A group protesting a proposed purchase of environmentally sensitive Everglades land from U.S. Sugar Corporation was found to be actors from a nearby theater group. The “protesters” were asked via Facebook to show up last Thursday at South Florida Water Management District headquarters in West Palm Beach. The actors were offered $75 (but “NO BREAKFAST”), according to the posting.   read more

The worms have been shown to sniff out stomach, colorectal, colon, esophageal, pancreas, bile duct, prostate, breast and lung cancers and correctly diagnose it 96% of the time, which researchers say is better than a blood test. “In existing tests, people must have different examinations according to the type of cancer they have,” study author Takaaki Hirotsu said. “Our odor-based test detected all nine types of cancer we tested.”   read more

Correctional officer Robert Johnson was the target of an unsuccessful murder-for-hire by a prison inmate. Johnson and his wife, who witnessed the shooting, sued nine telecommunications providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile, claiming they should be held partly responsible for allowing the calls that arranged for the shooting. But the court said that would mean the cell phone providers would have had to stop the calls and, in doing so, violate federal law.   read more

The local city council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that protects atheists in the areas of employment, housing, and public accommodations. They now join the city’s long list of protected classes that include sex, race, religion, color, age, disability, gender identity, and political beliefs. “This is important because I believe it is only fair that if we protect religion, in all its varieties, we should also protect non-religion from discrimination,” said sponsor Anita Weier.   read more

Times are good for veterans seeking work, either with the federal government or in general. The Office of Personnel Management has reported that a third of all new hires by federal agencies last year were veterans, a record. The increase is a result of the Veterans Employment Initiative, signed by President Barack Obama in 2009 to increase the number of veterans in civil service positions. The effort has involved establishing liaisons at every agency to recruit veterans.   read more

Deborah Maynard will deliver the invocation early this month before the Iowa House of Representatives, marking a first for the legislative body. Maynard was asked to appear before lawmakers by her representative, Liz Bennett, a Democrat from Linn County, who was looking for someone different to give the invocation. Bennett has drawn criticism for the selection of Maynard."I am a little bit surprised that it has become as controversial as it has,” Bennett told KCCI.   read more

Base Esperanza, controlled by Argentina and located near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, recorded a temperature of 63.5°F on March 24. That was nearly four degrees higher than the previous high for the continent. “One surprising aspect of the temperatures measured recently at Esperanza and Marambio are that they occurred in autumn, nearly three months past the usual warmest time of the year in the Antarctic Peninsula,” according to the Weather Underground.   read more

The TSA has even assigned point values to each suspicious act. Strong body odor, for example, is worth 1 point, while a cold penetrating stare rates 2 points. If a passenger appears to be in disguise, he’s assessed 3 points. Points can also be deducted for a passenger’s age, or if they appear to be traveling with a spouse. Anyone assessed 4 or 5 points is subject to further screening and 6 or more points causes a supervisor to be called.   read more

The reviewers concluded that there was “insufficient evidence” that adding white potatoes to the approved list would change food purchasing habits of WIC recipients, and that there was “no evidence” purchasing habits had changed since white potatoes were removed from the list in 2009. Furthermore, “The nutrient profile of white potatoes does not support their exclusion from the CVV [cash value voucher program] because their nutrient content is similar to that of other starchy vegetables."   read more

“If you don't pay for the license to the song they will notify you and let you know that you have to pay,” said case plaintiff Jennifer Nelson. “They've never actually sued anybody but they have strong-armed people into having to pay.” Warner/Chappell Music charges anywhere from $500 to upwards of six figures for the song's use in a major motion picture. Nelson says it's been in the public domain for 65 years, while Warner says it owns title to copyright registration dating back to 1935.   read more

When she’s not defending corporate polluters accused of releasing toxic substances, Nessa Coppinger is in court suing her neighbor for smoking in the privacy of his own home. She said Gray’s smoking was “a health concern” for her family. “We don’t allow smoking in our home,” she said. They want their neighbors to pay them $500,000 in damages, saying the smoke has intruded on their property. They’ve already gotten D.C. Judge Ronna Beck to issue an order banning smoking in Gray’s house.   read more

One biotech company offers cash to mothers to donate their extra breast milk to its lab. The company sells the human milk--which some call "white plasma"--at $180 an ounce, which means one premature baby can easily consume $10,000 worth over several weeks. But the lure of cash for milk may begin to drain the resources of milk banks, which don’t pay mothers for their contributions. Opponents say “breast milk farming” could lead greedy moms to do unscrupulous things in order to increase profits.   read more

Despite its status as home base for the Mormon Church, Utah has passed legislation with the support of the church prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in employment and housing. The area may also attract LGBT people from other, less welcoming, locations in the West. The metropolitan area with the fewest who identify as LGBT is Birmingham, Alabama, at 2.6%.   read more

Schock, 33, has been accused of spending taxpayer funds on redesigning his office with a “Downton Abbey” theme, claiming reimbursement for more miles than his car had been driven, paying for a personal photographer out of congressional office funds and other misspending. Prior to his downfall, Schock was known by some as the nation’s “fittest congressman” after he posed shirtless for Men’s Health. Back in 1792, John Brown of Kentucky resigned from the House in 1792 at the age of 35.   read more

Researchers examined data from nearly 3,500 volunteers, all in their 30s, whose development has been closely watched since they were babies. They found those who were breastfed for a year or more had IQ test scores that were 3.76 points higher than those who were breast-fed for less than one month. Furthermore, those who were breastfed the longest remained in school longer and had monthly salaries that were about a third higher.   read more

The three-inch-long minnow went from being nearly extinct in 1993, when biologists documented fewer than a thousand of the chubs, to about 140,000 today. Paul Henson, Oregon supervisor for the FWS, called the fish’s recovery “a significant milestone, not only for conservation in Oregon but for conservation in the whole country. The chub illustrates that you can recover species and get them off the list." The agency intends to continue monitoring the Oregon chub for the next nine years.   read more