The 21-hospital chain, citing a controversial court decision invalidating three recess appointments to the board by President Barack Obama, said it wouldn’t abide by two of the board’s recent decisions. One decision said that unions could collect dues even after a contract had expired and the other directed employers to provide unions with certain materials during an investigation.   read more

The database contains 190 million employment records, salary records and health insurance details involving more than 30% of all U.S. adults. And much of this data, including how much people have been paid, is sold to third parties, including bill collectors and banks. Equifax obtains its information from thousands of businesses and the federal government. Because the information is considered a credit report, federal law allows Americans to obtain their own records for free once a year.   read more

The killer is probably a loner who did not serve in the military and likely will use a semiautomatic handgun. This conclusion was formed after reviewing details of 29 mass shootings since 1999 in which five or more people were killed, beginning with Columbine High School in Colorado (which was the only one studied involving more than one killer). The shooters were almost always male, acting alone, between the ages of 17 and 49.   read more

“Between 2005 and 2012, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and its members spent over $333 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies on, among other things, a protracted campaign to prevent government agencies from designating formaldehyde, styrene, and chromium as carcinogens,” the Center wrote in its report (pdf). The actions by the Office of Advocacy ran counter to the wishes of most small business owners.   read more

Biotechnology companies are lobbying lawmakers across the country to prevent generic versions of biological drugs (or biosimilars) from reaching consumers in an effort to maintain high profit margins. Name-brand biological drugs, made from living cells, constitute about 25% of the $320 billion spent on medications in the United States each year. Just as generic alternatives arose to non-biotech drugs, companies making biosimilars want to offer consumers a cheaper version of biological drugs   read more

“It appears that fewer people contract influenza during warm winters, and this causes a major portion of the population to remain vulnerable into the next season, causing an early and strong emergence,” said Sherry Towers of Arizona State University, the lead author of the study, which analyzed climate patterns and flu cases from 1997 to the present.   read more

Ortiz tried for three years to seize Motel Caswell on grounds that it had become a haven for illegal drug deals. The motel owner, Russ Caswell, fought the seizure, claiming he was not responsible for the actions of his guests. Caswell also argued that other nearby businesses had had more illicit drug activity, and that the government wanted his property because of its worth (more than $1 million).   read more

After the education department revised its numbers based on the same federally-mandated criteria used to measure publicly-run schools, only 28% of charter schools met the benchmarks. And none of the 12 cyber charter schools providing online in-home instruction to students met the benchmarks. Meanwhile, 50% of traditional public schools met the criteria   read more

The report analyzes 873 exonerations between January 1989 and February 2012. In total, the 873 spent more than 10,000 years in prison for crimes they did not commit—an average of more than 11 years each. Five of the most common reasons for wrongful convictions involved reckless or intentional misconduct, including perjury or false accusation (51%), mistaken witness identification (43%), official misconduct (42%), false or misleading forensic evidence (24%) and false confession (16%).   read more

Under Schedule II, Hydrocodone refills would be forbidden without a new, written prescription from an M.D.—not a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Distributors would have to store it in special vaults. However, the 19 to 10 vote revealed skepticism that the change would have much of an impact on drug abuse. Some panelists also argued that the change would simply redirect addicts to other drugs like heroin   read more

James Cyrus Gilbert is suing the Georgia Department of Driver Services, claiming it had no right to deny his requests for personalized license plates that read: 4GAYLIB, GAYPWR and GAYGUY. The lawsuit followed a story by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that said the state has relied on an arbitrary approval process for vanity license plates. While denying Gilbert’s plates, state officials have approved such terms as HATERS and BEER.   read more

Scenic America, a nonprofit public interest group, sued DOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) claiming the exemption violates U.S. laws, including the 1965 Highway Beautification Act. The digital billboard exemption, approved by the FHWA in September 2007, gave the federal government the right to overrule state agreements limiting the use of flashing or moving advertisements near federal highways   read more

The focus of the lawsuit is Texxxan.com, which features images of women, without their consent, who live in Texas. In many instances, the intimate photos were provided by ex-boyfriends seeking to punish former lovers.   read more

While Marsh was in Washington on Monday, Senate Republicans adopted a new redistricting plan that, among other things, would create a new seat that includes part of Marsh’s district. The GOP managed to get their plan approved on a 20-19 vote. Had Marsh, a Democrat, been in attendance, the plan likely would have failed on a tie vote.   read more

Brune explained that the organization has always been committed to “lawful means” to achieve its goals, including lobbying, litigation and grassroots organizing. “Now, for the first time in our history, we are prepared to go further,” he added, without specifically saying what the Sierra Club plans to do. He has said that it will deal with the exploitation of tar sands and its relationship to climate change.   read more

A “dream team” of engineers were responsible for developing the software (Narwhal) behind Obama’s campaign website and databases. With the election over, these tech wizards want to share their achievement with the coding community so other developers can study it and make it even better. But Democratic politicos would prefer to sit on the technology. If Republicans want to duplicate the Obama campaign’s success, let them figure it out for themselves, they argue.   read more