U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl said this week that the restrictions on data collecting and disseminating may be “a façade for content or viewpoint discrimination.” The laws in question created criminal and civil penalties for anyone who gathers information about or takes photographs of land or resources and turns it over to government agencies. The plaintiffs said the laws prevent them from collecting information about animal abuse on farms and ranches and about food safety.   read more

The state expects to spend upwards of $1.8 million of the BP funds on the renovation of the mansion. The diversion of money to the mansion repairs is somewhat surprising considering Bentley’s administration claimed earlier this year that it had no money to keep DMV offices open in some of Alabama’s poorer counties. The DMV offices are the primary place voters can obtain the identification required to vote under the state’s new laws.   read more

"The Government Accountability Office in 2010 estimated that about half of the agency’s inventory — said to be worth nearly $14 billion at the time — was just taking up space,” wrote Politico. It’s no wonder what one ex-general had to say about the Defense Logistics Agency. “How do you buy $7 billion of stuff you don’t need?” said Arnold Punaro, a retired major general in the Marine Corps Reserve. “If a company did that they’d be out of business. Even Wal-Mart.”   read more

1. Lawyer who Defends Corporations Accused of Creating Toxic Pollution Sues Neighbor for Smoking Inside his own House 2. 47% of Americans would have to Borrow or Sell Something to Cover an Unexpected Expense of $400 3. FBI Upgrades Animal Cruelty to Class A Felony   read more

The federal program has permitted police to keep up to 80% of assets they seize, such as TV sets, cars, cash and even houses. “Asset forfeiture has become an increasingly contentious practice in recent years. It lets police seize and keep cash and property from people who are never convicted — and in many cases, never charged — with wrongdoing,” wrote the Post. Widespread use of the practice has prompted "concern that, in some cases, police are motivated more by profits and less by justice.”   read more

The report said 78,000 active-duty soldiers were clinically obese based on having a body mass index of 30 or higher. “These soldiers also are less likely to be medically ready to deploy,” wrote Army Times. About 13% of male soldiers were classified as obese, compared to 8% of women. “The obese service members in the brigade in Afghanistan were 40% more likely to experience an injury than those with a healthy weight, and slower runners were 49% more likely to be injured.”   read more

Some states as well as privacy experts and civil liberty groups say the law’s requirements for secure identification would amount to something like a national identification card. “The federal government has quietly gone around and clubbed states into submission,” said Minnesota senator Warren Limmer. If DHS tells TSA to begin enforcing the law, it could mean passengers from some states would not be able to use their driver’s licenses at airport security checkpoints.   read more

A new law is forcing the IRS to employ private debt collectors, which will cost the agency money and make it easier for scammers to defraud Americans. The provision means that bill collectors will be using the same tactics to collect tax debt as they do for a late credit-card payment. That concerns IRS officials, who have long warned Americans to beware of calls from scam artists claiming to be from the IRS. Such scams have cost 3,000 victims a total of $14 million this year alone.   read more

U.S. foreign sales increased from $26.7 billion in 2013 to $36.2 billion last year, despite increased competition for a market that hasn’t gotten much bigger. The U.S. is the biggest provider of arms in the world, controlling a bit more than 50% of the global arms export market. Russia is the next biggest supplier, with $10.2 billion, off a little from its 2013 total of $10.3 billion. Sweden, which supplies fighter planes to such countries as Brazil, was third at $5.5 billion in arms exports.   read more

“There is an alarming and growing trend of schools quietly seeking the right to discriminate against LGBT students, and not disclosing that information publicly,” HRC President Chad Griffin said. “We believe that religious liberty is a bedrock principle of our nation, however faith should never be used as a guise for discrimination. Prospective students and their parents deserve greater transparency, and we urge the Department of Education to take action...”   read more

DaVita, the leading provider of dialysis services in the United States, agreed to pay two of the largest settlements: $450 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly generated unnecessary waste in administering the drugs Zemplar and Venofer to dialysis patients and billed the government for costs that could have been avoided; and $350 million for paying kickbacks to physicians to induce patient referrals to its clinics.   read more

McKesson, which made $6.2 billion providing healthcare services and information technology, paid the most in penalties: $2.05 billion for 24 instances of misconduct. Its biggest single penalty was in 2005, when it paid $960 million to members of a class action suit in connection with accounting improprieties in a company acquired by McKesson. It paid $150 million earlier this year because of reporting problems for controlled substances. The company has been led since 2001 by CEO John Hammergren.   read more

“America’s next president could be eased into office not just by TV ads or speeches, but by Google’s secret decisions, and no one—except for me and perhaps a few other obscure researchers—would know how this was accomplished,” Epstein wrote. “Research I have been directing in recent years suggests that Google, Inc., has amassed far more power to control elections—indeed, to control a wide variety of opinions and beliefs—than any company in history has ever had."   read more

Parent Kimberly Herndon said the assignment amounted to “indoctrination” and that it violated the students’ right of religious freedom. Not all members of the community were as quick to condemn LaPorte. A Facebook page supporting the teacher had more than 2,000 members. “As a community, it is up to us to defend a teacher who is not in the wrong and deserves our support as she supported a great number of us through our high school years,” Grace Zimmerman, a former student of LaPorte’s, posted.   read more

“It’s outrageous that lawmakers are interfering with the most modest measures to increase disclosure of political spending,” said Public Citizen's Lisa Gilbert. “The American people want – and deserve – to know who is trying to buy our elections.” The budget deal also includes another Republican-supported rider designed to prevent the SEC from moving forward with a regulation requiring disclosure of political donations by public corporations.   read more

Agrabah is a fictional city in the Disney movie, "Aladdin." The question’s insertion into the survey was inspired by the “extreme rhetoric” of Republican presidential candidates in the debates and on the campaign trail. “Anything that sounds Arab might make these [respondents] think of people who might associate with terrorism,” Mayhew told MTV News. “It also relates to the fear people are feeling and it speaks to the fear that the right is playing to with their campaigns.”   read more