President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

McPadden claimed that Wal-Mart used her loss of a pharmacy key as a pretext for firing her after more than 13 years at the retailer. McPadden said she was fired in retaliation for her raising concerns that customers where she worked were getting prescriptions filled improperly because of inadequate staff training. McPadden also said her gender played a role, alleging that Wal-Mart later disciplined but stopped short of firing a male pharmacist in New Hampshire who also lost his pharmacy key.   read more

The U.N. report sparked calls by rights groups for the U.S. and Britain to halt sales of weapons to Saudi Arabia that could be used in such attacks. The panel of experts documented 119 coalition sorties "relating to violations of international humanitarian law" and said that "many attacks involved multiple air strikes on multiple civilian objects." U.S. and Saudi officials are working on a $1.29 billion sale of U.S. munitions to replenish bombs and missiles used by the Saudis in Yemen.   read more

The FTC said DeVry would define a student as working in a chosen field when the individual was, in fact, working as a restaurant server. In another instance, a graduate with a business degree with a healthcare management focus was listed as working in his field when he was selling cars. "Educational institutions like DeVry owe prospective students the truth about their graduates' success finding employment in their field of study and the income they can earn," said FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez.   read more

Some conservation groups believe authorities should trap and relocate birds where possible, rather than kill them. Friends of Animals said the latest permit was too broad because it allowed killings of migratory birds regardless of species, including those that are easy to catch. But Judge José Cabranes said the Fish and Wildlife Service had authority to issue the permit and that the permit authorized using lethal force.   read more

Friday's move was prompted in part by the death of the driver of a Ford Motor Co pickup truck last month, as well as new tests conducted on suspected faulty air bags. The Dec. 22 death of a Georgia man in South Carolina was the 10th worldwide linked with Takata's air bag inflators. NHTSA in November said tens of millions of additional vehicles with inflators containing ammonium nitrate will be recalled by 2018 unless Takata can prove that they are safe.   read more

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles granted a preliminary injunction sought by abortion providers, finding that the law violated women's rights to obtain an abortion. "Without an injunction, Louisiana women will suffer significantly reduced access to constitutionally protected abortion services, which will likely have serious health consequences," he wrote in the 112-page opinion. The Louisiana law was enacted under the state's former Republican governor, Bobby Jindal.   read more

TI attributed the overall global improvement to the work of citizen activists fighting corruption in places such as Guatemala, Sri Lanka and Ghana - all countries which were able to improve their ratings in 2015. "Corruption can be beaten if we work together," said TI chairman Jose Ugaz in a statement. "To stamp out the abuse of power, bribery and shed light on secret deals, citizens must together tell their governments they have had enough."   read more

Obama cited the story of Kalief Browder, a black 16-year-old who was arrested in 2010 and spent almost two years in solitary confinement in New York City's Rikers Island jail before his release in 2013 and eventual suicide two years later. Obama said research suggests solitary confinement has been linked to depression, alienation, withdrawal, a reduced ability to interact with others and the potential for violent behavior.   read more

Two anti-abortion activists behind the filming of videos on fetal tissue procurement by Planned Parenthood were indicted by a Texas grand jury on Monday, while clearing the women's health group of any wrong-doing. The grand jury reviewed the case for more than two months and its decision was a result of a probe launched under Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who accused Planned Parenthood of the "gruesome harvesting of baby body parts."   read more

The fine imposed on Oklahoma University was for incidents that included hosing down baby baboons, failure to monitor baboons during surgery, and allowing guinea pigs to bleed to death. University president David Boren said the school's baboon breeding and research would end within four years after federal officials had found more than 50 baboons died under the OU lab's care. USDA investigations found 11 incidents of suspected animal mistreatment at the labs in 2014 and 2015.   read more

After the 2013 Supreme Court ruling, members of the Shelby County legal team argued they should qualify for fees because they vindicated constitutional equality guarantees. The appeals court had said the fee request "defies common sense" because the lawsuit was not seeking to advance the Voting Rights Act's anti-discrimination purpose. The Shelby County case was initiated by conservative activist Edward Blum, whose group regularly challenges race-based policies.   read more

"Bernie's Yearning" is mint ice cream topped with a solid chocolate disk, to reflect Sanders' campaign theme of economic inequality, said Ben & Jerry's Ben Cohen. "The chocolate disc represents the huge majority of economic gains that have gone to the top 1 percent since the end of the recession. Beneath it, the rest of us," according to the label. Cohen has made just 40 pints of the new ice cream and is giving 25 of them to the Sanders campaign. The rest will be awarded later in a drawing.   read more

Fanning was deputy director of the Committee on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. The group was an outgrowth of the 9/11 Commission and assessed activities aimed at preventing WMD proliferation. In 2009, Fanning was named deputy under secretary of the Navy, where he worked to bring efficiencies to the service’s processes. If he’s confirmed by the Senate, Fanning will be the first openly gay civilian head of an armed forces branch.   read more

The former officer is seeking permission to present evidence to a forthcoming parliamentary inquiry that British officials saw detainees being tortured in December 2002. Details of torture were disclosed during meetings held at the London headquarters of Britain's MI5 in 2002 and the evidence is believed to include claims that British officials witnessed inmates being chained, hooded, waterboarded and subjected to mental abuse by CIA officials, the report said.   read more

Cabañas is Cuba’s first ambassador to the United States in more than 50 years. His appointment to the post came two months after a restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which had ended during Cold War hostilities in 1961. Cabañas maintained a somewhat higher profile than his predecessors, traveling around the United States speaking to various organizations. He was the first head of Cuba’s Interests Section to allow himself to be filmed at such events.   read more

In 2012, Malac was given her first ambassadorial post, in Liberia. Her tenure there was fairly routine until the summer of 2014, when the Ebola outbreak began in that country. She helped coordinate the U.S. response to the disease, even to the point of reassuring Liberians that American troops sent to help with logistics and other issues relating to the outbreak were not in the country to stage a coup against President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.   read more