Controversies
News Organizations Protest Closed Hearing of USS Cole Terror Suspect
The U.S. military intends to conduct the trial of the alleged mastermind of the attack on USS Cole behind closed doors, much to consternation of news organizations.
The McClatchy Co., The Washington Post and The New York Times filed a legal pr... read more
Food Safety Inspectors Object to Allowing Poultry Companies to do Their Own Inspections
Government inspectors of poultry plants are objecting to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s solution for revamping a flawed food inspection system.
Instead of federal inspectors monitoring assembly lines for unhealthy chickens, the USDA want... read more
Homeland Security in Texas Accused of Faking Inspection Reports
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General’s Office, which is supposed to investigate wrongdoing and corruption within DHS, is itself under investigation by the FBI, with its chief investigator, Thomas Frost, and his deputy, John ... read more
EPA Sued over Refusal to Regulate Coal Ash
An alliance of eleven environmental advocacy groups—including Appalachian Voices, Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Sierra Club—sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Thursday, alleging that the agency’s ongoing failure to ... read more
5 New Orleans Police Given Long Sentences for Post-Katrina Danziger Bridge Incident
New Orleans police officers convicted of shooting multiple people on the Danziger Bridge during the post-Katrina chaos face spending the rest of their lives in prison.
Federal Judge Kurt Engelhardt handed down stiff sentences on five former po... read more
Campus Police Pepper Spray California Students…Again
Less than five months after campus police at the University of California, Davis pepper-sprayed non-violent protesting students, controversy over the use of pepper spray by campus police has erupted again in California.
At least one officer at... read more
Republican Obama Appointee Accused of Passing Government Information to Private Parties
Republican Terence F. Flynn has been on the job at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for only three months, and already President Barack Obama may be regretting his decision to appoint the Republican advisor.
Selected in January to ser... read more
Justifiable Homicides Double in a Decade
While homicides overall are declining in the U.S., justifiable homicides are going up.
An analysis of murder statistics by The Wall Street Journal revealed killings done in the name of self-defense doubled last decade, reaching a total of 326.... read more
Obama Agents Raid Leading Marijuana University
Federal agents on Monday continued the Obama administration’s crackdown on medical marijuana operations in California, raiding four Oaksterdam University sites in downtown Oakland, as well as the home of the institution's founder, Richard Lee.
... read more
Wanted: Criminals to Fill Empty Prisons
A declining prison population should mean good news for taxpayers. But it can still result in heartache for local communities in need of jobs that had borrowed to build jails in anticipation of a law and order boom.
In Texas, many counties ope... read more
Has Consumer Product Safety Commission Gone from Doing Too Little to Doing Too Much?
For nearly a decade during the George W. Bush administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) was routinely criticized for not carrying out its mandate to protect consumers. Since the election of President Barack Obama, the commissio... read more
Obama Moves Closer to Allowing Shell to Drill in Arctic
Oil drilling off Alaska’s north coast could begin in a matter of months now that the Obama administration has approved a clean-up plan in the event of a spill.
The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement app... read more
Pro-Corporation Bush Holdover Rankles Consumer Product Safety Commission
A holdover from the George W. Bush administration, Nancy Nord has been a constant thorn in the sides of Democrats on the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) and consumer advocates. She has been criticized for repeatedly fighting against inc... read more
FDA Refuses to Ban BPA from Food Containers
Just weeks after a landmark study found that even low dose exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals like bisphenol-A (BPA) produce significant, adverse health effects on people, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week rejected a petiti... read more
EPA Sued for Ignoring 11-Year-Old Order to Regulate Brick and Clay Makers
Can a federal agency refuse to do its job for so long that the statute of limitations would prevent legal action to force the agency to act? That was the question federal judge Richard W. Roberts answered with a resounding “No” last week in the ca... read more
California Community College First to Charge Extra for Popular Classes
After years of significant budget cuts and rising demand for classes, one community college in California plans to become the first of its kind to offer a two-tier pricing system for popular courses.
Santa Monica College intends this summer to... read more