Controversies
OSHA Averages One Workplace Safety Regulation a Year
Labor leaders and some Democrats are unhappy with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and its glacial pace of implementing new standards for protecting workers.
A 30-year review of OSHA safety rules revealed the agency put... read more
Maryland Law Enforcement in Limbo as State High Court Rules DNA Sampling of Suspects is Prohibited
Some law enforcement departments in Maryland may not obey an appellate court ruling that forbids police from taking DNA samples from criminal suspects without a warrant.
Since 2009, police have routinely collected DNA samples when arresting su... read more
7 Million Birds Die in U.S. and Canada Each Year because of Communication Towers
In Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds, a California town is besieged by thousands of attacking seagulls, crows and other feathery foes, whose murderous ire toward humanity goes unexplained. If not an avian protest against DDT use (chronicled i... read more
Florida Judge Rules Gov. Scott’s Random Drug Testing of State Employees Unconstitutional
Florida Governor Rick Scott’s mandatory drug-testing program for state workers, created by executive order, has been thrown out by a federal judge.
District Judge Ursula Ungaro found no compelling justification for the plan, which amounted to ... read more
Corn Cartel Battles other Farmers over Dow Herbicide
Corn farmers are battling other farmers, as well as environmentalists, over a new strain of genetically modified corn that’s resistant to a powerful herbicide suspected of causing cancer.
At the center of the controversy is 2,4-D, a chemical u... read more
Insurers Prepare for Climate Change…Except in U.S.
Insurance company executives are aware of the future risks posed by climate change. And yet they have been slow to prepare for the coming wave of weather-related accidents and litigation spawned by global warming changes.
In a survey conducted... read more
TSA Agents Give 4-Year-Old Pat-Down Because She Hugged Her Grandmother
Lacking what critics said was common sense and compassion, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at the Wichita, Kansas, airport treated a 4-year-old child like a terrorist.
Isabella Brademeyer and her 6-year-old brother, Olive... read more
Whistleblower Exposes Tree Poisoning in Billboard Business
Lamar Advertising Co. in Florida is being sued and faces criminal prosecution for illegally killing thousands of trees for the sake of making roadside billboards more visible.
The controversy came to light after a company employee, Robert Barn... read more
Ex-CIA Officer Defends Destruction of Torture Videos
In his memoir coming out this month, the Central Intelligence Agency officer who ordered the destruction of the CIA’s torture tapes defends his actions, saying he was erasing “some ugly visuals.”
Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the former director of t... read more
Medical Debt Collectors Accused of Bullying Emergency Room Patients and Others
Patients in Minnesota and possibly other hospitals have been greeted with the unpleasant sight of bill collectors seeking payments for medical services.
The unethical and possibly illegal practice belongs to one of the nation’s largest collect... read more
Justice Dept. Charges First Small Fry in BP Oil Spill Disaster
In what some legal analysts characterized as a small catch aimed at snaring a larger fish, the Obama administration filed criminal charges this week against a BP engineer who was involved in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill cleanup.
Kurt Mix, who ... read more
Just One Black Juror Can Reduce Chance of Conviction of Blacks and Increase Convictions of Whites
African-Americans facing trial in Florida need to hope for one thing: A black person on the jury.
After examining more than 700 non-capital felony criminal cases in Sarasota and Lake Counties over a 10-year period, researchers at Duke Universi... read more
Dow Chemical Uses PBS to Push Corporate Agenda
A new multi-part series on PBS discusses four major economic issues affecting the United States and, it just so happens, the interests of the program’s corporate sponsor.
Dow Chemical underwrote the series “America Revealed,” whose four instal... read more
U.S. and Kansas Sue DuPont for Poisoning Water and Soil
Federal and state officials have joined together to go after DuPont for allegedly dumping hazardous substances into Kansas’ waterways and soil.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice, along with environmental offic... read more
Blamed for Bee Population Collapse, Monsanto Buys Bee Collapse Research Group
Monsanto has purchased a research company whose mission is to combat the massive die off of honeybees—a problem blamed in part on the biotech giant’s genetically modified corn.
Last fall, Monsanto quietly purchased Beeologics, which is “dedica... read more
Military Clashes with U.S. Spies over Outsourcing of Satellite Surveillance
Partisanship between Republicans and Democrats isn’t the only source of divide these days in Washington, DC. Members of the intelligence community and the military are also on opposite sides, in this case regarding the future of American spy satel... read more