Petroglyphs are created by chipping into the dark surfaces of rock with a harder stone. That exposes the inner rock, which lacks the darker oxidation of the exterior, and provides a contrast that makes the designs visible. They differ from pictographs, which are painted on the rock. The carvings depict an earlier Native American culture of hunters and gatherers believed to date back 8,800 years in a region known as Volcanic Tableland.   read more

Wal-Mart bankrolled five petition drives in California last year that, if approved by voters, would have qualified the company to bypass the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Once the company gathered the 15% of signatures necessary to qualify the measure for the ballot, Wal-Mart would offer a deal. The cities could approve the petition themselves or face a costly election battle. The strategy worked. Four cities enacted the Wal-Mart petition in 2011 without an election.   read more

The committee blames the euphemistic nomenclature used in the toxic cleanup industry, which calls sites “closed” and considers them “successes” even though contamination remains that will require long-term oversight and funding. Although industry professionals in both the private and public sector understand how these terms are used, the general public does not, and may assume that a successfully closed site has been restored to pristine condition.   read more

The complaint goes on to say Hershey “has knowingly failed to fulfill its promises. Instead, Hershey has continued to produce and sell chocolate that is the fruit of child and forced labor. If the company has knowingly supported or exploited the use of child or forced labor in Ghana or the Ivory Coast, Hershey itself has acted unlawfully or aided and abetted unlawful conduct.”   read more

Coloradans convicted of “child abuse resulting in death” were sentenced to an average of 29.9 years in prison, 25% less than those who were sentenced to an average of 37.4 years for the equivalent charge of second-degree murder of an adult. Those convicted of the less serious charge of “child abuse negligently causing death” got 13.6 years, 42% less time than those sent down for 19.4 years on comparable charges of negligent homicide of an adult.   read more

The report found that the electric grid lacks resilience and is susceptible to disruption, either from natural disasters or terrorism, according to Steven Aftergood at Secrecy News. It deemed transmission lines and transformers to be the most vulnerable parts of the system, and it was more concerned about physical attacks than cyber attacks.   read more

A report from the National Research Council of the National Academies in 2010 concluded that the new lab would have a 70% chance of accidentally releasing a pathogen during its projected 50-year life. However, a subsequent report reduced the risk percentage to less than 1%. Opponents still point to the fact that Manhattan is prone to tornadoes, just like the rest of Kansas, which was struck by 187 twisters in just one year (2008).   read more

The bank essentially submitted preliminary low bids for energy (perhaps even at a negative amount), thus qualifying for “a bid cost recovery” payment even if they weren’t accepted. Those bids would be money losers for JPMorgan if accepted, but the next day it allegedly submitted real bids too high to be accepted and pocketed the windfall.   read more

Officially, the department says it does not follow individuals who tweet. Instead, officials probe for certain keywords, presumably those that might provide tips about potential threats. Nevertheless, it says it is following 333 Twitter accounts, and privacy advocates are wary of what DHS is up to on Twitter.   read more

Some states mandate criminal background checks for workers, while other states not only don’t have this requirement, but also lack basic rules such as age minimums. Consequently, there have been cases of juveniles posing as qualified care workers, getting caught, but not being prosecuted because they are not adults.   read more

The VA didn’t formally accept PTSD as a legitimate disability until 1980. Even after this decision, Dolphin was unable to receive benefits to assist him with his war-related problems. Last year, a psychiatrist diagnosed Dolphin with PTSD. He applied again to the VA for help, but The Army Board for Correction of Military Records denied his request on grounds that it fell outside the time period for reconsideration.   read more

Closed seminars include the topics: “How to Create Robust, Culturally-Sensitive and Practical Guidelines for Gifts, Entertainment and Hospitality in High Risk Markets: A Guide to What You Can Do” “10 Trip Wires to Avoid When Conducting an FCPA Internal Investigation.”   read more

Who is on the “heat list?” Not just fugitives who have been linked to past homicide suspects, but also victims and those close to victims. The criteria for the list were based on the work of Yale University Sociologist Andrew Papachristos, an expert on Chicago gangs. Joseph Salemme, commander of the fugitive unit, told the Chicago Sun-Times that “hot people” are those “stopped with a murder victim, or arrested with a murder victim—or victims—in the past two years.”   read more

The new laws transcend what 17 states previously have done by legalizing the drug only for medical use. The Obama administration quietly made it clear before the election that it would not allow any state to sanction recreational marijuana. However, officials were careful not to make too much noise about the initiatives, especially in swing state Colorado.   read more

two years later, the state’s rate was down, to 2.62, according to the latest assessment from the Violence Policy Center. But that rate still represented the highest in the U.S., with the national average calculated at 1.22. Other states ranking high in 2010 for female murders at the hands of men included South Carolina (1.94), Tennessee (1.91), Louisiana (1.86) and Virginia (1.77). Statistics for Florida were not available and data from Illinois were incomplete.   read more

The study found that the presence of a Hispanic police chief correlates with a reduction in the intensity of immigration enforcement, suggesting that the political power associated with a local Latino community being able to win the appointment of a Hispanic chief leads as well to more lenient immigration enforcement, the burdens of which tend to fall upon Latinos regardless of their legal status.   read more