Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

"We never had any idea we were being recorded," said public defender Cardarella. "This has had a chilling effect." A federal judge said the recordings might have violated the Sixth Amendment rights of hundreds of inmates and ordered them stopped. Kansas Public Defender Melody Brannon called the intrusion into attorney-client privilege "unprecedented." "We couldn't find anything even comparable to the degree of invasion and misconduct by the government that is before the court," she said.   read more

Record visitor numbers have created a sometimes dangerous frenzy, with selfie-taking tourists routinely breaking park rules and getting too close to Yellowstone's storied elk herds, grizzly bears, wolves and bison. Major parks are grappling with illegal camping, vandalism, theft of resources, wildlife harassment and other visitor misbehavior. In July alone, law enforcement rangers handled more than 11,000 incidents at the 10 most visited national parks.   read more

The curb on new student enrollment at ITT, which has been under heightened financial scrutiny from the department since 2014, is just the latest move in a long-running campaign to halt deceptive advertising, illegal recruitment practices and other abuses by career training and other for-profit educational institutions. “People are defaulting at a rate of two per minute, 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Nassirian said. “The vast majority [of students] are victims, not deadbeats.”   read more

Bee expert Marla Spivak said the governor's order "puts Minnesota miles ahead of all the other states in our nation. ... Some may think that these actions go too far, but I honestly don't know a farmer, a nursery operator, a grower, a pesticide applicator that wants to kill a bee or monarch while they're controlling their crop pests." Said Gov. Dayton: "We're not trying to ban anybody's practices or businesses. but there's a lot more we can do...to protect the pollinators."   read more

Even before the latest incidents, Cook had many misadventures. He got bitten by an alligator that he "accidentally" caught while fishing. And he was bitten by his friend's Burmese python, which he was trying to feed. "It's been a rough four years," he said. "Maybe the higher up ... is trying to get your attention that maybe something is going wrong. Or maybe I've simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time my whole life." He is unemployed because the company fired him due to his absences.   read more

Cars that wirelessly talk to each other are finally ready for the road, creating the potential to dramatically reduce traffic deaths. The government and auto industry have a decade and more than $1 billion researching V2V technology. "We're losing 35,000 people every year (to traffic crashes)," said GM lobbyist Lightsey. "This technology has the power to dramatically reduce that. To me, the ability of somebody to download movies or search the internet or whatever should be secondary to that."   read more

"Historically, doctors and therapists were held in high regard and protected in general," said Spero. "And so to start bringing them into the criminal system, there's a lot of resistance." Agencies may even pull the plug on their investigation if the doctor agrees to step aside. That means any evidence of violations is hidden from the public. Regulators can also discipline a doctor without ever considering whether his violations could be criminal.   read more

Parker says the app has imported profiles of tens of thousands of people without their consent and exploits their identities for profit. An article reports that the game "commoditizes users without their knowledge" and "crafts a potential opening for harassment" because people who "own" others' profiles can rename them. Parker cites an interview with the app's founder, Chen, in which he "admits the game wouldn't work if he had to obtain consent from each user."   read more

Regulators are considering a cap of 60, 65 or 68 mph. Whatever the speed limit, drivers would be physically prevented from exceeding it. The government said capping speeds for new large vehicles will reduce the 1,115 fatal crashes involving heavy trucks that occur each year and save $1 billion in fuel costs. While the news is welcomed by some safety advocates, many truckers said such changes could lead to dangerous scenarios where they are traveling at much lower speeds than everyone else.   read more

Holzhall Richard was sent to Kabul, Afghanistan in 2006 as director of counter-narcotics, law enforcement and rule of law programs there. After that assignment, she took time to earn an M.S. at the National War College in 2008. She began her ambassadorial career in a bit of limbo. Lebanon had no president when she began her tenure and as such could officially be only chargé d’affaires until she could present her credentials to the head of state.   read more

The move is one of many piecemeal efforts by the Obama administration to expand American immigration policies without action from Congress. Entrepreneurs in any industry would be eligible to apply, but the new rule would be especially significant for the tech field. Creating an immigration route for startup founders has been one of Silicon Valley’s political priorities. “I think it will have major impact on U.S. entrepreneurship, and potentially on the broader economy," said Patrick Collison.   read more

The ruling was the first judicial rebuke of a statute that has been condemned as discriminatory and, with lawsuit after lawsuit, has deepened the national debate about transgender rights. His ruling is a milestone victory for critics of the measure, and a setback to many Republican leaders in North Carolina who have championed the statute. “Today is a great day for me, and hopefully this is a start to chipping away at the injustice of H.B. 2,” said Carcaño, a transgender plaintiff in the case.   read more

The American Egg Board allegedly increasingly funded pro-egg research on dietary cholesterol over the last 20 years. In 2013, it funded 92% of studies on dietary cholesterol. The Physicians Committee claims that the Egg Nutrition Center nominated seven people to the dietary guidance committee, including one who failed to disclose she received funds from the Egg Board for "the sole purpose of overturning defendants' recommended limits on dietary cholesterol intake."   read more

The man perhaps most famous for pharmaceutical price-gouging, Martin Shkreli, called the drug's makers "vultures." Sens. Charles Grassley and Richard Blumenthal demanded answers from Mylan CEO Heather Bresch. Sen. Hillary Clinton blasted the price of EpiPens as "outrageous," and Sen. Amy Klobuchar called for an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. And now, on Tuesday, six consumers from across the country brought the issue to court — filing suit against Mylan in Detroit, Michigan.   read more

She joined the State Department in 1992 after serving as a trade policy assistant in the International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce. Early assignments included postings in Bonn and Berlin, Germany. From 2002 to 2004, Elder was cultural affairs officer in the embassy in Budapest, Hungary. She began a stint in Washington in 2005 as senior watch officer in the State Department operations center.   read more

The attorneys accuse the private prison firm of sealing documents where no genuine security concern exists in order to protect itself from embarrassment, violating the public's right to access court proceedings. "The reason for it is probably to keep it out of the public press," said Yarbrough. "That can sometimes be legitimate and can sometimes be because the company doesn't want their dirty laundry aired." Said Friedman: "They disclose as little information as they can get away with."   read more