For the majority, Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote: “The Act simply informs physicians that inquiring about a private matter irrelevant to medical care isn’t part of the practice of good medicine and that...a physician may face discipline for [doing that].” Judge Charles Wilson dissented, saying “a gag order that prevents doctors from even asking... about firearms” is unacceptable. Doctors must have the discretion to decide when gun conversations are relevant, he added.   read more

For the second consecutive month, a major social media website has admitted to manipulating its users, all in the name of Internet experimentation. In June, it was Facebook, which said it had deliberately changed its news feed to 700,000 people to gauge their emotional response. Users did not respond well to the news. Now, it’s the popular dating site OKCupid, which revealed that it had conducted experiments on its members.   read more

Tens of thousands of federal workers with security clearances owe millions in back taxes, putting the information at their disposal or the facilities in which they work at risk. That raised new concerns about what kind of job is being done to vet workers with security clearances in the wake of the NSA disclosures and the Navy Yard shooting affair. "Federal tax cheats with security clearances could unnecessarily put our nation’s classified information at risk," said Sen. Tom Coburn.   read more

There has been a decline in the number of women in the U.S. workforce, and a new study suggests it might be a result of this country’s backward maternity leave policies. The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently reported a small reduction in women who are working or who want to work, while pointing out that the U.S. is the only developed nation not to adopt laws such as paid family leave and subsidized child care.   read more

One retailer has been aggressively going after members of the U.S. military who have fallen prey to its collection tactics. USA Discounters has been described as “ruthless” in suing those who fall behind on payments on overpriced goods. Military personnel are supposed to be shielded from such litigation. But nothing prevents a company like USA Discounters from choosing where to file lawsuits. Often, that means traveling across country or the world to appear in court.   read more

Americans have been threatened by private security at hospitals for simply trying to take a family photo and police have been thwarted in investigations of alleged sexual assaults in nursing homes, all in the name of the HIPPA patient privacy law. People complain that HIPPA was cited as the reason they were denied access to their medical records. Even the VA has tried to hide behind HIPPA while going after whistleblowers who exposed violations within the agency.   read more

The children’s ordeal once inside the U.S. can involve being loaded onto planes and flown back and forth across the states while federal officials struggle to manage the enormous influx from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. “Frequently, children are being apprehended in the border states where their families live and flown thousands of miles to shelters and detention facilities, only to be flown back to the border states where their U.S. journeys started,” wrote Manuel Roig-Franzia.   read more

It’s easy to see the effects the prolonged drought in the Western U.S. is having on surface water supplies: many reservoirs have taken on a striped appearance from the difference between normal levels and the much lower levels now. But water supplies are also drying up in a place that’s not as obvious and can have more severe consequences. The groundwater levels in the Colorado River Basin, which covers parts of multiple states, have fallen faster than they can be replenished.   read more

Missouri residents may soon be able to say “Show me a warrant” when asked by law enforcement to produce their electronic devices. Both houses of the state’s legislature voted to put a proposed Amendment 9 on the ballot that would ensure "that the people shall be secure in their electronic...data from unreasonable searches and seizures..." The bill has “national implication,” said Tenth Amendment Center's Michael Maharrey.   read more

Florida legislators tried to keep the car title loan business out of their state in 2000. But where’s there’s a buck to be made, unscrupulous companies will find a way around pesky consumer-friendly laws, and TMX Finance appears to have done just that. TMX requires borrowers to purchase costly insurance on their cars from them. If a payment’s missed, TMX repossesses the borrower’s car. Sometimes borrowers get in so deep that they just give up.   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) deliberately used fake identities and Social Security numbers to sign up phantom people under Obamacare. The sting operation involved a dozen fictitious applicants, all of whom save one managed to get subsidized health insurance. Six of the online applications were initially rejected, but when investigators used the call-in service, they were approved.   read more

Starting late last year, McLennan County decided to send a sheriff’s detective to the home of any person requesting a court-appointed lawyer. The purpose: to see if the individual was poor enough to not afford their own legal counsel, or determine if they were lying.   read more

The state that’s home to the maker of oxycodone, one of the most abused painkillers in the United States, is also the only one in the nation that doesn’t have a government prescription drug database, thereby encouraging misuse of medications. Other Republicans have grown frustrated with Schaaf’s obstructionism, particularly those in neighboring states trying to stem their own drug abuse problems. With Missouri being so lax, drug addicts often cross the border and buy what they need.   read more

The research revealed beef cattle utilized 28 times more land, required 11 times more irrigation water for feed, used six times more nitrogen fertilizer that pollutes waterways, and discharged five times more greenhouse gases, particularly methane. On average, eating beef is about ten times more costly to the environment than eating any other animal-based foods, according to the report.   read more

In one high-profile case (the “Newburgh Four”), New York District Judge Colleen McMahan, the federal judge overseeing the trial, characterized the government as having come “up with the crime, provided the means, and removed all relevant obstacles.” She added, “Only the government could have made a ‘terrorist’ out of [defendant] Mr. [James] Cromitie, whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearean in its scope.”   read more

Using the online fundraising website Kickstarter, journalist Will Potter managed to raise $75,000 to purchase multiple drones for aerial surveillance of large livestock facilities. Potter told NPR’s The Salt that the move was necessary since seven states have adopted “ag-gag” bills that outlaw the collecting of images inside such operations that reveal neglect or abuse.   read more