Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

If the ruling stands, it would be a major setback of millions of low-income Americans who benefit from the cost-sharing subsidies that help them pay for out-of-pocket costs. Collyer's ruling disappointed congressional Democrats, who vowed to appeal. Elizabeth Wydra, president of the Constitutional Accountability Center, said the judge's ruling is "unprecedented" as it allowed "a partisan faction of Congress to use the courts to settle a political dispute over the interpretation of a statute."   read more

The cornerstone of the Joint Strike Fighter program is affordability. The program was sold using affordability as its battle cry. The program promised to "affordably develop the next generation strike fighter weapons system to meet an advanced threat (2010 and beyond), while improving lethality, survivability, and supportability." The affordability was addressed by combining multiple programs into one. It didn't work, especially with poor project management.   read more

In response to the nation’s financial crisis, Milwaukee put in place policies to help people stay in their homes; for example, giving residents three years to pay property taxes before foreclosing. Now, unscrupulous landlords are exploiting those policies. What some landlords have figured out is that they can buy a property and collect rent — but not pay taxes — while letting it fall into disrepair. Then three years later, they let the city repossess the property, which erases the tax bill.   read more

Women have never been required to register and have never been part of a large-scale draft. Any justification for barring women from draft registration was erased last year, when the Pentagon announced that all military jobs would be open to women. The committee noted that the top officers in each of the military branches expressed support for including women in a potential draft. A provocative debate is expected when legislation is considered in the full Senate and House.   read more

Blacks are still at a major health disadvantage compared with whites. But evidence of black gains has been building and has helped push up the ultimate measure — life expectancy. The gap between blacks and whites was seven years in 1990. By 2014, it had shrunk to 3.4 years, the smallest in history, with life expectancy at 75.6 years for blacks and 79 years for whites. Part of the reason has been the opioid crisis, which has hit harder in white communities, bringing down white life expectancy.   read more

In the New York metropolitan area, Kennedy International Airport reported the highest total of unclaimed funds: $43,716. The lowest amount collected at a hub airport was $1.99, at the Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa. What will the agency do with the money? In 2005, Congress gave the TSA the authority to use unclaimed money on security operations.   read more

Nursing home costs are rising largely because residents are more likely to arrive with chronic conditions like diabetes or emphysema that need more medical attention, said Greg Crist, a spokesman for the American Health Care Association, the country's largest trade group for nursing homes. He added that the average nursing home resident takes 11 prescription medications. "They're living longer, they're not necessarily living healthier," he said.   read more

Manes was principal officer in the consulate in Azores, where she helped negotiate the U.S. military presence in those islands. She then was named cultural affairs officer in an embassy in Brazil, where she helped develop an English teaching strategy in the run-up to the World Cup and Olympic Games. She returned to Washington in 2010 as staff director in the Office of Policy, Planning and Resources for Public Affairs. In 2012, she served a tour as counselor for public affairs in Afghanistan.   read more

Public schools must permit transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms consistent with their chosen gender identity, according to an Obama administration directive issued amid a court fight between the federal government and North Carolina. The guidance from leaders at the departments of Education and Justice says public schools are obligated to treat transgender students in a way that matches their gender identity.   read more

The House approved three bills Thursday setting up federal grants and taking other steps to battle the drug epidemic, the last of 18 measures on the issue the chamber overwhelmingly passed this week. Members of both parties hailed the measures, though Democrats complained that none provided any money for the programs and anti-drug advocates called the bills a needed but modest first step.   read more

Despite Monsanto’s claim that its Roundup weed-killer is “safe enough to drink,” four Nebraska farmers say the widely used herbicide gave them non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. All four of the plaintiffs say they were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after being exposed to Roundup year after year. They claim, among other things, that Monsanto mislabeled the product, in defiance of the “body of recognized scientific evidence linking the disease to exposure to Roundup.”   read more

Detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, could plead guilty to criminal charges in civilian court via remote videoconference under a provision being considered by the Senate that could open a new avenue to whittling down the prison’s remaining population. The Senate Armed Services Committee announced late Thursday that it had included the provision in the annual National Defense Authorization Act.   read more

The Obama administration is beginning a major project to better understand microbes, and even control them. The National Microbiome Initiative announced by White House science officials Friday aims to bring together scientists who study the microbes that live in the human gut and in the oceans, in farm soil and in hospitals — to speed discoveries that could bring big payoffs.   read more

Remember how scathing Republicans were about President Obama’s handling of Ebola? Yet Obama’s approach was spectacularly successful. Republicans are now again trying to block a sensible effort to address a public health crisis, this time a Zika virus outbreak that is steadily moving to the continental U.S., bringing with it calamitous birth defects. In February, Obama urgently requested more than $1.8 billion to address Zika, and Congress since then has done nothing but talk.   read more

The former detainees sued CACI in 2008. They claim employees of the company, which was hired to conduct interrogations at the U.S. prison in Iraq, conspired to have soldiers torture them. The plaintiffs say they were subjected to electrical shocks, sexual violence and forced nudity, and were deprived of food, water and oxygen. In the appeals hearing, Judge Keenan asked O'Connor why the private contractor should get more protection than the military for clear violations of laws against torture.   read more

"My interest, first and foremost, is transparency," said Leopold. "My case before the District Court was the best chance of ensuring this information would be revealed. That's a fact. It's too bad the ACLU didn't agree. Ultimately, it's the public who ends up shortchanged." Said ACLU's Jaffer: "We have invested more than five years in this suit, and in two related suits in New York, because we continue to believe that the government owes the public a fuller account of its drone policies."   read more