A city was placed on the list if 25% of its current population lives below what scientists project will be future high-tide levels. Among those taking this threat seriously is the Pentagon, which has plans in the works for relocation of its bases to avoid the expected calamity. One of those is the nation’s largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, whose installations on the waterfront are expected to find themselves submerged by the 2040s.   read more

The word carcinoma should not apply to this condition and others, they argued, because too many patients become frightened by the diagnosis and have treatments that aren’t needed and do more harm than good, such as mastectomies. Many lesions detected during breast, prostate, thyroid, lung and other cancer screenings should not be called cancer at all, but should instead be reclassified as IDLE conditions, which stands for “indolent lesions of epithelial origin,” according to the panel.   read more

Colorado has experienced a huge surge this year in permits to carry concealed weapons, following the passage of gun control measures by the state legislature. The new laws include requiring universal background checks for gun sales, a 15-round limit on firearm magazines, and banning online-only concealed-carry certification training.   read more

In the past two years, the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office has arrested at least 12 men for sodomy, otherwise known as homosexual sex. All of the defendants were approached by Sheriff’s deputies working undercover who asked the men if they wanted to have consensual sex. Louisiana’s anti-sodomy law, which is still on the books, was invalidated along with others like it when the Supreme Court ruled in Lawrence v. Texas back in 2003.   read more

Stung by a century of investigations and exposés into animal cruelty and unhygienic conditions at sites where animals are raised, slaughtered and chopped up for consumption, corporate interests have lobbied lawmakers in six states to pass “Ag-Gag” laws that make it a crime to take videos or photos at agro-industrial sites that reveal illegal or unethical practices toward livestock, or to apply for a job at a factory farm with the intent to conduct an undercover   read more

Since 1932, Louisiana has lost more than 1,900 square miles of its coastline, enough to cover the state of Delaware, and may lose another 700 square miles in the coming decades. John M. Barry, vice-president of SLFPA-E, noted that, “The industry has taken about $470 billion of the state’s natural resources during the past 20 years, and we ask that it pick up its share of the increased costs of flood protections.   read more

The test included a mock attack by HSS commandoes against SRS’s security guards, who work for government contractor Wackenhut Services, Inc. POGO was told by a “senior government official” that the attackers in one scenario were able to reach a key building and gain access to simulated bomb material. Furthermore, HSS stopped at least two of the security tests early because a shift change resulted in a number of workers entering the “combat” area.   read more

Acidization is a subject state regulators don’t want to talk about, or can’t for lack of information from the industry. Pavley pointedly asked the California Department of Conservation and its Division of Oil, Gas & Geothermal Resources last May to share with lawmakers what they know about the process and its use in California and the nation. The response from Department of Conservation Director Mark Nechodom was less than satisfying.   read more

The government can use the Patriot Act’s business records authority to collect, collate and retain all sorts of sensitive information, including medical records, financial records, or credit card purchases. They could use this authority to develop a database of gun owners or readers of books and magazines deemed subversive. This means that the government’s authority to collect information on law-abiding American citizens is essentially limitless.   read more

The problems have arisen because state government slashed the budget for home care, while raising the amount paid to nursing homes that take in disabled children. It also turned down federal aid to help move children out of nursing homes. According to the Department of Justice, “As a result of the state’s actions and inaction, the state has forced some families to face the cruel choice of fearing for their child’s life at home or placing their child in a nursing facility.”   read more

About an hour after midnight on May 28, police received word of a burglar alarm going off at 409 Havenwood Lane. Officers B.B. Hanlon and R.P. Hoeppner responded, but showed up at 404 Havenwood. The officers said poor lighting caused them to visit the wrong home. At 404 Havenwood, the officers encountered homeowner Jerry Waller, 72, who was holding a handgun “near the corner of the home,” according to the affidavit.   read more

XTO Energy is accused of polluting groundwater with fracking waste from its natural gas well pad and storage facility in Hughesville, Lycoming County, according to the lawsuit. The U.S. Department of Justice claims XTO Energy allowed flowback fluid and wastewater byproduct to reach water supplies.   read more

Tim Reed of Health Action International added: “It underlines the fact that patient groups who are in the pay of the pharmaceutical industry will go into battle for them. There’s a hidden agenda here. The patient groups will say they think it’s a great idea to keep clinical trials data secret. Why would they do that? They would do that because they are fronts for the pharmaceutical industry.”   read more

The Obama administration won a major court victory in its fight against investigative journalism last week, convincing two judges on a sharply divided federal appeals court panel to rule that reporters can be ordered to testify about their confidential sources and jailed for refusing. If the case survives an inevitable appeal, it will almost surely inhibit reporters from pursuing stories based on confidential government informants, according to both the dissenting judge and journalism experts.   read more

That elicited a sharp response from Judge Collyer. “No, no, no,” she said. “The executive is not an effective check on the executive.” Rejecting the claim that judges are incapable of weighing complex national security issues, she pointed out that the Constitution prescribes three separate branches of government, insisting that “You’d be surprised at the amount of understanding other parts of the government think judges have.”   read more

Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, said, “The government’s willingness to admit error and accept its duty to correct those errors in an extraordinarily large number of cases is truly unprecedented. It signals a new era in this country that values science and recognizes that truth and justice should triumph over procedural obstacles.”   read more