President Donald Trump gleefully announced that, under his direction, U.S. military troops had swooped down on the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento and kidnapped California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re charging Newscum with fraud.” When a reporter asked for specifics about the fraud charges, Trump pointed to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi, clearly taken by surprise, said, “We’re looking into it and will let you know the details as soon as we’ve created them.”   read more

The Tony-award winning “Slava’s Snowshow” is being sued by an audience member who claims a clown permanently injured him during an August 2008 performance at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami. Mark Misleh says the clown jumped on his chest, cau...   read more

David D. Nelson was confirmed by the Senate as U.S. Ambassador to the Uruguay on December 24, 2009, and was sworn in five days later. As ambassador, he returned to the site of his first Foreign Service posting.   Born in Minnesota, Nelson grew...   read more

The U.S. ambassador to Swaziland, a small absolute monarchy in Africa with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the world, is a specialist in African affairs.  Earl M. Irving was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 31, 2009, and swo...   read more

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has assumed responsibility for the deaths of more than 300 birds in Yankton, South Dakota. But the USDA insists it had nothing to do with other mass die-offs of birds recently in Arkansas, Louisiana, Ala...   read more

As part of the federal reform of Wall Street oversight, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is deciding whether it or an outside source should oversee investment advisers. One commissioner, Elisse Walter, wants an industry organization—...   read more

The good news for U.S. Army officials is that suicides among active-duty soldiers have gone down a little. The bad news is that suicides of Army Reserve and National Guard troops more than doubled.   From 2009 to 2010, the number of Reserve an...   read more

When playing golf, there are water hazards and then there are real water hazards.   James Wiencek probably had as bad a golf outing as possible, short of death, when he decided to play one of the courses at Fripp Island Resort in South Carolina ...   read more

As absurd as it might seem at first, the idea of allowing college athletes to major in football could make a lot of sense, argues Dan Treadway, a student at the University of Texas.   Sports like football and basketball dominate many college cam...   read more

On Thursday, federal authorities arrested more than 120 suspected mobsters and their associates in one of the largest organized crime sweeps in U.S. history. Although we are well into the 21st century, it is reassuring to know that many of these g...   read more

Whoever they are, they sure are making a lot of money. That best describes the inner, very rich circle of Goldman Sachs, where a group of 475 partners collectively makes billions of dollars while many remain anonymous.   Unlike other Wall Stre...   read more

A farmworkers’ union, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange, a trade association representing 90% of Florida’s tomato growers, agreed to a comprehensive agreement that includes paying pickers a penny more fo...   read more

An audit of military contracts for 24 of its 26 commands and headquarters has turned up more than 4,200 full-time jobs assigned by the U.S. Army that legally should belong to federal employees, but instead are being handled by contractors.   The...   read more

Medicare, one of the most costly U.S. government programs, has been paying health insurance companies in advance of medical services, allowing them to profit from this practice by investing the money.   By “playing the float,” insurers collect...   read more

Americans serving their country in the armed forces are supposed to catch a break from banks when it comes to mortgage rates. But JPMorgan Chase somehow lost sight of this federal requirement, and not only overcharged thousands of military perso...   read more

Stronger federal regulation of the $583 trillion derivatives market was one of the goals of Wall Street reform legislation adopted by the last Congress, in an effort to help reduce the careless trading that crippled the financial industry three ...   read more

In his first action as governor of Tennessee, Republican Bill Haslam espoused the importance of government transparency and being open with the public—while simultaneously wiping out a state law requiring him and his top aides to disclose how mu...   read more