As of June 10, the date of the most recent shooting at Reynolds High School in Oregon, there were 37 recorded gunfire incidents at schools in the U.S., according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a pro-gun-control group. That averages to a shooting every 4.4 days. A little more than half of the incidents have taken place on college campuses (20), with the other 17 occurring at secondary schools.   read more

The VA healthcare system has struggled to keep up with demand from two different veterans’ populations: Afghanistan and Iraq vets who are requiring more medical and other help than their predecessors; and Vietnam veterans seeking more assistance than before, including those diagnosed with ailments related to Agent Orange.   read more

Thousands of federal government employees are armed with handguns and even semiautomatic and automatic weapons as part of their jobs for agencies that are not traditional law enforcement operations. These gun-toting civil servants include those performing missions that involve Social Security, delivering the mail, predicting the weather, and overseeing railroad pensions. Others authorized to carry firearms conduct audits for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.   read more

Cheryl MacKenzie, who led the investigation, said another such blowout is not out of the question. “Although there have been regulatory improvements since the accident, the effective management of safety critical elements has yet to be established,” MacKenzie said. “This results in potential safety gaps in U.S. offshore operations and leaves open the possibility of another similar catastrophic accident.”   read more

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a plan last week that would cut carbon emissions from electricity production by 30% over the next 15 years. The proposal drew howls of protest from those who said it would raise electric rates and kill jobs. However, 10 states have already cut their plant emissions by that much and there have been few economic consequences.   read more

The House of Representatives passed an amendment that would stop enforcement of federal marijuana laws against therapeutic use in states where it’s legal.The DEA appears to be trying to get in its last licks before the proposal is approved by the Senate. DEA agents in Massachusetts have been coming to the offices and homes of doctors affiliated with marijuana dispensaries.   read more

Those that rely heavily on coal, like Montana, Kentucky, Wyoming, West Virginia, and Nebraska, don’t have it as bad as their political leaders claim. For instance, West Virginia will have to cut carbon pollution by 19.8%, while Kentucky’s goal is only 18.3%. Meanwhile, Washington state, one of the lowest carbon emitters, is supposed to cut its pollution output by 72%. Louisiana faces a 68% goal, Arizona and South Carolina 52% each, and Texas 44%.   read more

The ACLU, which was contesting Florida police’s use of surveillance technology, got quite the surprise recently when federal marshals unexpectedly confiscated police records pertaining to the controversial program that had been requested by the ACLU. The organization was to have reviewed them at a police station in Sarasota when members of the U.S. Marshals Service swept in and took the files.   read more

Barack Obama, the former constitutional law professor and U.S. senator, once disapproved of presidential signing statements, which allow the White House to ignore or interpret differently certain provisions of new laws passed by Congress. But Obama the 44th president of the United States has often embraced the practice that he once called a “clear abuse” of executive power.   read more

As part of the agreement, the five detainees were flown from the U.S. facility in Cuba to Qatar, which brokered the exchange. The Qatari government said the Taliban members will be prevented from leaving the country for one year, and the U.S. ally promised to work to ensure American national security does not become compromised by the release.   read more

The amendment, championed by California congressmen Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican, and Democrat Sam Farr, passed by a 219-189 margin. Those voting yes included 170 Democrats and 49 Republicans. As the amendment is written, it would apply only to 32 states and the District of Columbia, which are listed in the bill, that currently allow use of medical marijuana or are about to approve its use. So if another state were to legalize medical pot, it wouldn’t be included.   read more

The proposal says the expansion is designed to be a representative sample of about 5% of borrowers. It would “include without limitation: (1) Borrower/co-borrower information (name, address, zip code, telephone numbers, date of birth, race/ethnicity, gender, language, religion, social security number, education records, military status/records, employment status/records).”   read more

A federal judge in Massachusetts ruled last week that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) can’t hold immigrants more than six months without a bond hearing. For now, the ruling applies only to those held in Massachusetts, which comprises the class in the suit filed by Mark Reid, a U.S. resident born in Jamaica who was held more than a year while ICE attempted to deport him for non-violent drug convictions.   read more

Standing 30 feet from the officer, Gericke pointed her video camera, which was later found to be not working and failed to record events. Sergeant Joseph Kelley did not instruct Gericke to put the camera away while dealing with her friend, Tyler Hanslin, who was stopped for a traffic violation. But a second officer at the scene, Brandon Montplaisir, arrested Gericke for unlawful interception of oral communications and seized her camera.   read more

Bolstering allegations that have rocked the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with scandal, a “scathing” new report from the agency’s inspector general (IG) concluded that a Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix generated falsified data to hide treatment delays for veterans seeking medical care. The report also disclosed that the Phoenix VA Health Care System failed to put at least 1,700 patients on the official waiting list for doctors’ appointments.   read more

Some Republicans begrudgingly supported the measure, fearing a worse alternative: Labor groups have been collecting signatures for a ballot initiative that calls for raising the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. By pushing through the legislative plan, Republicans effectively thwarted the ballot measure. In addition, studies have shown that having a minimum wage initiative on a ballot drives low-wage voters to the polls. Those people are more likely to support Democratic candidates.   read more