The study has concluded what many people have long thought, but which could not be proved because of a lack of data: African-Americans are far more likely than other groups to be the victims of use of force by the police. The report largely refutes explanations from some police officials that blacks are more likely to be subjected to police force because they are more frequently involved in criminal activity. Black activists said the study was far from surprising.   read more

The report the committee produced is a scathing indictment of the TSA's disciplinary policies and employee morale and behavior. More than 1,200 employees at TSA had at least five allegations filed against them between 2013 and 2015. Long wait times, lax security checks and allegations of rampant mismanagement have plagued the TSA in the past year, causing agency head Peter Neffenger to become something of a fixture at Capitol Hill oversight hearings.   read more

Many of the people who already live in Boulder would prefer that the newcomers settle somewhere else. “The experience of being in Boulder...has to do with being able to go to this meadow and it isn’t just littered with human beings,” said Pomerance. All of Boulder’s charms are under threat, he said. People now worry that growth is killing the place they love. But a growing body of literature suggests that anti-growth sentiment is a major factor in creating a stagnant and less equal U.S. economy.   read more

When her mother returned, Padron couldn't even sit in her wheelchair. She was left to lie in bed for about 165 hours a week — without specialized services, including physical therapies. She eventually was unable to straighten her wrists, ankles, shoulders, legs or hips and developed a spine deformity, court records show. She was 29 when she died. Texas was ranked in the bottom one third of states for the comprehensiveness of evaluations conducted on intellectually-disabled patients.   read more

Two years after a scandal, the VA still has "profound deficiencies" in delivering health care to millions of veterans. The panel says the VA needs to improve its service to veterans, adding that it "require[s] urgent reform." Congress created the commission after approving a law overhauling the VA in the wake of the wait-time scandal, which involved a cover-up with false paperwork and secret waiting lists. As many as 40 veterans died while awaiting care at the Phoenix VA.   read more

New Jersey’s loans, which currently total $1.9 billion, are unlike those of any other government lending program for students in the country. They come with extraordinarily stringent rules that can easily lead to financial ruin. Repayments cannot be adjusted based on income, and borrowers who are facing financial hardships are given few breaks. Most significantly, the loans come with a cudgel that even the most predatory for-profit players cannot wield: the power of the state.   read more

A worker at a federal lab intentionally manipulated test results for years, possibly tainting research on toxic metals in the Everglades, uranium near the Grand Canyon and coal in Afghanistan. The manipulation occurred between 2008 and 2014 at the USGS Energy Geochemistry Laboratory in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. "We can only hope that this incident won't have a long-lasting effect on the agency's reputation," said USGS's Wade.   read more

In one emotional exchange, Army vet Reginald Russell Sr. rose from the audience and accused the VA of ignoring anecdotal evidence that Agent Orange had harmed children of vets. Russell’s first son, born shortly after he returned from Vietnam in 1971, died inexplicably at 9 months old. His youngest son, born a few years later with a heart defect, died in 2012 at 32. Russell held up a photo of a grave marker: “That’s my child,” he said, choking up.   read more

The scientists note that neurodevelopmental disorders are complex and have multiple genetic, social and environmental causes. But most chemicals in use today were not adequately tested for safety before being allowed on the market, said Dr. Jeanne Conry. “Before we can prescribe medicine, we have to prove it’s safe,” she said. “So how come with the chemical industry, we assume everything is safe and have to prove there’s harm?”   read more

The law sought to protect three beliefs: That marriage is only between a man and a woman; that sex should only take place in such a marriage; and that a person's gender is determined at birth and cannot be altered. It would extend protections to merchants who refuse services to lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people. Reeves said the law violates the Constitution's equal protection clause by authorizing "arbitrary discrimination against lesbian, gay, transgender, and unmarried persons."   read more

Last year was the deadliest driving year since 2008, when 37,423 people were killed. It was also the year in which American drove 3.1 trillion miles, more than ever before. The information comes as tens of millions of Americans were hitting the road for the Fourth of July holiday, one of the busiest and deadliest days on the year on the nation's roadways. If people drove more slowly and buckled up, said Rader, "the increases we're seeing now wouldn't be as large."   read more

"The history of voter disqualification has disturbing features," Appel wrote in his dissent. "In southern states after reconstruction, voter disqualification on the grounds of being convicted of infamous crimes was used as a tool to prevent African Americans from voting.'" Voting restrictions for ex-felons has a disproportionate effect on black citizens throughout the U.S., including Iowa, where Appel says African-American disenfranchisement is "more than triple the national rate."   read more

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined other Vermont leaders Friday to celebrate the state's newly implemented law requiring labels on genetically modified food. Sanders sharply criticized the compromise bill in Congress that called for less stringent regulations. "Perhaps most shockingly...this bill imposes no penalties whatsoever for violating the labeling requirement, making the legislation essentially meaningless," Sanders said.   read more

Federal regulators quietly gave the green light to more than 1,200 oil company fracking operations in the Gulf of Mexico between 2010 and 2014, according to documents environmentalists obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. At least 630 wells were fracked along the coasts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama during that four-year period, and more than 76 billion gallons in fracking waste were dumped into the Gulf in 2014 alone, the documents show.   read more

North Carolina lawmakers took steps Thursday to set aside a half-million dollars for the legal defense of a law limiting protections for LGBT people as a judge sought to streamline a cluster of lawsuits it has inspired. Republicans showed no appetite to change the provision requiring transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate in schools, universities and many other public buildings.   read more

U.S. Customs and Border Protection found that employees acted properly when they fired guns in four incidents dating back to 2012 — including two that left two people dead. The reviews are the board’s first under its mandate to review uses of lethal force and other serious incidents once federal, state and local prosecutors decline to pursue criminal charges. It has opened investigations into 14 other cases.   read more