Bolstering allegations that have rocked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with scandal, a “scathing” new report from the agency’s inspector general (IG) concluded that a Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix generated falsified data to hide treatment delays for veterans seeking medical care. The report also disclosed that the Phoenix VA Health Care System failed to put at least 1,700 patients on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments.   read more

Some Republicans begrudgingly supported the measure, fearing a worse alternative: Labor groups have been collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that calls for raising the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. By pushing through the legislative plan, Republicans effectively thwarted the ballot measure. In addition, studies have shown that having a minimum wage initiative on a ballot drives low-wage voters to the polls. Those people are more likely to support Democratic candidates.   read more

Job creation overall is back to where it was before the Great Recession. But not all types of jobs have returned, at least not in the numbers that existed prior to the economy tanking. The U.S. lost a bevy of middle-class employment opportunities from 2008 to 2010, particularly construction, teaching and clerical positions, according to the study. Many of these jobs have not returned, thanks to a sluggish housing market and cutbacks in government budgets (which impact public school hiring).   read more

While on one hand the federal government goes after companies employing undocumented immigrants, it doesn’t have a problem using some of these same people to fill jobs in its detention centers. These detainees perform a wide variety of tasks at the detention facilities, from preparing and serving food to cleaning floors. Correction officials claim the work is voluntary. However, many have complained that they were coerced into working during their detentions.   read more

Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives claim they have addressed the problems of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) notorious bulk collection of data, made so famous last year by whistleblower Edward Snowden. But the legislation adopted to end this controversial practice contains huge loopholes that could allow the NSA to keep vacuuming up large amounts of Americans’ communications records, all with the blessing of the Obama administration.   read more

The documents show monitoring in 2011 and 2012 by law enforcement agencies around the country, reporting on religious meetings, Christmas caroling and other events. The Boston fusion center was among the most active. It passed along information about a lecture by Noam Chomsky, flash mobs protesting a bank’s lending practices and notably, a yoga class. Much of the information was acquired through social media channels.   read more

Under a settlement reached with the Labor Department, the Marlins will pay $288,290 in back wages and damages to 39 team employees, including clubhouse and office staff. Nearly two dozen clubhouse workers, who staff locker rooms before and after games, were paid $50 a day while working up to 11 hours instead of receiving minimum wage and overtime. In the case of the Giants, the team has twice negotiated deals with the federal government to resolve violations of U.S. wage laws.   read more

Former members of the U.S. Congress and those who failed to win sit on top of nearly $100 million in campaign funds that weren’t spent by Election Day. Some campaign war chests are brimming with money. At least nine former congressional members and candidates have $1 million or more. Former U.S. senator Evan Bayh, out of office three years, still has almost $10 million in surplus campaign cash. That money sits in an investment account accruing thousands of dollars in interest each week.   read more

Liberals and conservatives in the U.S. Senate expressed concerns about David Barron’s selection for the judgeship due to his writing at least one drone-assassination memo believed to be the basis for using drones to target and kill a U.S. citizen in 2011. Opponents threatened to derail the nomination unless Obama agreed to disclose the memos to Senators, which he did. The move apparently worked with liberal critics, as the Senate voted 52 to 43 to advance Barron’s nomination.   read more

By all accounts Attorney General Holder held a straight face when he announced that the indictment of five Chinese military hackers for stealing U.S. corporate secrets. As this administration has been repeatedly criticized for letting the NSA pry into overseas computer systems, the charges were greeted with skepticism, if not laughter from some critics. “This could...open U.S. officials to similar charges [from] other countries," said Professor Sean Lawson.   read more

An Army National Guard soldier has become the first person to receive death benefits following the loss of a same-sex spouse during combat. Staff Sgt. Tracy Dice Johnson will receive benefits dating back to the death of her wife, Staff Sgt. Donna Johnson, who was killed in Afghanistan two years ago. The VA benefits are the same ones provided to heterosexual widows and widowers, marking the first time a surviving same-sex spouse has been treated the same as non-gay individuals.   read more

It has long been assumed in the U.S. that torture was something that went on in other countries. Now, a large portion of the American population fears they will be tortured if arrested in their own country. Of Americans polled, 32% said they were not confident that they would be safe from torture after being arrested in the U.S. Worldwide, 44% of people are worried about the use of torture against them if they were taken into custody by local officials.   read more

Members of the U.S. Congress want to be sure that the NSA will never again use “back doors” to crawl into Americans’ computers. Among the Edward Snowden revelations is the fact that the spy agency had engaged in weakening of encryption programs to facilitate access to computers for its surveillance operations. Now lawmakers hope.to amend the USA Freedom Act to restrict the agency from exploiting vulnerabilities in software to peek into computers.   read more

The FCC has unveiled its proposed regulations that they claim would preserve net neutrality. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler acknowledged that “the potential for there to be some kind of a fast lane available to only a few has many people concerned.” But he said he rejects the concept of the Internet being “divided into haves and have nots.” Wheeler’s assurances were not enough to calm fears that the rules allow for faster streaming of big companies' online content.   read more

The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that people are entitled to have certain information about them removed from search engine results and websites. Executives at the Internet giants were shocked. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales called it “one of the most wide-sweeping internet censorship rulings that I’ve ever seen.” IAPP CEO Trevor Hughes said it will “fundamentally change the landscape...in the field of privacy [and] the information economy generally.”   read more

The U.S. may be a democratic, open society, but it’s got nothing on China, Russia, or even Albania when it comes to letting people know what corporations are up to. In other words, corporate transparency is not America’s strong suit. In fact, it ranks 26th in the world. Margot Williams summed up America’s problems this way: “Here in the U.S., the search for public records, corporate registration and potential litigation is a challenge, even in the era of online access."   read more