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

The proposed rule would give Americans major new protections and deliver a serious blow to Wall Street that could cost the industry billions of dollars. In effect, the move by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — the biggest that the agency has made since its inception in 2010 — would unravel audacious legal maneuvers by corporate America that have prevented customers from using the court system to challenge potentially deceitful banking practices.   read more

Few could recount another instance where an evening newscast — the symbol of a network news brand — shifted its entire broadcast to a candidate’s home turf. “Is tomorrow night’s show going to be broadcast from Chappaqua?” ThinkProgress editor Judd Legum tweeted, referring to top Democratic contender Hillary Clinton’s residence. The tweet typified the surprised, and in some cases deeply skeptical, response to NBC’s move on social media, where TV's role in Trump’s rise is often fiercely debated.   read more

“[Tom and Jerry] portrays the violence in a funny manner and sends the message that, yes, I can hit him…and I can blow him up with explosives. It becomes set in [the viewer’s] mind that this is natural,” said Ambassador Abdel Sadek. Despite the SIS head’s statements, it does not yet appear that the government will actually take any steps to censor Tom and Jerry or video games. However, Egypt has had a history of censoring movies, primarily due to the sexual content depicted in some scenes.   read more

The move was applauded by public health experts who said the industry needed oversight and who had been waiting nearly seven years for the agency to provide it. But it infuriated many e-cigarette companies, which argued that the rules would crush smaller producers that could not afford the time and lawyers to complete an arduous federal applications process. That would have the effect of buoying big tobacco companies, some argued, many of which have gotten into the e-cigarette business.   read more

It would be the first significant change to a controversial law used to arrest and prosecute more than 500 women over the past decade, including some who used drugs under a doctor’s care. Many women were turned in to authorities by hospitals that conducted drug tests without consent. Alabama is one of three states that permit pregnant women to be arrested and prosecuted for drug use. It's the only state that allows arrests from early stages of pregnancy, even if babies are born unharmed.   read more

Even President Barack Obama's executive branch cannot read the full report, and the National Archives and Records Administration has stonewalled questions about whether it qualifies as a federal record, which would require preservation. The rights groups worry that more history might be lost, and they reminded archivist Ferriero that the CIA has destroyed "crucial video records of the torture program" more than a decade ago, "without NARA's knowledge or authorization."   read more

Money-making hospitals include nonprofits such as the Carle Foundation Hospital in Illinois, where a state appeals court in January ruled a state law allowing hospitals to avoid taxes is unconstitutional. Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said her city lost 11% of its assessed tax value when Carle stopped paying $6.5 million a year in property taxes. "We need to question this whole idea of what not-for-profit means," Prussing said. "This is a highly profitable business that manages to not pay taxes."   read more

“We are a gun society...but we should be writing gun laws that make us safer,” said police chief Leonard Papania, “Do you want every incident on your street to escalate to acts of gun violence?” In more than a dozen states with long traditions of robust support for gun ownership rights, and where legislatures have relaxed gun laws, local police have been denouncing the measures. They say the new laws expose officers to greater danger and prevent them from doing their jobs effectively.   read more

Under the plan announced Wednesday, wind companies and other power providers could kill or injure up to 4,200 bald eagles a year without penalty — nearly four times the current limit. Golden eagles could only be killed if companies minimize the losses, such as by retrofitting power poles to reduce electrocution risk. Companies would pay a $36,000 fee for a long-term permit allowing them to kill or injure eagles, and would have to submit reports of how many eagles they kill.   read more

Congress is pushing the Agriculture Dept to exempt the groups behind promotional campaigns from public scrutiny of their internal operations despite recent controversy. The push comes after organizations representing eggs, pork, potatoes and even Christmas trees pressed for an exception from the federal Freedom of Information Act for programs that promote agricultural products. A provision supporting their push was part of spending legislation approved by a House panel last month.   read more

The study estimates more than 250,000 Americans die each year from medical errors. That would rank just behind heart disease and cancer, which each took about 600,000 lives in 2014, and in front of respiratory disease, which caused about 150,000 deaths. Medical mistakes that can lead to death range from surgical complications to medication mix-ups. However, the system used to record death data doesn’t capture things like diagnostic errors and poor judgment that cost lives.   read more

The Isle de Jean Charles resettlement plan is one of the first programs of its kind in the world, a test of how to respond to climate change in the most dramatic circumstances without tearing communities apart. Under the terms of the grant, the island’s residents are to be resettled to drier land and a community that as of now does not exist. “We see this as setting a precedent for the rest of the country, the rest of the world,” said Marion McFadden, who is running the program at the HUD.   read more

Wall Street has figured out a way to squeeze some extra income from these stocks. And German taxpayers pay for it. A spokesman for the German finance ministry called the transactions “illegitimate because their sole purpose is to avoid the legal taxation of dividends.” “Everybody and their brother was doing it in the U.S.,” said Elise Bean, who as subcommittee chief counsel helped lead the Senate’s investigation in 2008. “And I guess now everybody and their brother is doing it abroad.”   read more

Reports found that 81% of the reef near the dredging site was buried in sediment, causing 93% partial coral death. Environmentalists have warned Congress and the state that the corps’ plan to lessen the damage to corals in that area is flawed. Coral reefs are critical to South Florida because they help lessen the damage from hurricanes, are crucial to marine biodiversity and lure tourists.   read more

Gov. Deal has received hundreds of letters, emails and calls. Most appear to lean toward him signing the bill, though sprinkled in among the appeals were notes from students and faculty members who objected to the legislation. "If approved, this law would result in those of us on campus feeling less safe, not more safe," read one faculty resolution. Teacher Nancy Jo Kirk warned such a law could deter top-notch professors fearful of campuses "potentially filled with hidden guns."   read more

“These leaked documents confirm what we have been saying for a long time: TTIP would put corporations at the center of policymaking, to the detriment of environment and public health,” said Greenpeace's Jorgo Riss. “We have known that the EU position was bad, now we see the U.S. position is even worse.” The Sierra Club said it was dismayed that the words “climate change” were “not mentioned once in the 248 pages.”   read more