U.S. and the World
More Kids Are Living in Poverty and Exposed to Air Pollution
The state of America’s children is a decidedly mixed bag, according to a newly released federal report, as the Great Recession continues to take a toll on the youngest Americans. On the plus side, teen pregnancy and violent crime against children ... read more
States Dodge Supreme Court Ruling Against Life Sentences for Minors
Although the Supreme Court in June ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence someone convicted of homicide to life without the possibility of parole if the defendant committed the crime as a juvenile, the response of several states seems to be... read more
Fish Get Skin Cancer from Sun Under Ozone Hole
Australia, already the skin cancer capital of the world, is now the first place where fish are known to get the deadly disease as well. The Land Down Under sits under the planet’s largest hole in the ozone layer, a stratum of the atmosphere that a... read more
Political Ad Database Is Finally Online, but Crippled by Lack of Features
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has finally launched its online database that’s supposed to provide information on who’s spending what on television commercials related to election campaigns.
But the database is not user-friendly f... read more
Commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center: Who Is Lt. Gen. David Perkins?
Lieutenant General David G. Perkins serves as the commander of the Combined Arms Center (CAC) at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, which oversees the Command and General Staff College and 17 other schools, centers, and training programs located throughout... read more
There’s a Good Chance Your Friends Are Phonies
Facebook has nearly one billion profiles. It also has tens of millions of phony ones, too.
The social media giant has admitted that nearly 9% of all “users” on Facebook are not real. That translates into 83 million fake profiles, out of 955 mi... read more
Marine Falsely Accused of Desertion, Locked up for a Month
Alan Gourgue served four years in the Marine Corps and was honorably discharged. But that didn’t stop the military from wrongly arresting him years later, claiming he was a deserter.
The resident of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is now suing the ser... read more
Senator McCain Does About-Face and Turns to Lockheed for Key Staffer
A longtime critic of the defense industry, Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) surprised many observers when he hired a former Lockheed Martin executive to help him on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Ann Elise Sauer, a one-time Lockheed vice ... read more
U.S. Wasting Millions in Afghanistan
The United States has often made bad decisions while trying to reconstruct Afghanistan, where hundreds of millions of American tax dollars are going to waste.
As much as $400 million has been spent unwisely on large construction projects, acco... read more
Court Blocks Arizona Late-Term Abortion Law
A federal appeals court has blocked the implementation of Arizona’s late-term abortion law, which was set to take effect on August 2.
The Center for Reproductive Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in July to stop the... read more
India Loss of Power Not as Hard on 300 Million Who Never Had Any
Living without electricity is something hundreds of millions in India do everyday, and not just when the country’s shaky power grid collapses.
The world’s second most populous country garnered international attention this week when it experien... read more
Conservative Koch-Funded Global Warming Skeptic Flips Sides
After spending years trying to debunk global warming, scientist Richard Muller has come to the conclusion that the earth really is heating up—and that humans are to blame.
Muller, a UC Berkeley physicist, co-founded the Berkeley Earth Surface ... read more
Doctor Challenges Fracking “Trade Secrets” Medical Gag Rule
Pennsylvania’s “Medical Gag Rule” faces a legal challenge in federal court now that a local doctor has sued the state to get the fracking-related law thrown out.
Dr. Alfonso Rodriguez filed a lawsuit against the state attorney general, its sec... read more
Japan Restarts Nuclear Plants, then Orders Quake Fault Survey
Putting the cart before the horse can have dangerous consequences if the cart is a nuclear power plant and the horse represents earthquake safety.
But that’s what has happened in Japan, where the government decided to restart some of its nucle... read more
USDA Retracts “Meatless Monday” Memo
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has retracted a suggestion that employees consider “Meatless Mondays” after the cattlemen industry reacted angrily to the idea.
In a recent internal newsletter, the USDA suggested ways for workers to r... read more
New York Legislature Votes to Name Post Office after Late Covert CIA Officer
Politicians from New York State want to rename the post office in Monroe and dedicate it to a fallen Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer.
The plan is to honor Gregg David Wenzel, who joined the CIA after the September 11 terrorist atta... read more