Likening the receipt of scholarship money to an employer paycheck, a federal labor official has ruled that college football players can form unions. The surprising decision has huge financial implications for big-money college sports, including potential for workers’ compensation coverage for sports injuries. Players are backed by former players Ramogi Huma and Kain Colter, who testified that his grueling 60-hour weeks in football resulted in sacrificing his dream of becoming a surgeon.   read more

The 2009 Safe Storage Law mandated that handguns must be kept in locked containers or have an approved trigger lock installed when not being carried, even within private homes. A second ordinance upheld by the court barred the sale of hollow-point bullets within city limits, but did not prohibit the ownership or use of such ammunition.   read more

Even as President Barack Obama has railed against leaks, the number of security clearances granted to government workers, contractors and others has steadily gone up during his time in office. That number has now exceeded 5 million. “[The] growth in the number of clearance-holders... exposes classified national security information... to an increasingly large population,” an OMB review states.This "has created a culture in which...clearances are now too often granted by default."   read more

Not a single banking leader has been indicted, Justice officials say, because it has been too difficult to prove executives intended to harm clients. Law professor Peter Henning has proposed a solution: Adopt a new legal standard for corporate recklessness. “If a primary reason for the lack of prosecutions...is the high threshold for proving intent, then one response," he said, "can be to reduce the element needed to establish a violation so that it is easier to pursue a case."   read more

The Yakama Nation in Washington state is demanding that marijuana growers stay off its lands. “We have had a long and unpleasant history with marijuana, just as we have had with alcohol,” said Yakama Chairman Harry Smiskin. “Marijuana is the biggest problem for our people up to age 40,” the tribe’s attorney, George Colby, told Reuters. “It’s a bigger problem than alcohol.” The state has received 1,300 marijuana business applications alone in 10 of its counties.   read more

An investigative report by USA Today found nearly 187,000 criminal cases not being pursued by police due to lack of time or money to have fugitives extradited. This total includes tens of thousands of wanted felons, with more than 3,300 accused of murder, sexual assault and robbery. The decisions to not pursue extradition are “almost always made in secret, permit fugitives to go free in communities across the country.”   read more

One study of inmates serving time in the New York City jail system found that only 7.3% of jail admissions involved solitary confinement. However, 53% of inmates who tried to hurt themselves and 45% of cases where self-harm was potentially fatal happened to those whose admission included solitary.   read more

Data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education shows that nearly 5,000 preschoolers were suspended from school during the 2011-2012 academic year. Black children comprised 48% of those suspended more than once despite being only 18% of the student body.   read more

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finally approved the sale of federally grown marijuana for a study that would research whether pot could help veterans cope with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Food and Drug Administration approved the study back in 2011, but University of Arizona Professor Suzanne Sisley, who will conduct the study, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which is funding it, were unable to get marijuana.   read more

A veteran of the Iraq War who suffered a skull fracture when Oakland police fired a lead shot-filled “beanbag” into an Occupy protest settled a suit against the city for $4.5 million. After Olsen was hit, protesters attempted to help him. Police did not. Instead, one officer, Robert Roche, fired a tear-gas round into the crowd. Oakland police tried to fire Roche, who has been involved in three fatal shootings, but Roche is fighting his termination.   read more

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher announced that agents would no longer be allowed to shoot at people throwing rocks at them, or fire at vehicles trying to escape. The directive also ordered agents to not step in front of moving vehicles, which had been used in the past as justification for opening fire. Agents are to seek cover in the event of a rock-throwing encounter, but can use deadly force if the objects pose an imminent danger of death or serious injury.   read more

Under a deal reached with the federal government, Toyota will pay a $1.2 billion financial penalty as part of the deferred prosecution agreement drawn up by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The penalty is the largest ever imposed on an automobile company by the U.S. government. However, considering that Toyota has cash reserves of $59 billion, company executives aren’t complaining.   read more

Among the complaints were 4,700 about mortgages, 3,800 regarding debt collection, 1,700 on credit card issues, and 1,500 pertaining to banking services. There were also complaints regarding credit reports (1,200), consumer loans (600), student loans (400), and payday loans (100). The overall complaint volume from military people skyrocketed 148% from 2012 to 2013, the agency said in its report.   read more

93% of all soybeans in the country were the HT variety as of last year. HT cotton comprised 82% of that crop in 2013, while HT corn dominated 85% of that crop’s acreage last year. Going with Bt corn allowed farmers to use less insecticide, reduce costs and curtail environmental pollution. That’s why Bt corn became so popular, making up 76% of all corn acreage in 2013. Rootworms have developed a resistance to the Bt gene—which means they can go back to eating modified corn.   read more

A lawsuit filed in 2010 in an Oregon federal court contends the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has denied individuals their rights of due process by placing their names on the list without notification or explanation for why. Those on the list also cannot directly challenge their status, leaving them at the mercy of an invisible bureaucratic process, the plaintiffs say.   read more

Rising tuition costs are causing more young Americans than ever before to skip attending their preferred college. A survey at UCLA found only 57% of incoming freshmen last fall had enrolled in their first choice of university, even though 76% reported being accepted by their No. 1 selection. The 57% mark was the lowest recorded by UCLA since 1974. Also, the percentage of students citing cost as a “very important” factor in choosing a college reached a 10-year high (45.9%).   read more