"As the role of the Internet in the daily lives of consumers increases, this means an increased potential for surveillance," said the letter to FCC chairman Wheeler. Critics say providers are already harvesting huge amounts of consumer data for use in targeted advertising. "This can create a chilling effect on speech and increase the potential for discriminatory practices derived from data use," the letter said. Wheeler said providers must make sure data they collect about consumers is secure.   read more

The justices will consider whether Obama violated the Constitution, raising the possibility that the court could limit the reach of a president’s executive authority. In 2008, Obama ran for president criticizing President George W. Bush’s expansive use of executive power, which included a warrantless wiretapping program and indefinite detention of terror suspects. Once in office, Obama continued many of Bush’s counterterrorism policies and has zealously guarded presidential power.   read more

Joint employment has emerged as a major issue in franchising, contracting, temporary staffing and other arrangements in which companies use workers but do not directly employ them. The guidance comes as the Obama administration is moving to make millions more Americans eligible for overtime pay under the FLSA. It is also part of a broader federal government push to hold employers accountable to workers.   read more

The FBI report, grouping data from almost 13,000 police agencies, reported increases in murders, manslaughter, two definitions of rape, aggravated assaults and robberies. Murders rose 6.2 percent in the first half of last year, compared with the same period in 2014. Aggravated assaults rose 2.3 percent and robberies were up 0.3 percent. Rapes that includes penetration rose 1.1 percent. Rapes categorized under an older definition of forcible carnal knowledge of a female were up almost 10 percent.   read more

“The USA FREEDOM Act ended bulk collection, but this report leaves us guessing just how good a job it did,” said Open Technology's Robyn Greene. Under a replacement program that took effect on Nov. 29, NSA and law enforcement agencies must get a court order and ask communications companies to authorize monitoring of call records of specific people. While some Republicans vying for the White House have criticized the shutdown of the bulk program, other Republican contenders have defended it.   read more

Robins Air Force Base officials issued a statement saying King's picture on the flier was "an honest mistake." The shooting session is scheduled for Monday, the annual national holiday to commemorate King's birthday. "We offer our heartfelt apology to those affected by our thoughtlessness," base spokesman Roland Leach said. "We hold the legacy of Dr. King in the highest regard. We're deeply sorry for any offense or harm caused by our insensitivity..."   read more

President Obama's State of the Union pledge to better manage fossil fuel development will face a test within days, when federal officials rule on whether to open public lands containing more than 600 million tons of coal to more mining. Interior Dept. officials are due to decide Jan. 27 on whether to lease two mine sites on federal land in Wyoming's coal-rich Powder River Basin. Environmentalists strongly oppose more coal mining on federal land, saying it would exacerbate climate change.   read more

"These findings are concerning because the U.S. Surgeon General has concluded that there is no safe level of secondhand smoke exposure," said CDC study author Israel Agaku. Secondhand smoke has been linked with several illnesses in children, including breathing problems, ear infections, bronchitis and pneumonia. In adults, it has been linked with heart disease and lung cancer. The study results are based on a national survey of more than 17,000 middle school and high school kids.   read more

Florida's unique system for sentencing people to death is unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges — and not enough to juries — to decide capital sentences, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Writing for the court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said a jury's "mere recommendation is not enough. The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a sentence of death." News of the high court's decision stunned Florida legislators.   read more

Sixty-three percent of Americans overall said they would like to see the next president push for stricter gun laws. Nearly 80 percent of Democrats and 66 percent of Republicans said they would support the next president, who takes office next January after the Nov. 8 election, pushing for more research. Forty-four percent of Republicans said the next president should work to tighten federal gun control laws, while 49 percent were opposed.   read more

Prosecutors say Swisher enlisted in the Marine Corps a year after the Korean War ended but was never wounded in the line of duty. Swisher was honorably discharged in 1957, and discharge documents indicate that he didn't receive any medals, according to the 9th Circuit ruling. During his 2007 trial, prosecutors showed the jury a photograph of Swisher wearing several military medals and awards, including the Silver Star, Navy and Marine Corps Ribbon and Purple Heart.   read more

There are bans on TV commercials and some other types of marketing for regular cigarettes but there are no restrictions on advertisements for e-cigarettes. About 7 out of 10 kids said they've seen the ads, mostly in stores. CDC officials worry e-cigarettes may hook a new generation on nicotine, and lead some to take up cigarettes — possibly reversing a long and gradual decline in smoking rates. Its marketing "has the potential to compromise decades of progress," said CDC's Brian King.   read more

Animal rights groups on Monday applauded Ringling's new timeline and announcement. "Ringling had been one of the biggest defenders of this kind of archaic animal exploitation, and the imminent end of its traveling elephant acts signaled that even one of the most tough-minded and hardened animal-use companies now recognized that the world is changing and it had to adapt," wrote Wayne Pacelle, CEO of Humane Society of United States. Elephants have been a symbol of the Ringling circus for decades.   read more

Oklahoma has become one of the most earthquake-prone areas in the world, with the number of quakes magnitude 3.0 or greater skyrocketing from a few dozen in 2012 to more than 800 in 2015. Many of the quakes are occurring in swarms in areas where injection wells pump salty wastewater — a byproduct of oil and gas production — deep into the earth. Among the recent quakes was a 4.2 magnitude temblor on New Year's Day.   read more

"I think it's appropriate for people to feel frustrated about hearing this in the news. Bottom line is that if this were an easy problem, we would have solved it years ago," said Nate Galbreath, the senior executive adviser for the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention Office. "Unfortunately, this is a very hard problem to solve." The Army, Navy and Air Force academies received a total of 91 sexual assault reports in 2014-15, up from 59 in the previous school year, an increase of 54 percent.   read more

As part of a plan that would focus more on online accounts for the 150 million individual taxpayers and 11 million businesses seeking help and information, the IRS may soon dramatically scale back telephone and face-to-face service. National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said service cutbacks may cause an increasing number of people to turn to tax preparers and software such as TurboTax to file their returns. That would increase tax compliance costs for millions of filers.   read more