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

Scientist Lundgren made the accusation as part of his whistleblower case. He said his bosses at USDA began to “impede or deter his research and resultant publications” more than a year ago. He also has said the agency tried to keep him from speaking about his findings for political reasons and interfered with his ability to review the research of other scientists. Lundgren said he was suspended by the agency, harassed and put through "utter hell."   read more

The Bureau never bothered to verify Davis’ stated intentions for the horses or follow up on where the horses were going. The IG also found that the Bureau continued to sell horses to Davis for at least three years—spending $140,000 on their delivery—even after receiving information alleging that Davis was sending the animals out of the country to be killed. The inspector general’s office referred Davis’ case for prosecution, but federal and state officials declined to take action.   read more

“Wow,” said sociology professor Samuel Preston. “This is a vivid indication that something is awry in these American households.” Said study co-author Deaton: “Half a million people are dead who should not be dead. About 40 times the Ebola stats. You’re getting up there with HIV-AIDS.” The cause of the higher death rates for this cohort may have something to do with being unhappy, according to data collected by two Princeton economists.   read more

A quarter of the 825 committees were based in the Department of Health and Human Services, with many of them connected with the National Institutes of Health. In total, the committees leaned on the expertise of more than 68,000 individuals. Some of these members were paid for their time, which cost $33 million. Another $43 million was allocated for their travel and per diems.   read more

The investigation revealed Northrup contributed $4.6 million to the campaigns of 224 lawmakers since 2010, demonstrating a long-range lobbying strategy devised to win the contract. In all, the defense contractor spent $85.4 million to lobby Congress, the Pentagon and other agencies on the bomber program as well as other military spending issues. It also hired more than 100 lobbyists and others, including five former members of Congress, to work specifically on defense issues.   read more

Muslim and Arab advocacy groups, who were invited to preview the website, complained the effort to combat violent extremism framed the topic heavily in terms of threats by Islamic groups, even though those groups aren’t the biggest threat to students and schools. The New America research center reported that white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists had murdered 48 people since the 9/11 attacks. Muslim terrorists had killed 26 Americans during the same period.   read more

Basham said he was unaware that agents were shooting suspects in the back with the Tasers. “I’m not condoning [it],” he said. “If you’re in a highly tense situation, it’s always better than pulling a [gun,] but it’s no excuse.” The agency advised not Tasing anyone more than three times, or cycles, but in at least two cases, individuals received five jolts from the weapon. Two people were shocked while they were handcuffed, and three others died after being hit by Tasers.   read more

Council members adopted a new law making it a crime to show “the female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification or which is likely to cause affront or alarm.” They said they changed the law because Springfield is “a ‘family friendly’ tourist spot, and the breasts of women undermine this mission.” The law exempts adult entertainment businesses and infant feeding.   read more

An official at the hotline told The New York Times that potential spies could be Chinese or foreigners. “Anyone can be a spy,” he said. “And anyone can also not be a spy.” Citizens were warned in a post on social media that foreign journalists, some workers for non-governmental organizations and those with extensive time studying abroad could be spies. Locals were also informed that those using the hotline to settle scores with enemies would be punished.   read more

The VA has changed its wait-time calculations in what may be an attempt to hide the ongoing issue. The L.A. VA claims the average wait time was less than four days in August. But an internal document obtained by CNN showed the average wait time for new patients seeking mental health care at the LA VA was 43 days that month. “They’ve started to measure the numbers differently more than they have actually improved the patient's actual wait time in many cases,” said a CNN source.   read more

Four Senate Republicans have formed a group that will “focus on ways we can protect our environment and climate while also bolstering clean energy innovation that helps drive job creation,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte. “I’m not a scientist, and I’ve got the grades to prove it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said in the Republican debate. “But I’ve talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that the greenhouse gas effect is real. That we’re heating up the planet.”   read more

More Americans are being legally prevented from suing businesses, and instead are forced into arbitration hearings that prevent individuals from banding together to fight those with deep pockets. These restrictions are often buried in the fine print of contracts, and must be accepted by consumers if they want their phone or new job. Some judges call arbitration clauses a “get out of jail free card” for corporations because they result in plaintiff giving up his or her right to a day in court.   read more

The lawsuit says Austin judges often make no meaningful effort to find out how much defendants can pay and don’t consider how much money they make and how many family members depend on them. The court waived debt in just 11 of more than 600,000 cases from 2011 to 2015. During the same period, the court jailed more than 2,000 people. One woman who was five months pregnant was ordered to perform 30 hours of community service every month foe a year.   read more

The researchers found certain crimes tend to go up when daylight saving ends each year, as it did last Sunday. “Most street crime occurs in the evening around common commuting hours of 5 to 8 p.m., and more ambient light during typical high-crime hours makes it easier for victims and passers-by to see potential threats and later identify wrongdoers,” they wrote. Their research showed that robberies declined about 7% when daylight saving time goes into effect.   read more

Under chairman Lee Raymond, Exxon worked in opposition to the Kyoto Protocol climate treaty. It merged with Mobil in 1999 and began to fund climate-change denial efforts. For more than a decade it financed conservative groups that publicly attacked the scientific consensus that climate change is a real threat to the planet. Environmental groups compare the obfuscation practiced by ExxonMobil on climate change to the tobacco industry’s cover-up of its own data that showed the dangers of smoking.   read more

As the U.S. presence in Afghanistan continues, so does the reduction in the U.S. government’s ability to monitor the contractors. DynCorp, which has made more than $6 billion there since 2009, was found to have overbilled the government. Both DynCorp and Fluor are being investigated for human trafficking in their recruitment of workers. Defense budget expert Todd Harrison estimates that the 5,500 troops heading there in 2017 will cost about $20 billion, with much of that going to contractors.   read more