Controversies
A Loan Modification Solution Backfires
With too many lawyers taking advantage of struggling homeowners, the California legislature approved a new law preventing attorneys from getting paid until they have finished helping their clients with loan modifications. The problem with this s... read more
Senators Allowed to Own Stocks in Military Companies, but Their Staff Is Not
Members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who make critical decisions affecting the U.S. military, are allowed to own stock in defense contractors. Their staff, however, cannot, nor can appointees to the Department of Defense who must be a... read more
Some Government Contractors are Too Big to be Banned
Akin to the financial industry’s “too big to fail” is the corporate world’s too-big-to-ban when it comes to contracts with the federal government.
Federal officials can talk all they want about barring companies from doing business with Wash... read more
Save the Children Switches from Soda Tax to Coke and Pepsi
Save the Children, a non-profit advocacy group dedicated to children’s welfare, has been a leader in pushing taxes on soft drinks as a way to combat childhood obesity. But the organization has decided not to lobby for such taxes now that it is s... read more
Lawbreaking Gun Dealers Use Tricks to Stay Open
Staying in business even after repeatedly selling weapons to criminals isn’t difficult for gun stores. An investigation by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel found dozens of stores across the country that avoided being shut down by federal regulator... read more
Non-Violent Prisoner Strike in Georgia Crosses Racial Lines
Fed up with their living and working conditions, prisoners across the state of Georgia last week staged a six-day mass peaceful protest that transcended racial boundaries.
Black, Latino and white inmates at least six prisons, including Hays ... read more
A&E Sued over Filmed Police Killing of 7-Year-Old
The relatives of a 7-year-old girl shot dead in May by Detroit police are suing the A&E Television Network, claiming its involvement in the raid on the family’s home played a part in the girl’s death.
Aiyana Stanley-Jones was shot once throu... read more
One in Six Americans Contract Food Poisoning Every Year
Nearly 50 million Americans contract food poisoning each year and 3,000 die, according to new research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That amounts to one-sixth of the entire U.S. population coming down sick annually... read more
Air Force Blocks New York Times, 25 Other News Sites from Computers
Unlike other branches of the military, the U.S. Air Force has decided to block all of its personnel from accessing media websites that published classified documents exposed by WikiLeaks. The Air Force says it is preventing computer users from v... read more
71% of Characters in Children’s Films are Male
Men not only dominate films for the general populace, but those for families and children as well. After studying G, PG and PG-13 rated movies over a 20-year period (1990-2009), researchers at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journ... read more
National Portrait Gallery Commissioner Resigns in Protest
Controversy surrounding a censored exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution has resulted in the resignation of National Portrait Gallery commissioner James Bartlett, who quit in protest over the Smithsonian’s decision to pull David Wojnarowicz’s “... read more
Drug Cartels Love Houston Gun Shops
When Mexican drug cartels need weapons, they turn to gun shops in Texas more than any other state in the U.S. An investigation by The Washington Post determined the top 12 U.S. dealers of guns traced to Mexico in the past two years, of which eig... read more
Pentagon Keeps Rewarding Company Suspended for Fraud
Public Warehousing Co. (aka Agility) ran afoul of the Department of Defense last year after it was caught overbilling the government for work stemming from its $8.5 billion contract to distribute food to American soldiers in Jordan, Iraq and Kuwai... read more
Beware of Sugary Drinks from McDonald’s and Burger King
Don’t bother inquiring about the sugar content of sodas at fast-food chains like McDonald’s and Burger King, because whatever the companies claim, the numbers may be wrong. This fact has been demonstrated by researchers at the University of Sout... read more
Vermont Retains Title of Healthiest State; Mississippi Last
Vermont continues to be the healthiest state in the nation, according to America’s Health Rankings, which are based on a variety of factors, such as number of smokers, hospitalizations, infectious disease, obesity, child poverty and availability... read more
Liu Xiaobo Fifth Nobel Peace Prize Winner Not Allowed to Attend Ceremony
The last time a Nobel Peace Prize ceremony featured an empty chair, symbolizing the imprisonment of the recipient in his home country, was when Adolph Hitler’s fascist regime prevented German journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from atten... read more