Top Stories
Obama’s Expanding Special Ops War against Terrorists Spreads to 75 Countries
Special Operations forces have taken on an importance under President Barack Obama that they didn’t enjoy with the Bush administration—which wasn’t timid about employing commandoes in the war against terror. But Obama has embraced the secretive wo... read more
Gulf Oil Spill Could Reach as Far as North Carolina This Summer
Using a powerful computer model to simulate how the Deepwater Horizon spill might extend beyond the Gulf of Mexico, scientists at The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) have estimated that oil could wind up on the Atlantic seaboard.
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John Wooden's 10 Rules to Live By
John Wooden, head basketball coach at UCLA from 1948 to 1975, died June 4, 2010, at the age of 99. He once defined success as the peace of mind “that comes from knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming.” In 199... read more
U.N. Report Accuses U.S. of Using CIA as Pseudo-Military
Philip Alston, the United Nations special representative on extrajudicial executions, accused the United States of taking a self-entitled approach that bends international law while hunting down terrorists for “targeted killings” using unmanned dr... read more
Justice Department Not Prepared to Deal with WMD Attack
When it comes to gearing up for a potential chemical, biological or nuclear attack, the U.S. Department of Justice has its work cut out. A review of readiness plans for responding to weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats found many of Justice’... read more
BP Cited for More Than a Spill or Leak a Day in the U.S. for the Last 20 Years
BP has been responsible for more than 8,000 spills, emissions or leaks of oil, chemicals or gases since 1990, according to the Sunlight Foundation. Using data collected by the National Response Center, which compiles reports on oil spills, radiati... read more
City of Tucson Files Complaint against Arizona’s Immigration Law
Joining a complaint by one of its own police officers, the city of Tucson has legally filed its opposition to Arizona’s new immigration law. Tucson officials contend that they lack the funding and police resources to enforce the state law, which r... read more
BP Pushes for Oil Industry-Friendly Judge to Handle Lawsuits
BP, operator of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform, is pushing for a single judge in Houston—who has friendly ties with the oil industry—to handle the nearly 100 lawsuits so far filed against the company.
BP’s choice is U.S. District Judge Lyn... read more
BP Employee Refuses to Testify; Is Prosecution in the Cards?
Robert Kaluza, described as a top employee with BP, refused to testify this week before a federal inquiry into the Deepwater Horizon accident, which could be a sign that the U.S. Department of Justice will pursue a criminal liability case against ... read more
Coast Guard Tells Louisiana Residents Oil Spill is not an Environmental Disaster
Two days before the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) announced that the Deepwater Horizon accident had easily eclipsed the Exxon Valdez disaster as the nation’s worst-ever oil spill, U.S. Coast Guard representative Edward Stanton downplayed the serio... read more
Utter Corruption among Oil Rig Regulators
Following previous investigations that questioned the agency’s ethical performance, a new inspector general report has revealed that employees of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) in Louisiana committed serious transgressions while overseeing ... read more
More U.S. Troops in Afghanistan than in Iraq for First Time Since 2003 Iraq Invasion
Afghanistan now is not only the costliest of America’s two wars, but also the more demanding in terms of troops. The Department of Defense officially announced this week that more soldiers are currently serving in Afghanistan than in Iraq, a first... read more
Offshore Oil Drilling Waivers Continue Despite “Moratorium”
The Obama administration seems to have multiple definitions of “moratorium.” Shortly after the Deepwater Horizon accident occurred in the Gulf of Mexico, President Barack Obama promised a cessation of new offshore oil drilling while the governmen... read more
Supreme Court Upholds Imprisonment of Sex Offenders after Sentences Served
Sexually-violent predators can remain held in prison after serving their sentences if the government provides “clear and convincing” evidence that the individuals remain a threat to society, according to a new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court.
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16 Terror Suspects Slipped Through Airport Security in U.S.
An airport security program designed to detect terrorists allowed more than a dozen suspects to board U.S. flights. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) into the Transportation Security Administration’s Screening Passenge... read more
Lab Chosen to Test Oil Spill Water and Animal Samples Has Ties to BP
To find out how much damage the Deepwater Horizon accident has caused the environment, experts are collecting water samples from the Gulf of Mexico for testing. But the federal government is requiring these samples be tested at one laboratory (TD... read more