Controversies
Supervisors in ATF Guns-to-Mexico Debacle Win Promotions
They supervised a controversial program that allowed guns to fall into the hands of drug traffickers, all in the name of law enforcement tracking, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officials still managed to get pro... read more
Federal Court Refuses to Oppose Wild Horse Roundup…Because It Already Happened
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused to help animal rights advocates stop a wild-horse roundup by using the argument that the capture had already taken place.
At issue was the 2010 round-up of more than 2,000 wild horses and 200 wild b... read more
Study Claims Humans Responsible for Half of Arctic Ice Melt
Humans are responsible for about half of the recent melting of polar ice, according to scientists at the nation’s leading climate research center.
Using supercomputers and advanced climate models, scientists at the National Center for Atmosp... read more
Pentagon Finally Investigates DARPA Chief’s Contract Conflicts
The Department of Defense’s inspector general is launching a series of audits aimed at examining all contracts issued by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) since Regina Dugan became its director in June 2009. DARPA funds proje... read more
San Antonio Public Utility Used Taxpayer Funds to Donate to Republican Party
Executives in charge of San Antonio’s public utility are in serious trouble after a local news station discovered that CPS Energy contributed several thousand dollars—provided by taxpayers—to the Republican Party.
The $5,000 contribution was... read more
Don’t Walk! Orlando Most Dangerous City for Pedestrians (Boston Safest)
Stepping foot outside in Orlando, Florida—as well as many of the state’s other large cities—can be a life-threatening experience. The risk has nothing to do with pollution or extreme weather, but everything to do with automobiles.
On an aver... read more
Farmers Fight Republican Immigration ID Plan
House Republicans seem bent on biting the hands that feed them…and every other American.
Farmers, usually stalwart supporters of the GOP, are upset over a Republican bill that would require them to verify the immigration status of field work... read more
San Francisco Transit Shuts Down Cell Phone Service to Disrupt Protest
Rather than allow residents to exercise their rights to free speech, operators of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) in the San Francisco Bay Area decided last week to shut down cell phone service to four stations where a protest was plann... read more
Florida Governor Scott Pays Less for Health Insurance than Regular State Employees
Millionaire and “Obamacare” basher Governor Rick Scott pays only $360 a year for his health insurance, by taking advantage of Florida’s low-cost program financed by taxpayers.
Scott, a former hospital chain executive who once ran Conservativ... read more
Postal Service Managers Fudged Performance Ratings to Save Money
Afraid of potential backlash from the public, supervisors at the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) manipulated the performance evaluation process for employees in order to avoid awarding raises and bonuses that might be seen as excessive in light of th... read more
Judge Sentenced to 28 Years in Prison for “Selling” Kids to Private Prisons
Accused of perpetrating a “profound evil,” former Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella Jr. has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for illegally accepting money from a juvenile-prison developer while he spent years incarcerating thousands of youn... read more
Medical Journal Retractions Skyrocketing
Medical journals over the past decade have had to retract a rising number of articles, in part because there are more publications, but also due to problems of fraud.
While the number of papers published since 2001 in research journals incre... read more
Chicago Drinking Water 11 Times More Toxic than California Legal Standard
Chicago has a lot of things floating around in its drinking water that residents probably shouldn’t be consuming, including the toxic metal hexavalent chromium.
An investigation by the Chicago Tribune found that the city’s water contains lev... read more
Slavery Museum Dying a Slow Death
It was supposed to attract two million visitors a year and feature a full-scale replica of a slave ship. But the one-of-a-kind, $100-million United States National Slavery Museum is little more than a fading dream, now 10 years on since former V... read more
Fort Bragg Agrees to Allow Atheist-Themed Concert on Base
Soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, who do not belong to a religion will finally get equal time on the rock stage, as base commanders have agreed to allow an atheist-themed concert to take place next year.
Secularists have complained abo... read more
The Child Labor Exception…Farm Workers
It is commonly assumed in the United States that federal law prevents children from working like adults. For the most part this is true. But not when it comes to farming.
Ever since the Great Depression when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1... read more