Controversies
Two U.S. Marshals Killed Pursuing Non-Federal Suspects
After going nearly 20 years without having one of its own shot to death in the line of duty, the U.S. Marshals Service has had two killed so far this year.
Both marshals who died in 2010 were assisting local law enforcement apprehend non-fed... read more
Lawsuit Lenders Fight Usury Laws
Investors fueling personal injury lawsuits against businesses by loaning money to plaintiffs are pushing for legal protections in several states.
These lawsuit lenders, which include banks and hedge funds, argue that their efforts should not... read more
Obama Fires State Dept. Spokesman Who Accused Defense Dept. of Abusing Bradley Manning
The Obama administration’s united front on the WikiLeaks controversy has fractured, as evidenced by a member of the State Department criticizing the Department of Defense’s treatment of a soldier accused of giving classified information to the w... read more
Phoenix Police Accused of Exaggerating Kidnap Statistics to Gain Federal Funding
Phoenix, Arizona, may not be the “kidnapping capital” of the United States after all.
Having earned the nickname because of high numbers of reported kidnappings, Phoenix is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice on suspicion o... read more
House Bill Would Allow Veterans who were Raped to Receive PTSD Benefits
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is not only a result of combat experience, but also rape, argues U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). That’s why the congresswoman wants the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover PTSD claims by m... read more
Wisconsin Firefighters Withdraw Money from Bank that Funded Gov. Walker
Fed up with Governor Scott Walker’s effort to take away the collective bargaining rights of public employees, firefighters in Wisconsin protested this week outside a Republican-friendly bank and withdrew so much money from accounts that bank offic... read more
Judge Orders Forest Service to Protect Forest
The U.S. Forest Service has been ordered by a federal judge to cease a roadside clearing project in Los Padres National Forest in California because it did not consider the effects of the work on endangered species, as required by law.
Judge... read more
Raise the Voting Age to 25: Peter Tucci
Young people shouldn’t have the right to vote, even if it means taking away his own ability to cast ballots in elections, writes Peter Tucci, an editor at The Daily Caller, a conservative website.
Tucci believes the 25 million Americans age 18... read more
Florida Bill Would Criminalize Photographing Farms
Some farmers in Florida want to make it illegal to photograph their properties without their permission in an attempt to thwart animal rights groups from making videos about alleged cruelty.
SB 1246, submitted by state Senator Jim Norman (R-... read more
USDA Criticizes Ground Beef Testing for E. Coli
The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) needs to improve its system for identifying E. coli in the nation’s ground beef supply, according to the inspector general for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
IG Phyllis Fong found the FSIS i... read more
Commerce Dept. Reduces Screening of Foreign Nationals Working in High-Tech Industries
Charged with keeping technologies that have both civilian and military uses from falling into the wrong hands overseas, the U.S. Department of Commerce has dramatically cut back on its screening of foreign nationals for American visas, even thou... read more
Was the Vigilante Murder of 9-Year-Old Ignored because She Wasn’t White?
When nine-year-old Christina Taylor was murdered during the shooting in Tucson, Arizona, that critically wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, the media spent no shortage of time mourning the girl’s tragic death.
When Brisenia Flores, al... read more
AARP Sues U.S. Government over Reverse Mortgages
With the help of the AARP, three senior citizens are suing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) over its change to the policy governing reverse mortgages.
Reverse mortgages allow older homeowners to borrow against the equity... read more
BP “Oil Spill” was Really an Oil-Methane Gas Spill
BP’s broken well last year unleashed not only an enormous amount of oil, but possibly as much as half a million tons of methane gas.
Researchers estimate that up to 40% of the leak was methane, with somewhere between 260,000 to 520,000 tons ... read more
Obama Files More Anti-Leaker Cases in 2 Years than all Presidents in Last 40 Years
The administration that promised more openness with government information has instead taken a tougher stance on whistle-blowing than any other White House in the last four decades.
Since taking office, President Barack Obama’s Department of... read more
As Freud Rolls over in Grave, Psychiatrists Replace Listening with Drugs
Gone are the days when psychiatrists led the way in talk therapy and helped patients uncover the problems troubling their lives. Because the money isn’t in it, more and more of the 48,000 doctors who practice psychiatry do little of that these d... read more