Controversies
Texas County Sued, Judge Indicted, for Jailing 13-Year-Olds Ditching School
Unable to pay fines for skipping school, teenagers as young as 13 in an impoverished Texas county have wound up spending weeks in local jails, according to a lawsuit filed against Hidalgo County. Lead plaintiffs Francisco De Luna and Elizabeth Di... read more
Army Suicides Reach One a Day; Epidemic Spreads to National Guard and Reserves
The U.S. Army, along with the National Guard and Army Reserves, averaged a suicide a day in June, making what already was a bad year even worse.
Thirty-two soldiers, including 11 in the Guard and Reserve, killed themselves last month, a rate o... read more
Here Comes the Corporate Campaign Money…Target Goes Republican
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s removal of a 60-year-old restriction on corporate political donations, companies are coming out in support of the Republican favorite for the Minnesota governor’s race.
Retailer Target has contributed $150,000 to ... read more
VA Accused of Making Veterans Benefits Appeals Harder
Former U.S. Army General Eric Shinseki probably knows something about Trojan horses from his military history. Shinseki, now the head of the Department of Veterans Affairs, has been accused by critics of sending a Trojan bill to Congress that does... read more
Russian-Owned Mine Posts Worst Violations Rate in U.S.
In the wake of the Upper Big Ranch mine accident in April that killed 29 workers, National Public Radio has reported that safety and health violations in the American coal industry have gone up by a third since 2006. The story focused on the West ... read more
BP on the Lookout for BP-Friendly Scientists
University scientists willing to help BP fight off numerous court cases stemming from the gulf oil spill can make $250 an hour. The oil company has been reaching out to experts at public universities along the gulf coast, and has reportedly hired ... read more
FTC Orders 20-Year Monitoring of U-Haul in Price-Fixing Case
U-Haul, the nation’s largest one-way truck rental business, will have its pricing schemes monitored for the next 20 years by the federal government after being caught colluding with competitors to charge customers more money.
An investigation ... read more
Court Rules It’s Legal to Use Hacked Codes…If You’re GE
A federal appeals court has ruled it was okay for General Electric to use computer software copyrighted by another company even though it hacked its way into the protected technology. The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by MGE UPS Systems, manuf... read more
Three-Quarters of Oil and Gas Lobbyists Worked for Government
According to a government watchdog group, the Center for Responsive Politics, about a third of all lobbyists in Washington, DC, used to work for the federal government. But the percentage among oil lobbyists with “revolving door connections” is dr... read more
Labor Department Rejects 98% of Whistleblower Protection Requests
Following the Enron accounting scandal, Congress adopted the Sarbanes-Oxley (“Sarbox”) corporate reform law to reduce the risk of future corporate fiascoes by bolstering protections for whistleblowers. But in the eight years since the law was pass... read more
Napolitano’s Homeland Security Filtered Public Document Requests Through Political Aides
Perhaps Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano didn’t get the memo about the Obama administration being all for greater openness in government.
An investigation by the Associated Press has found that the Department of Homeland Security sent Freed... read more
5 States Sue Federal Government over Fish Invasion
Concerned over the future of the Great Lakes’ fish supply, five states have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking the government to take action to stop the spread of the Asian carp. Officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and Pennsylv... read more
Big Rivers Electric and NiSource Worst CO2 Emission Rates among Power Plants
Producing large amounts of electricity and carbon dioxide don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand, not if a company has diversified its means of power generation to include alternative sources of energy.
Take for instance NextEra Energy, the nation... read more
Air Force Clashes with Union over Food Service Jobs
A union representing federal workers is trying to derail a U.S. Air Force pilot project that could lead to air bases across the country hiring private contractors to provide food services to military personnel.
Under the Food Transformation In... read more
U.S. Citizen Detained by FBI in Egypt Released for Return Home
After being denied re-entry into the United States for two months, Yahya Wehelie finally has been allowed to return to Virginia. The U.S.-born citizen of Somali parents spent 18 months in Yemen to learn Arabic and find a wife before winding up stu... read more
U.S. Drug Gangs Learn New Tactics by Fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan
Graffiti from such gangs as the Maniac Latin Disciples, the Gangster Disciples and the Latin Kings is prevalent not just in the inner city of Chicago, but also on U.S. military bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s because gang members are joining... read more