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

Lisa Weiszmiller was one of about 100,000 service members who were thrown out of the service because of their sexual orientation between World War II and September 2011. “Back then, the treatment was barbaric,” she said. She found herself being interrogated for hours about her sexual orientation and ordered to perform hard labor, all while drill sergeants insulted her. “These are queers! These are lesbians! Stay away from these homosexual women,” she recalled them saying.   read more

It has been well documented how the demand for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) health system has soared following the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. But in recent years, it has been civilians who have flooded into the system at much higher rates. Non-veterans, such as spouses or dependent children of vets, may be eligible for VA care. There were 356,333 non-vets using VA healthcare in 2001. Today, that total has nearly doubled to an estimated 708,921.   read more

About 20% of the U.S. workforce does business with the U.S. government, which means that about 11 million workers—whose rights are not currently protected under state laws—will now be provided with employment protections, according to gay rights advocacy groups. Federal law currently does not prevent discrimination against gay and transgender individuals. Residents in 29 states also have no protection for such discriminatory behavior.   read more

Judge Richard Posner, a conservative appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, warned that release of the classified documents risked public disclosure. “There are too many leaks of classified information—too much carelessness and irresponsibility in the handling of such information—to allow automatic access to holders of the applicable security clearances,” he wrote.   read more

Those making $25,000 or less annually say you’re rich when the bank account has, on average, $293,000 in it. Individuals earning between $30,000 and $60,000 each year believe the magic number is $394,000. Up next, people with annual incomes between $60,001 and $120,000 need $426,000, on average, to be rich. Finally, the upper strata of American life (anyone making $120,000 or more) say they must have $501,000 to reach their wealthy plateau.   read more

Gas prices in the area have averaged $3.74 a gallon, while the city’s fueling depot sells for $3.10. The city purchases its petroleum from a local refinery, which reduces transportation costs and allows it to undercut private sellers. Many in the town have complained that its gas prices are generally 20 to 30 cents higher than those in surrounding cities and across the state.   read more

After reviewing the cases of 224 judges and 2,500 of their votes, Sen and Glynn discovered having at least one daughter corresponded with “a 7 percent increase in the proportion of cases in which a judge will vote in a feminist direction,” the study says. Having more than one daughter did not alter the results, they said. But instances in which judges had only one child, having a daughter produced a larger effect.   read more

Chiquita Brands International, famous for its bananas and other produce, has merged with Fyffes PLC of Ireland. In forming a new enterprise worth $4.6 billion in annual sales, Chiquita will relocate its headquarters to a country with a 12.5% corporate tax rate compared to 35% in the United States. The deal could result in “pre-tax synergies of at least $40 million by 2016,” according to The Street.   read more

Money has gone towards purchasing firefighting equipment and police surveillance technology. Some of it was even spent to prepare for roadside bombs—the kind deployed against American soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq that have never been used in South Dakota or any other U.S. state. The only potential threats facing South Dakota, according to a state strategic plan, come from white supremacist groups and environmentalists opposed to uranium mining and the Keystone XL pipeline.   read more

Statistics show that about 90% of heroin users are white men and women who first tried prescription painkillers. Politicians are less likely to act against prescription drugs than they are against heroin because prescription painkillers are produced by pharmaceutical companies that contribute to election campaigns, whereas heroin is distributed by drug cartels that generally do not engage in lobbying.   read more

Confronted with the high-profile problem of immigrant children flooding into the United States, Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas have been warned not to speak to members of the media. An internal memo written by Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Eligio “Lee” Peña obtained by the Associated Press revealed the new policy that directs agents not to talk to reporters at any time, on duty or off. Those who do risk being disciplined or even charged with a crime.   read more

A Massachusetts law firm that specialized in helping kick people out of their homes is now facing homelessness itself. Connolly, Geaney, Ablitt & Willard has fallen on hard times after years of working with banks to foreclose on properties. The firm has gone through a series of layoffs and has significantly reduced its 150-person staff. And now it may be evicted from its headquarters in Woburn.   read more

U.S. companies are reaping big benefits from the Iraqi government’s battle with ISIS militias. Three sales, including some big-ticket items, announced last month will put nearly $1 billion in the pockets of American defense contractors if Congress approves the sales. Beechcraft Defense Co. and eight other contractors are selling 24 AT-6C Texan II aircraft, plus spares and other equipment to Iraq. That deal is worth about $790 million.   read more

Caitlan Coleman was taken hostage in October 2012 by the Taliban with her husband, Canadian Joshua Boyle, while they were traveling through Afghanistan. Coleman was pregnant at the time and gave birth while in captivity. Boyle’s ex-wife, Zaynab Khadr, is the sister of the only Canadian to be held at Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr, who was transferred to Canadian custody in 2012.   read more

In one case, a single reviewer at one company “completed” 15,152 background investigations in just one month (a daily average of more than 500), “with most of these occurring within minutes of each other on multiple days,” the IG’s report states. The audit also discovered at least 17 investigation reports were turned into OPM without a manager at the contractor first reviewing them, which went against procedure.   read more

Lerner is former director of the IRS exempt organizations unit, which evaluates applications from groups for tax-exempt status. She has been the focus of investigations by House Republicans. Now, the IRS says it’s unable to deliver emails between Lerner and those outside the IRS from January 2009 to April 2011. Included in that group are messages to and from the White House, the Federal Election Commission and other agencies.   read more