Police officers in Dallas will now have the right to remain silent for three days following their participation in or witnessing of a police-related shooting. The new department policy also allows officers to view any available video footage of the shooting before talking to investigators. Before Police Chief David Brown made the change, officers were required to provide a statement within hours of the incident.   read more

Physicians at the veterans’ hospital in San Francisco have been caught renewing highly addictive painkillers to patients without seeing or talking to them first. The IG reviewed 264 opiate prescription renewals and learned that in 53% of cases, the physician renewing the medication had not communicated personally with the patient. The IG report also says there were seven opiate overdoses among patients at the hospital, and that doctors “did not consistently monitor patients for misuse.”   read more

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has come under fire for exposing its computer networks to possible infiltrations as a result of not following many of its own cyber-security policies. DHS’ inspector general (IG) said in a new report (pdf) that the agency was using old security controls and Internet connections that could not be verified as reliable. Officials also failed to review “top secret” information systems for vulnerabilities.   read more

It was about 4 am when Westbrook walked up to the front door, knocked and tried unsuccessfully to enter. He then walked towards the back of the house. Hendrix went outside armed with a handgun, and called out to Westbrook, who did not respond, but did approach Hendrix. That’s when Hendrix opened fire four times, killing Westbrook, who was found by police clutching some mail. It is believed that Westbrook was disoriented and suffering from exhaustion when he stopped at Hendrix’s house.   read more

Recently, the U.S. government has increased its use of secrecy orders, which totaled 5,445 by the end of FY2013—the highest number since 1994. Among that total are 21 “John Doe” orders, which refer to secrecy orders that are imposed on private inventors who received no government or military support for their patent applications or their inventions.   read more

Some years Obama has pardoned more turkeys than humans. Obama has pardoned two birds every year since 2009, compared with zero people in 2009 and 2012. In 2010, he pardoned nine people, and in 2011, it was 13. When it comes to commutation of prison sentences, his administration has granted just one out of 5,371 total applications.   read more

A final settlement last week of the largest meat recall in the nation’s history assessed the largest monetary judgment ($155 million) ever entered in an animal abuse case. In response to the abuse videos and ensuing legal action—not to mention a century of exposé and scandal—lawmakers across the country sprang into action…to protect slaughterhouses and meat processors.   read more

HRA Pharma, the French manufacturer of Norlevo, an emergency contraceptive pill identical to Plan B (aka the morning-after pill), found that its product began to lose effectiveness for females above 165 pounds, and was completely ineffective for those weighing more than 176 pounds. The news could mean that millions of American women won’t be able to use Plan B or its generic equivalents. The average weight of females 20 years and older is 166.2 pounds.   read more

Critics of the program argued that there really was no evidence of an urban nuclear threat and that development of the technology to detect such a threat may not be possible. Despite attempts to cut Securing the Cities funding in 2009 and 2010, Congress finally made the pilot program permanent and increased its funding in 2011.   read more

The Central Austin Neighborhood Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed suit two years ago claiming the city violated the Illinois Civil Rights Act by not providing consistent emergency response service to all Chicago neighborhoods. The groups claimed that this problem has persisted for two decades.   read more

Iulia Filip of Courthouse News Service described the district’s shape as looking “something like a mutant salamander.” “Congressional District 2’s tortured shape further contorts the districts around it,” the complaint states. “Congressional District 6 surrounds Congressional District 2 on three sides, appearing to shoot Congressional District 2 out of its cragged jaws like a crooked tongue.”   read more

DuPont, along with Huntsman International, Kronos Worldwide and Millennium Inorganic Chemicals allegedly worked together to set the price of titanium dioxide, a key ingredient of white paint, paper, plastics and cosmetics. The four companies control 90% of the titanium dioxide market in the country.   read more

advances in coal mining technology have both increased productivity and—since the late 1990s— and clouds of “disease-causing dust” in mines, making them no more safe for workers when it comes to black lung than they were for their fathers and grandfathers.   read more

Two years after 9/11, the U.S. government tried to flip members of al-Qaeda held in Guantanamo and turn them into agents for the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA operated the secret program in a special wing of Guantanamo named “Penny Lane.” Participants lived in cottages equipped with plush beds, private kitchens, patios, showers and televisions. They were also provided with money and pornography as long as they agreed to serve as CIA spies once released from the prison.   read more

The National Security Agency (NSA) has collected information on the online pornography habits and other sexual activity of individuals considered potential threats or problems to U.S. security. The spy agency considered discrediting half a dozen Muslims with details of porn websites they visited. None of the targeted individuals were accused of being involved in terror plots, according to the document.   read more

The United States may be belching 50% more methane gas into the atmosphere than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated, according to a new academic study. In oil-producing areas, like the south-central U.S., methane emissions may be nearly three times higher than EPA figures, university researchers found. “It will be important to resolve that discrepancy in order to fully understand the impact of these industries on methane emissions,” said lead author Scot Miller.   read more