Prosecutors said Friday that Wells Fargo will pay $1.2 billion to settle claims of mortgage fraud related to government-insured loans, a penalty that represents a fraction of the lender's profits. Wells Fargo Bank admitted that it told the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that certain residential home mortgage loans were eligible for federal housing insurance when they were not.   read more

The agency’s executive director, Brian D. Newby, had been in his job less than three months in January when he unilaterally reversed a policy that the body’s commissioners, two Democrats and two Republicans, had endorsed since the agency’s creation in 2002: that people registering to vote need offer no proof, beyond swearing an oath, that they are American citizens. There was but one problem, critics say: Newby had no authority to make policy, a power reserved to the agency’s four commissioners.   read more

Five polling places in Phoenix still had voters in line after midnight during Arizona's botched presidential primary two weeks ago. Votes were still being cast past 10 p.m. in 20 locations, and one location in Phoenix saw its last voter just two minutes before 1 a.m. Maricopa County cut the number of polling places from 200 in 2012 to just 60 this year. The Justice Department launched an inquiry into the wait times and whether they violated voting rights laws.   read more

The U.S. ranks third in the world in financial secrecy, behind Switzerland and Hong Kong but ahead of notorious tax havens such as the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg, according to the Tax Justice Network. "It is no secret that U.S. banks, particularly in Miami, are awash in undeclared Latin American money," wrote Cotorceanu. "How ironic — no, how perverse — that the USA, which has been so sanctimonious in its condemnation of Swiss banks, has become the banking secrecy jurisdiction du jour."   read more

Since the start of the 21st century, 21 countries, including the U.S., have already fully decoupled their economic growth from carbon emissions. While GDP went up, carbon pollution went down. Between 2000 and 2014, energy-related carbon dioxide emissions dropped 16% in the U.S. industrial sector, while economic activity increased 9%. “It’s really exciting, and it suggests that countries can sever the historic link between economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions,” said Nate Aden.   read more

The U.S., with $596 billion in defense spending, and China, with an estimated $215 billion, led all countries in 2015. For weapons manufacturers, the nonstop pace of airstrikes targeting ISIS fighters in Iraq and Syria, as well as Saudi-led bombing of Yemen's Shiite rebels and their allies, means billions of dollars more in sales. But activists question continued U.S. arms deals to Saudi Arabia as its Yemen campaign has killed civilians.   read more

A vast trove of documents on offshore financial dealings of wealthy, famous and powerful people around the world is raising questions over the widespread use of such tactics to skirt financial oversight. The cache of 11.5 million records exposed offshore assets of politicians and celebrities. "It allows a never-before-seen view...at how dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues," the ICIJ said.   read more

The IRS says it prevented $24.2 billion in payments to identity thieves in 2013...but paid $5.8 billion in federal returns later determined to be fraudulent. The GAO study called such scams a "large, continually evolving threat that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars per year." Commissioner Dan Bork said he understands the public might find it frustrating that their returns could be delayed, but "we would rather protect their refund than have it end up in the hands of criminals."   read more

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that 500,000 to a million people will lose benefits this year. Many unemployed childless adults with low incomes, most between 18 and 49 years old, could be cut off, starting this month. Food policy expert Dorothy Rosenbaum said that people could be particularly hard hit in Southern and Southeastern states, including Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi. Food policy experts see no immediate prospect that Congress will extend any relief.   read more

The report found veterans after 2001 were nearly twice as likely as Vietnam vets to be barred from benefits, and four times as likely as World War II vets. “It has gotten worse with every generation,” said Bradford Adams, an author of the report. The reason is largely due to the military’s increasing reliance on other-than-honorable discharges, used as a quick way to dismiss troubled men and women who might otherwise qualify for time-consuming and expensive medical discharges.   read more

Emergency rooms find themselves at the front lines of the addiction epidemic. "It is unique that they're going to do a variety of measures to avoid" using opioids, Kolodny said of St. Joseph's. "In many cases, we're exposing people to opioids when we don't need to be." Other U.S. hospitals have worked to reduce the use of opioids, including chronic pain policies that limit their use, using prescription monitoring programs, and educating physicians to use non-opioid alternatives.   read more

Attorneys general in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Massachusetts are investigating whether Exxon Mobil deceived the public about the effects of climate change. The investigations came as nearly two dozen state attorneys general said they'd formed a coalition to explore legal ways to combat global warming by filing lawsuits and briefs or by opening environmental, consumer or financial probes. Former VP Al Gore likened the approach to how states took on the tobacco industry decades ago.   read more

Republicans' bid to defund Planned Parenthood was vetoed by President Obama, but anti-abortion politicians are achieving their goal with an aggressive state-by-state strategy. Funding cutbacks are forcing Planned Parenthood to drop health screenings serving thousands of low-income women. "It's been a non-stop assault — with devastating consequences," said the group's VP, Dawn Laguens. "At what point do you hit a tipping point where it has same impact as if a federal bill had passed?"   read more

The sheer number of restrictions in Indiana’s legislation made it distinct. It holds doctors liable if a woman has an abortion solely because of objections to the fetus’ race, sex or a disability. It also restricts fetal tissue donation and requires doctors to have admitting privileges at a hospital or to have an agreement with a doctor who does. Law professor Dawn Johnsen said the legislation was “a clear attempt to interfere and harm and chill doctors’ willingness to perform abortions.”   read more

The panel concluded that disregard for poor and minority people contributed to the government’s slow response to complaints from residents of Flint about the foul water that was making them sick. The crisis “is a story of government failure, intransigence, unpreparedness, delay, inaction and environmental injustice," said the report. “I could not imagine this happening in an affluent community that was not a majority-minority community and the same reaction occurring," said Rep. Dan Kildee.   read more

Energy prices and the perceived abundance of energy sources seem to be the most relevant factors in attitudes toward nuclear power, rather than safety concerns prompted by nuclear incidents. Lower gas prices over the past year are likely driving greater opposition toward the use of nuclear power. As Americans have paid less at the pump, their level of worry about the nation's energy situation has dropped to 15-year-low levels.   read more