Cities across the United States have been shortening the length of yellow lights at intersections in order to generate more traffic tickets and, thus, more revenues. The motorists association argues that if anything, yellows lights should be lengthened because doing so reduces the risk of auto collisions. One study cited by the NMA found that adding just one second to a yellow light can lower intersection accidents by 40%.   read more

Mathew Martoma, who worked at CR Intrinsic, a unit of SAC Capital Advisors, was accused of making more than $276 million through the use of secret information from a a neurology professor at the University of Michigan, Dr. Sidney Gilman, who was involved in discouraging clinical trials for an Alzheimer’s drug being developed by Elan and Wyeth pharmaceutical companies.   read more

Wildlife Services has killed animals on behalf of more than 2,500 customers, including Fortune 500 companies, ranchers, prisons, country clubs, airports, federal agencies and other clients. Corporate clients include BP, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Ford and Toyota, Walt Disney World, Wells Fargo and Pfizer.   read more

Real earnings, in fact, are now equal to what they were in December 2005. Wages have been trending downward for about four decades, according to The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Researchers say the median working-age man with a job earns about 4% less than he did in 1970, after factoring for inflation.   read more

115,000 women each year lose private health insurance following a divorce and 65,000 lose all health insurance coverage. This occurrence stems from wives being on their husbands’ health plans and their inability to pay for their own coverage following the breakup of a marriage. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that women’s overall insurance coverage remains lower for more than two years after divorce.   read more

Another rising indicator from 2005 is the percentage of these borrowers who are at least 90 days delinquent, up from 6% to now nearly 10%. Many of these seniors—119,000, nearly double the total five years ago—are losing part of their Social Security benefits to the government in order to pay off their loans. The consequences facing them are moving in with their children, less money for retirement and filing for bankruptcy.   read more

CRS analyst Thomas L. Hungerford looked at 65 years of data and couldn’t determine how changes in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax correlated with economic growth. He did find, however, a connection between reductions in tax rates for wealthy Americans and growing concentrations of income for top earners.   read more

Some lawmakers want more changes imposed on the flood insurance program, such as requiring property owners in flood plains to pay the true market cost of being in harm’s way. Currently, the program insures 5.7 million homes nationwide near coastlines or rivers. Due to its existing debt obligations, it must pay anywhere from $90 million to $750 million annually to the U.S. Treasury just on the interest it owes.   read more

Janitors in Cincinnati are currently negotiating a new labor contract with cleaning service companies. The annual salary for a full-time janitor is only $17,836—which is below the poverty line of $18,106 for a family of three. The wage is also just over half the estimated annual cost of living in the city—$33,347 for a one-parent, one-child family, according to The Nation. Because of these wages, many full-time janitors are on food stamps, and receive both Medicaid and housing assistance.   read more

The Sunlight Foundation determined that the Political Victory Fund, despite its victories, actually got less than a 1% return on its investment helping or hindering candidates for office because it lost most of the big races it invested in. In the biggest race of the year, the NRA allocated $7.4 million opposing President Barack Obama, and another $1.9 million supporting Mitt Romney.   read more

Every dollar spent on policing in Sunnyvale, California (pop.: 140,095) yields only 20 cents in crime reduction benefits, while every dollar spent on policing in Gary, Indiana (pop.: 80,294) yields $14 in such benefits. Sunnyvale boasts low crime rates, while Gary has one of the nation’s highest crime rates. The authors also confirm a controversial finding made by previous investigators that police reduce violent crime more than property crime.   read more

Commissioners for Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago, have approved a $25 tax on each gun sold. The revenue generated from the tax, about $600,000 a year, will go towards helping pay for healthcare costs from gun violence. The levy represents the first time a major city has used taxation to mitigate the costs of gun-related violence. About 670 victims of gun violence were treated by the county’s health system in 2011, at an average cost of $52,000 per patient.   read more

One-sixth of all retired representatives and senators (79 of 463, or 17%) currently earn at least $100,000 from their pensions, according to the Federal Times. Among the six-figure Congressional pensioners are former Senator Bob Dole (R-Kansas), former Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), ex-Representative Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) and ex-Representative Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia).   read more

The company has been around for only a month, and operates out of a private home. The only person associated with it is its registered agent, William S. Rose Jr., a lawyer with a disconnected phone number, according to The Center for Public Integrity. Rose issued a press release on Monday explaining that Specialty is involved in “real estate ventures and investments.”   read more

The clock is running on Barclays for the bank to show U.S. regulators that it shouldn’t be fined a record $470 million for manipulation of California’s electricity markets. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accused Barclays of making trades in the energy market that it purposely lost money on in order to make huge profits on investments in a related derivatives swaps market.   read more

DynCorp of West Virginia, one of the largest military contractors in Afghanistan, was awarded a $72.8 million contract to train pilots for the Air Force about one week after the special inspector general for reconstruction called the company’s earlier work at the Kunduz army base “unsatisfactory.”   read more