Controversies
Nuclear Officials Worry about Safety Plans Despite Public Assurances
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is not as confident as its public declarations would indicate about the survival of U.S. nuclear reactors against disasters like the kind happening in Japan.
This conclusion was reached by the Union of... read more
Federal Election Commission…The $67 Million Vanishing Government Agency
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) may soon be virtually leaderless due to a lack of nominees put forth by President Barack Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
By the end of April, five of the FEC’s six commiss... read more
Louisiana Beats out Tennessee for Title of Least Peaceful State; Maine Wins Most Peaceful
Peace is in short supply in many Southern states, while the Northeast is brimming with it.
The Institute for Economics & Peace, producer of the Global Peace Index, has published its first United States Peace Index to demonstrate which areas ... read more
USDA Finally Approves Holding Meat and Poultry until Test Results are Received
Nearly 10 years since it first considered the idea, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has finally decided to make processors hold onto meat being tested by federal regulators and not sell it until results demonstrate it’s safe to consume... read more
Labor Dept. Demands Refund for Maine’s Removal of “Pro-Labor” Mural
Maine Governor Paul LePage’s decision to remove a mural from the state labor department building may cost his state $60,000.
Created in 2008, the labor-themed mural was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. Federal offi... read more
Mike Huckabee: The Anti-Transparency Politician
While running for president a few years ago, a feat he may repeat for the 2012 campaign, Republican Mike Huckabee proposed a bold open-government idea: publish every federal government expenditure online within 24 hours.
Such a plan for tran... read more
New Orleans Heart Attack Rate Triples Since Katrina
The heart attack rate in New Orleans was three times higher in 2009 than it was before Hurricane Katrina struck four years earlier, according to a new medical study.
Prior to August 2005, when the storm hit, heart attacks represented 0.7% of... read more
Atheists in Foxholes Demand Recognition
There is a saying that “There are no atheists in foxholes,” meaning that in times of war, every soldier believes in God. Wrong. A group of atheists, agnostics, humanists and others based at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bragg have formed an organization ... read more
BP Gulf Disaster Caused Far More Mammal Deaths than Previously Reported
Scientists from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom claim the animal death toll from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have been dramatically higher than officially reported.
About 100 dead whales, dolphins and other... read more
Campbell Soup Sued for Selling High-Sodium “Less-Sodium” Tomato Soup
Four women from New Jersey are suing Campbell Soup for implying that its low-sodium soup contains less salt that its regular tomato soup. The plaintiffs insist the more expensive specialty soup does not have 25% less sodium, as Campbell leads co... read more
42 Disease Clusters Identified in 13 States
Proposing a connection between pollution and outbreaks of serious disease in certain regions, environmentalists and health advocates have compiled data showing the existence of more than 40 disease clusters in 13 U.S. states since 1976.
Cond... read more
CIA Holds Back Release of Documents about Iran and Congo…From 1950s and 1960s
Considered a valuable source for understanding American policymaking overseas, the State Department’s “Foreign Relations of the United States” series has been missing important accounts about Iran and Congo due to CIA opposition.
The unpubli... read more
Top Execution Countries: 9 Muslim, 2 Communist…and the United States
Of the 12 nations that carry out the most executions in the world, the United States is the only one that is not Muslim or Communist.
China is the world leader in carrying out executions, performing at least a thousand or more in 2010, accor... read more
Commerce Dept. Forbids Biologists from Releasing Data Regarding Gulf Dolphin Deaths
Scientists working for the National Marine Fisheries Service have been told to not publicly discuss the investigation into why dolphins are dying in large numbers along the Gulf Coast, where the nation’s worst-ever oil spill occurred last year.
... read more
EPA Ignored Possible Health Risks of Using Coal Waste for Construction
With little scientific analysis to show it was safe, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommended the use of coal ash and other waste to build roads and structures over the past 10 years.
According to a new report from EPA’s in... read more
White Women in U.S. Live 10 Years Longer than Black Men
Americans are living longer than ever, according to new figures from the federal government. The National Vital Statistics System determined that the average life expectancy at birth in 2009 was 78.2 years, the highest rate on record.
Howeve... read more