Scientists who worked on the study addressed Tester’s complaint directly, arguing that no one had actually done long-term studies of GMOs. Antoniou said the findings highlighted the “need to test all GM crops in two-year lifelong studies.” Genetic engineering has come under fire from critics for years or what they perceive is industry bias in scientific studies and the lack of long-term studies.   read more

Their data revealed that children and teenagers with the highest levels of BPA had a 2.6 times greater chance of being obese than those with the lowest levels. Trasande said aluminum cans containing BPA are an especially important problem that needs to be addressed, adding “the majority of BPA exposure” comes from these types of containers.   read more

It’s been a hard year for Montana’s longstanding election laws. In June the U.S. Supreme Court, by a vote of 5-4, struck down the state’s 100-year-old law prohibiting corporations from contributing to political candidates and committees. Now the Montana Republican Party has successfully challenged a 77-year-old state law that prevented partisan endorsements of judges running for election.   read more

On Monday the Board of Pardons rejected Williams’ plea for clemency. The five-member board voted 3-2 in favor of clemency, but a state law required a unanimous vote. Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley voted against clemency, as did corrections expert Harris Gubernick. The three votes in favor were cast by Attorney General Linda L. Kelly; victim representative Louise B. Williams; and psychologist Russell A. Walsh.   read more

“To make an individual’s obligation to obey such a law contingent upon the law’s coincidence with his religious beliefs, except where the State's interest is ‘compelling’–permitting him, by virtue of his beliefs, ‘to become a law unto himself,’ contradicts both constitutional tradition and common sense." The opinion was written by conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.   read more

A three-member panel of the 9th Circuit appeals court sharply chastised the office of the U.S. attorney in San Diego on Friday for deporting a witness whose testimony could have weakened its alien-smuggling case against Jonathan Leal-Del Carmen. A jury in San Diego convicted him of three counts of alien-smuggling but acquitted him of doing so for profit.   read more

Five new detention facilities were opened during the five years under study, but the 7% increase in capacity wasn’t enough to accommodate the 9.5% rise in the federal prison population. Overcrowding was worst in high security prisons. By the end of 2011, federal prisons held 177,934 inmates, 165,595 of whom were men. Of the total, 48% of inmates were serving sentences for drug-related offenses.   read more

Since August 2010, Sheriff Babeu has requisitioned more than $7 million worth for his county, which is located between Phoenix and Tucson in south-central Arizona. Sheriff Babeu and his supporters claim there was no rule against lending the equipment, and that the Sheriff’s office received verbal approval for the practice it calls widespread.   read more

75 students from nearby Coconut Palm Elementary School in Miramar arrived at the local Wal-Mart to perform “God Bless America” in a tribute to the September 11, 2001, victims, only to be rebuffed by store management, who called them a “liability” and called the police to report a mob.   read more

During a February speech to the Human Rights Campaign Gala, Sebelius advocated for the election of Walter Dalton, North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, to the governorship. She also told the audience it was important to reelect President Barack Obama in November. Sebelius appeared at the event in her official capacity as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. Under federal law (the Hatch Act), administration officials are prohibited from making “extemporaneous partisan remarks.”   read more

Prior to the Bush administration’s establishment of warrantless wiretapping, such spying had to be authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. That court now has been relegated to largely rubber-stamping eavesdropping missions on American communications. Republicans were largely responsible for the bill’s passage. However, not all GOP lawmakers approved it.   read more

Of the 90 arrests, the majority were for DUI and domestic violence arrests. Others, though, were charged with crimes such as possessing child pornography, sexual assault and murder. The newspaper compared the DC police to their counterparts in Philadelphia. So far in 2012, 18 DC officers have wound up behind bars. In Philadelphia, only six out of 6,600 were arrested this year.   read more

Judge Peter D. Lichtman said at the time that $200 million was the most he could award under the law, implying he would have ordered a higher amount were it not for the Amtrak Reform and Accountability Act of 1997, which capped train accident settlements at $200 million. The Act also did not allow for adjustments for inflation, which has risen 40% since 1997.   read more

But three years into his confinement at Guantánamo, the Department of Defense concluded Latif was not a threat and should be released. The military came to the same conclusion again in 2006 and 2008. A federal judge ordered Latif’s release in 2010, but an appeals court overturned the ruling the following year. Both the Bush and Obama administrations were reluctant to free Latif and others from Yemen, citing the country’s poor security conditions for keeping them locked up.   read more

Naval officials said the work and the training would not pose a significant risk to the whales, which number only 313. Judge Lisa Wood acknowledged that the North Atlantic right whale is “the world's most critically endangered large whale species and one of the world's most endangered mammals.” . However, Judge Wood concluded that the Navy properly analyzed “marine mammal densities and bottom habitat surveys” while performing its environmental impact statement.   read more

Among the uses Apple promotes for the new technology are “forcing certain electronic devices to enter ‘sleep mode’ when entering a sensitive area” and when “Covert police or government operations may require complete ‘blackout’ conditions.”   read more