Controversies
Interior Department Gave Deepwater Horizon Operators Safety Award in 2009
It’s probably safe to assume that the Department of the Interior won’t be giving out any more awards soon to Transocean Ltd., owner of the offshore oil platform that blew up and sank in the Gulf of Mexico. Up until last summer at least, the Minera... read more
Blogs from the Left and Right Operate Differently
From readership participation to fundraising, political blogs vary markedly between liberals and conservatives. Researchers at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society studied more than 150 blogs during a two-week span of the 2... read more
Small Cigarette Brands Accuse FDA of Passing Regulation that Favors Big Three
Cigarette companies soon will no longer be able to market tobacco products that happen to share the same name as non-tobacco brands owned by other companies, under rules adopted by the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA). But this restriction is a... read more
Court Rules Women Can Sue Wal-Mart for Sex Discrimination
A sexual discrimination case against Wal-Mart nearly 10 years old is continuing to move forward, although the merits of the class action lawsuit have yet to be vetted in court.
First filed in 2001, the civil case potentially involved 1.6 milli... read more
Massey Energy Shareholders Sue Board of Directors
Heavily criticized by federal and local officials in the wake of the West Virginia mining accident, Massey Energy Co. is now facing a lawsuit from some of its shareholders.
The civil case, filed by the New Jersey Building Laborers Pension Fund... read more
First Military Tribunal of the Obama Era Reviews Torture of Canadian Citizen
No shortage of controversy will surround the first military tribunal of a Guantánamo detainee under the Obama administration, scheduled to begin on April 27. On trial will be Omar Khadr, 23, who was 15 when U.S. Special Operations soldiers capture... read more
Prisoners Win Right to Work as Reporters
Inmates in federal penitentiaries will now be able to publish articles with bylines in magazines and newspapers, following a court-ordered change in Federal Bureau of Prisons’ regulations.
Three years ago, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rul... read more
Why is the 2-Year-Old SEC Porn Story Suddenly News Now?
Without downgrading the seriousness of the revelations, ProPublica has asked why the news about employees at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) using government computers to view online pornography is being rehashed now?
The discover... read more
Life Insurance Companies Own $2 Billion of Stock in Fast Food Chains
Insurance companies that offer life and disability coverage are some of the best customers of the fast food industry when it comes to buying its stocks. Investment data published in the American Journal of Public Health revealed that insurers owne... read more
Democrats Push Bill to Force CEOs to Appear On Camera in Political Ads
Unhappy over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which eliminated campaign spending limits for corporations and labor unions, Democrats in Congress have introduced legislation that seeks to place some restrictions on big-m... read more
Lawsuit over KBR Employee Killed in Iraq by U.S. Troops Gets Go-Ahead
Relatives of Donald Tolfree, an employee of KBR, a subsidiary of Halliburton, who was killed by friendly fire in Iraq, have been allowed to move forward with their lawsuit against the defense contractor. Tolfree’s daughter contends Halliburton ass... read more
Does WellPoint Have Death Panels for Breast Cancer Patients?
The nation’s largest health insurance company has targeted women diagnosed with breast cancer and sought excuses to cancel their policies, federal investigators told Reuters. Subsidiaries of WellPoint, with more than 33 million customers, have dro... read more
Drop in Cigarette Use Mirrors Drop in Smoking in Movies
Life has mirrored art when it comes to declines in cigarette smoking, according to a research study of Hollywood films since 1950. Patrick Jamieson and Dan Romer examined a sampling of the top 30 grossing U.S. movies each year from 1950 to 2006, 8... read more
Arizona Tribe Wins First Case Involving Misuse of DNA in Research
Arizona State University (ASU), which prides itself on being an academic leader for American Indian studies, has agreed to pay $700,000 to the Havasupai Tribe for misusing their DNA in research studies.
The tribe, which has 650 members, also w... read more
The End of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell? Not Yet: Air Force Discharges Lesbian Officer
U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Robin Chaurasiya will not become a symbol for a more tolerant military, as she had hoped. The openly-gay officer is being discharged (honorably) following a superior’s earlier pronouncement that Chaurasiya would not be ki... read more
Retired Generals and Admirals Say Junk Food at Schools Threatens U.S. Security
Schools should be doing a better job of feeding America’s youth in order to cut down on their growing rates of obesity, according to a coalition of retired military commanders. Mission: Readiness, a non-profit formed by 130 retired generals, admir... read more