Smith, a Texas Republican who has received more than $687,000 in fossil fuel donations, made his hostility to the investigations known this month. Smith reportedly counts the oil and gas industry as his biggest lifetime donors and has used his science committee platform at every opportunity to try to discredit the scientific consensus on global warming. Smith called the ExxonMobil investigations "a form of extortion." Prosecutor Schneiderman called the subpoenas the work of "GOP extremists."   read more

This is the first time that a presidential candidate has openly asked a foreign power to meddle in the democratic process to his benefit. More than that, Trump seemed to be suggesting that Russia should violate U.S. law on his behalf. Were Russia to follow Trump’s suggestion, the foreign intervention into U.S. politics would be among the most severe of the past century. “This is unprecedented...[and] seems to be genuinely new in international relations,” said professor Musgrave.   read more

The FBI placed recording devices in a light fixture along the steps of both courthouses. The government then used the recordings during grand jury proceedings. Judge Phyllis Hamilton acknowledged the practice of placing recording devices on the courthouse steps to capture the conversations in a federal criminal fraud case was "unsettling," but said the four did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when they engaged in discussions about the alleged fraud next to the FBI's microphones.   read more

A new survey shows a real discomfort with the idea of meddling with human abilities. Pew asked about three techniques that might emerge in the future: using gene editing to protect babies from disease, implanting chips in the brain to improve people’s ability to think, and transfusing synthetic blood that would enhance performance by increasing speed, strength and endurance. The public was unenthusiastic on all counts, even about protecting babies from disease.   read more

Intelligence officials have expressed concern that handing the contract to a foreign-owned company could leave the system more vulnerable to an attack. Evidence emerged several months ago that Telcordia had improperly used a number of foreign nationals, including a Chinese citizen, to do computer coding for early work on the system. Only “vetted U.S. citizens” were supposed to work on the project. As a result, the FCC forced the firm to scrap the work it had done and start over.   read more

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is poised to adopt strict new national rules that will curtail payday lending. These will limit the number of loans that can be taken in quick succession and will force companies to check that their borrowers have the means to repay them. But lenders — and even some consumer advocates who favor stronger regulation — are grappling with the uncomfortable question of what will happen to customers if a financial lifeline that they rely on is cut off.   read more

The Pentagon has revised its Law of War guidelines to remove wording that could permit U.S. military commanders to treat war correspondents as “unprivileged belligerents” if they think the journalists are sympathizing or cooperating with enemy forces. The amended manual, published on Friday, also drops wording that equated journalism with spying. These and other changes were made in response to complaints by news organizations.   read more

Three people have been charged in an unprecedented $1 billion health care fraud scam, accused of using dozens of Miami nursing homes to bilk the taxpayer-funded Medicare and Medicaid programs. Authorities said Philip Esformes, who ran 30 nursing homes and assisted living facilities, joined with two conspirators and a complex network of corrupt doctors and hospitals to refer thousands of patients to their facilities even though the patients did not qualify for the services.   read more

Almost a quarter of the harmed patients had to be admitted to an acute care hospital, at a cost of about $7.7 million for the month analyzed. The physicians who reviewed the cases for the OIG say substandard treatment, inadequate monitoring, and failure to provide needed care caused most of the harm. Almost half the cases, 46%, were related to medication errors, and included bleeding from gastric ulcers due to blood thinners and a loss of consciousness linked to narcotic painkillers.   read more

The American Diabetes Assn has been working to change Army policy since 2010, and says numerous families across the nation are affected. "The U.S. Army's policy is discriminatory and completely out of step with current practices relating to caring for children with diabetes," ADA's Hagan said. "This discriminatory policy provides little choice for parents who are effectively forced to pull their children out of the U.S. Army's high-quality programs or face jeopardizing their lives," said Smith.   read more

HIPAA requires tight security over personal health information. Apps and wearables may not have the same protections. A study looked at 600 of the most commonly used health apps and found that fewer than a third had privacy policies. Many apps connect to third-party websites without users’ knowledge and send data in unencrypted ways that potentially exposed personal information. Many people do not read an app’s privacy policy, leaving them open to having their information used in myriad ways.   read more

Jenesis staggered naked and bleeding away from gang members. “She had been raped and shot in the stomach,” Elena recalled. After years of such brutality, the family finally fled. Yet they aren’t safe, in part because of a policy backed by Obama and Mexico to return refugees to the countries from which they fled. Because Americans worry about refugees swarming across our borders, we help pay for Mexico to intercept them and return them home, where they may well be raped or killed.   read more

Powerful economic incentives discourage hospitals from reporting doctor abuse, and in many cases, reports are never filed in the first place. But even when they are, they may classify violations in a way that conceals the scope of abuse. The investigation found about 70% more physicians accused of sexual misconduct than the 466 classified as such in the public version of the data bank. To date, no official action has ever been taken by HR against a hospital for failing to report properly.   read more

In a new type of imposter scam, crooks infiltrate companies' or organizations' email systems and send messages purporting to be from the CEOs to employees with urgent instructions to wire money somewhere. Complaints about phony IRS agents was one of fastest-growing complaints last year, according to the new report. "Scammers are always changing their pitches and looking for things that work," said CFA 's Susan Grant. "The IRS phony agent obviously works. It scares the heck out of people."   read more

"Each of the claims the 9/11 families and victims has made against the kingdom of Saudi Arabia enjoys extensive support in the findings of a broad range of investigative documents..." the families said. Sen. Blumenthal said the documents "provide more than enough evidence to raise serious concerns." Added Terry Strada: "There is so much more on the Saudi connection to 9/11 and this is the tip of the iceberg, but you had to get this first. It's the beginning, but I don't think it's the end."   read more

Sen. Leahy described the provisions as “completely unacceptable” and “misguided.” He deplored what he called an emerging pattern of efforts by the intelligence panels to undermine the oversight board’s independence and authority. “The lesson from Snowden is how critical it is to have democratic debate and oversight of our intelligence community...” said Medine. “Now we have the intelligence committees trying to undercut that and push the intelligence community back into the shadows again.”   read more