Controversies
Airlines Make Killing on Fees; Government Wants Us to See the Bill First
What’s the difference between the price of an airline ticket and the cost of fees an airline charges to fly?
You can easily look up the price of a ticket. But it’s not so simple to calculate fees for regular baggage, oversized baggage, meals... read more
You Can’t Tell the Scandal Without a Scorecard
The collateral damage from the phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom that is enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. keeps piling up. Here is a sampling of the numerical highlights produced so far:
4,000: Estimated number of phone hacki... read more
Let the Governor Walker Recall Games Begin
Democrats in Wisconsin would like nothing more than to recall Governor Scott Walker, who has been a lightening rod in the state since taking office in January. But how to go about recalling him has Democrats wringing their hands over when to lau... read more
Pew Poll: We Don't See No Stinkin' Debt Ceiling Crisis
This may help explain why House Republicans don’t feel compelled to cut a deal with President Barack Obama over raising the debt ceiling: Most of their constituents think not raising the limit won’t harm the economy.
A new poll from the Pew Re... read more
Russia Launches Giant Space Telescope as Hubble Successor Struggles in the House
While lawmakers in Congress argue over funding for America’s next great space telescope, Russia this week launched its Spektr-R radio telescope which is expected to be thousands of times more powerful than the United States’ famed Hubble telesco... read more
BP Corrects the Record: Plant Had Two Lousy Pipelines, Not One
BP has no shortage of leaky or corroded pipes in its Alaskan oil fields.
Over the weekend one of its eight-inch pipelines burst open at the Lisburne Production Centre, spilling thousands of gallons of methanol and oily water. When ProPublica r... read more
Indiana State Employees Get Bonus for Losing Collective Bargaining Rights
Having adopted a state budget with more than a billion-dollar surplus, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has decided to throw a bone to government employees who lost their collective bargaining rights years ago.
About 24,000 of the more than 28... read more
One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Corporations
Once the space shuttle Atlantis completes its final mission this week, America’s space program will shift from a purely government-run operation to a partially for-profit endeavor by corporations.
With the costs of space travel difficult to ... read more
Is Murdoch Money Behind Chamber Bid to Gut Anti-Bribery Law?
With Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. on its heels from the British phone-hacking scandal, a liberal group in the U.S. has accused the media mogul of financing a million-dollar lobbying effort in Washington to weaken an anti-bribery law that it may h... read more
More Than Half of Tuna Species Endangered, but Overfishing Continues
Mankind’s taste for tuna has pushed the majority of the fish species to the brink of endangerment, according to a group of international environmentalists.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed five of the eigh... read more
Big Coal Lawyers Blame Inbreeding for Problems Caused by Mountaintop Removal
Following release of a study linking a controversial coal-mining technique to birth defects, industry lawyers responded by insinuating the health problem was just as likely caused by inbreeding among local residents.
“The study failed to acc... read more
China Denies Coverup of ConocoPhillips Oil Spill
American oil corporation ConocoPhillips has been accused of conspiring with the Chinese government to cover up a large oil spill in the Bohai Bay.
Activists say two spills occurred in June from oil platforms owned by ConocoPhillips’ China subs... read more
A Little Sensitive Over “Sensitive” Airport Security Numbers
Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah got into hot water this week with the Department of Homeland Security for disclosing the fact that there have been 25,000 breaches of security at U.S. airports since 2001, although it’s questionable the numbe... read more
Plan for Nuclear Bomb Detection Device Is Buy Now, Test Later
The Department of Homeland Security plans to buy new radiation-detection equipment at a cost of more than $300 million, although it has not fully tested the devices which may not work.
Once touted by the Bush administration as the answer to pr... read more
Oil Companies Kick the (Aluminum) Can Down the Road Toward Toxic Oil Sands
Environmentalists loathe the rush to develop Canada’s vast oil sands reserves containing an enormous amount of crude and a wealth of potential harm to North American ecology.
Within the province of Alberta is an estimated 171.3 billion barre... read more
As FBI Moves In, Bancroft Family Has Seller's Remorse over Giving Wall Street Journal to Murdoch
The ordeal of Rupert Murdoch’s phone-hacking scandal, rooted in illegal activities that took place in the United Kingdom, has now spread to the United States, where members of a prominent publishing family are expressing regrets over their dealing... read more