Controversies
Obama Justice Department to Review Bush Policy Opposing Post-Conviction DNA Testing
Federal prosecutors during the Bush administration sometimes required defendants to waive their right to DNA testing as part of a guilty plea. Justice Department officials at that time argued there was no point allowing those who had confessed to ... read more
Alarming Death Rate at VA Hospital in Kentucky
A recent survey of intensive care unit workers at the VA hospital in Lexington, Kentucky, found that more than 60% of them would not want to be a patient in their own ward. This comes as no surprise given the poor level of care veterans have recei... read more
EPA, Reversing Bush, to Study Dangers of Weed-Killer Used on Corn and Lawns
For years during the Bush administration, and even into this summer, officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had insisted the weed-killer atrazine was not a danger to the public or environment. But in the wake of articles published... read more
Arlington Cemetery Buries Unknown Soldier for First Time in 25 Years
When military officials buried the unidentified remains of a Vietnam War soldier in 1984, they figured it was likely to be the last “unknown soldier” memorial for Arlington National Cemetery, given modern advances in DNA technology. In fact, that... read more
IRS Phone Help Wait Times Double in Two Years
IRS officials were not prepared for the onslaught of phone calls they received from taxpayers during the 2009 filing season. Even though the agency fielded about 12,000 customer service operators at 24 call centers across the United States and Pue... read more
Senators Propose Ending Telecom Spying Immunity
Whether it constitutes a brave political charge, or merely a legislative decoy, the Retroactive Immunity Repeal Act was introduced last week in the Senate to take away legal protections granted to telecommunications companies that participated in ... read more
New York Health Workers Protest Mandatory Vaccinations
Health care workers in New York are protesting a mandate from the state government to get vaccinated for the H1NI flu virus. In August, state health officials announced that all medical workers who “could potentially expose patients” must receive ... read more
Latinos Underrepresented in Federal Jobs
Latinos make up more than 13% of the workforce in the United States, but only 8% of all federal civil servants, and only 3.6% of senior leadership. This makes the fastest-growing minority group in the country also the most underrepresented in th... read more
Obama Dumps Lobbyists from Government Advisory Committees
Lobbyists in Washington, DC, are ticked off following the quiet announcement by the White House that members of the Third House can no longer serve on government advisory committees. President Barack Obama decided to ban lobbyists from the numerou... read more
FDIC Chief Wants To End “Too Big To Fail”
America’s most powerful woman believes even the most powerful financial institutions should be allowed to collapse. Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, reiterated her earlier assertions at an international conference la... read more
N.Y. Times Traces Cargill Hamburger Patty That Paralyzed 22-Year-Old
Eating hamburger meat is not unlike playing Russian roulette. Despite a federal regulation adopted in 1994 banning slaughterhouses from selling meat containing a particularly virulent strain of E. coli (O157:H7), hamburger sold by Cargill in 2007 ... read more
Obama Clashes with Journalists over Confidentiality Law
Journalists became incensed this week after the White House changed course on legislation designed to protect reporters from going to jail for protecting confidential sources. Previously, President Barack Obama expressed support for a “media shiel... read more
Government Allows Savings and Loan Criminals to Keep Jobs for One More Year
For the third year in a row, officials in the Treasury Department have extended an exemption that allows savings and loan employees convicted of financial crimes to hold onto their jobs. The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) filed a rule that wen... read more
Judge Orders Justice Department to Release Cheney Statements on Plame Case
The Obama administration’s efforts to conceal all of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s testimony in the Valerie Plame investigation failed on Thursday, as a federal judge ordered the release of some records. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan fo... read more
Too Old for Foreign Service?
Elizabeth Colton got a late start on her diplomatic career, joining the Foreign Service when she was 54. Now, the former journalist is facing an arbitrary restriction that’s threatening to end her brief Foreign Service career.
Next August, Col... read more
First Ever Wildfire Damage Award; Builders to Pay $36 Million
It took the jury only one day in a precedent-setting case to find two construction companies liable for starting a forest fire in 2002 that burned 18,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest in Southern California. The verdict, which calls for CB&... read more