judge in Texas has blocked the Obama administration’s order that requires public schools to let transgender students use the bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity. In a temporary injunction signed Sunday, U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled that the federal education law known as Title IX “is not ambiguous” about sex being defined as “the biological and anatomical differences between male and female students as determined at their birth.”   read more

A defiant Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Monday that he again restored the voting rights of about 13,000 felons who served their time after his previous attempt was thwarted by Republican lawmakers and the state Supreme Court. Virginia's highest court ruled in July that governors cannot restore rights en masse, but must consider each offender on a case-by-case basis.   read more

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson has an idea for making colleges cheaper — ditch the instructors and start playing online videos for students. "Why do you have to keep paying different lecturers to teach the same course? You get one solid lecturer and put it up online," Johnson said.   read more

The drier, warmer autumn weather that's becoming more common due to climate change may extend summer smog well into the fall in the Southeastern U.S. in the years ahead, according to a study published on Monday. Research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences also suggests a culprit for the smog that many people might not expect: It's the lush woodlands that give much of the South a lovely green canopy.   read more

Two weeks ago, members of the Dakota, Lakota and Yankton Sioux set up tipis in camps on a tributary of the Missouri River to fight a crude oil pipeline they fear will poison the Missouri River. For the moment, they have stood off the pipeline company and the Army Corps of Engineers. Two hearings are set in North Dakota Federal Court this week: on Wednesday, the court will consider the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's July 27 lawsuit against the Army Corps of Engineers.   read more

African-American women earned gold medals in 15 events (including participation in team sports) at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. If they had been a nation, they would have been in sixth place. This despite with a population of about 19.6 million, they would be only the 67th most populous nation in the world.   read more

The nation’s oldest and newest black civil rights organizations are calling for a moratorium on charter schools. In separate conventions over the past month, the NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives passed resolutions declaring that charter schools have exacerbated segregation. They argue that the closing of traditional schools as students migrate to charters has disproportionately disrupted black communities.   read more

An investigation by The New York Times into the financial maze of Trump’s real estate holdings in the United States reveals that companies he owns have at least $650 million in debt — twice the amount than can be gleaned from public filings he has made as part of his bid for the White House. The Times’ inquiry also found that Trump’s fortunes depend deeply on a wide array of financial backers, including one he has cited in attacks during his campaign.   read more

New York prosecutors attempting to shore up a case against an accused baby killer have subpoenaed a reporter the suspect spoke to. The action will test the state’s press shielding law, which tends to side more heavily with confidential sourcing versus named sourcing. “This is all a show to make it look like the police have credibility and are not the thugs they are when they are doing these interrogations,” attorney Michael Croce said.   read more

New Illinois rules, signed by Gov. Bruce Rauner this month, extend sexual harassment protections as well as minimum-wage pay and a guaranteed one day off in a seven-day work week to the domestic workforce, which is mostly female and immigrant heavy. Six other states have similar laws, but Illinois is now the first in the Midwest and advocates say they hope to expand their efforts into the southern states.   read more

Until recently, only nonprofits were allowed to run programs like these. But a year ago, the government flipped the switch, opening the program to for-profit companies as well, ending one of the last remaining holdouts to commercialism in health care. The hope is that the profit motive will expand the services faster. Hanging over all the promise, though, is the question of whether for-profit companies are well-suited to this line of work, long the province of nonprofit do-gooders.   read more