Not all college prep companies are playing by the rules. In their investigative series for Reuters, a team of reporters found that foreign companies are increasingly helping students game the U.S. college application process. Some companies have leaked questions from college entrance exams to their students before they take the test. Others have gone so far as to ghostwrite entire college applications and complete coursework for students when they arrive on campus.   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

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

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 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

The study is the first to assess soda drinking since the tax went into effect. And its results are consistent with research from Mexico, which passed a nationwide soda tax in 2014. When Berkeley passed its soda tax, it stood alone among cities in the U.S. for embracing the policy. But that has changed: Philadelphia passed a soda tax this year, and several other cities are putting similar taxes on the ballot this fall. Among them are two of Berkeley’s neighbors, Oakland and San Francisco.   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

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

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

Every week in immigration courts around the country, thousands of children act as their own lawyers, pleading for asylum or other type of relief in a legal system they do not understand. Suspected killers, kidnappers and others facing federal felony charges, no matter their ages, are entitled to court-appointed lawyers if they cannot afford them. But children accused of violating immigration laws, a civil offense, do not have the same right.   read more

For both presidents Bush and Obama, it has meant saying yes to any initiative that could be sold as plausible protection against a future attack. This approach has remained in place even as those who commit acts of terrorism have shifted in recent years. Despite the billions wasted on homeland defense, no one ever figured out how to detect bio-attacks. BioWatch, which was obsolete the day it was put into use, produced 149 false alarms by 2014, none of which were linked to an attack or threat.   read more

Paul Manafort and deputy Rick Gates never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law. The lobbying included attempts to gain positive press coverage of Ukrainian officials in the U.S. press and to undercut American public sympathy for the imprisoned rival of Ukraine's then-president. European and American leaders were then pressuring Ukraine to free her. Manafort and Gates' activities carry outsized importance, since they have steered Trump's campaign since April.   read more

The tests are more likely to have incorrect results in blacks than in whites. The study is likely to have implications for other minorities and diseases, including cancer. Researchers found that blacks are more likely to be told mistakenly that they are at risk. The misdiagnosis can have big repercussions. There is the emotional stress, plus time and expense of medical follow-up. Young people may be told to drop out of sports and told to have devices surgically implanted in their chests.   read more

Climate change is never going to announce itself by name. But this is what we should expect it to look like. That is what many scientists, analysts and activists are saying after heavy rains in southern Louisiana have killed at least 10 people and forced tens of thousands of residents from their homes. That increase in heavy rainfall and the resultant flooding “is consistent with what we expect to see in the future if you look at climate models,” said NCEI's David Easterling.   read more

When hairstylist Chaz Dean pitched his hair care products, he sold millions. But his formula got an unexpected result: itching, rashes, even hair loss. More than 21,000 complaints have been lodged, placing him at the center of a fierce debate over the government’s power to ensure the safety of a cosmetics industry with about $50 billion in annual sales. The fight has spilled into he beauty products industry, and each side has its champions in Congress.   read more