Top Stories
FBI Forensic Analysts under Investigation for Falsifying Tests
Faulty, and in some cases falsified, forensic work by FBI experts has raised questions about the validity of 100 criminal cases in the District of Columbia since the mid-1970s.
A legal review was launched earlier this year after a DC court ove... read more
House Impeaches Judge Thomas Porteous…Only 15th in 207 Years
Not a single member of the House of Representatives objected to the impeachment of Judge G. Thomas Porteous, making him the 15th judge indicted by Congress since the founding of the country. Lawmakers voted 412-0, 410-0, 416-0 and 423-0 on the fou... read more
Pentagon Propaganda Machine Rolls on in Afghanistan
When is a city not a city? When the media actually does its homework and stops taking the Department of Defense at its word.
In February, the U.S. and NATO allies launched a major offensive against the Taliban, during which troops had the task... read more
U.S. Budget Deficit Grows $1 Million Every 11 Seconds
Between enormous expenditures and sagging revenues, the U.S. government in February managed to enlarge the deficit by $1 million every 11 seconds. February went down as the worst ever for monthly shortfalls, at $220.9 billion. This total was 14% h... read more
The Payday Lender Senator: Corker of Tennessee
Having received thousands of dollars in contributions from the $6.5 billion-a-year payday lending industry, U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-Tennessee) has worked to keep payday lenders out of new legislation that seeks to crack down on the financial in... read more
Army vs. Lockheed Martin in Battle to Cancel Missile Defense System
The U.S. Army doesn’t want it, but the Department of Defense is saying: Yes, you do. The Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) would be scuttled if Army commanders had their way, saying the missile defense program is too costly to develop, wi... read more
Sentencing Reform Reduces Prison Population without Increasing Crime
It is possible to get criminals out of prison and keep them from returning to a life of crime, argue reformers calling for changes in prison sentencing. A new report from The Sentencing Project cites statistics from four states where lawmakers and... read more
Judge Allows Torture Lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld to Proceed
Two Americans who claim they were tortured in Iraq have been allowed to move forward with their lawsuit against former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel say they were detained and interrogated in 2006 while working f... read more
Obama Administration Withdraws Plans for Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump
Twenty three years after the federal government targeted it as the nation’s underground dump for nuclear waste, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, is headed for closure. President Barack Obama followed through on his campaign promise to shut down the controv... read more
Justice Dept. Investigates Voting Machine Merger for Possible Anti-Trust Violation
Valued at $5 million, the September 2009 purchase of Premier Election Solutions Inc.
by Election Systems & Software Inc. (ES&S) was not something that immediately captured headlines. But what the deal lacked in purchase price, it made up for in c... read more
8 Senators Who Voted Against Jobless Benefits Come from States with High Unemployment
Putting aside the economic reality facing thousands of their constituents, eight Republican U.S. senators voted this week against the 30-day extension of unemployment benefits for Americans still looking for work. The legislation was held up prima... read more
Families of Murdered U.S. Missionaries Sue Chiquita for Supporting Terrorists
Doing business in Columbia has proven to be expensive for food company Chiquita, which has paid millions of dollars in ransoms to terrorists and now is being sued by Americans whose relatives were killed by the same groups. Chiquita’s payment of a... read more
Lobbyists Treated as Analysts on TV News
When experts appear on any of the myriad news channels, the question not being asked is: “Who do they work for?” Increasingly, the talking heads offering their take on important political or economic matters have their own financial stakes at risk... read more
Supreme Court Rulings Open Loopholes for Water Polluters
Thanks to a conservative shift in the U.S. Supreme Court, government regulators are now limited in enforcing the nation’s toughest water pollution law, a development that has put the drinking water of millions of Americans at risk.
An investig... read more
Supreme Court Decision May Allow Corporations and Unions to Make Anonymous Political Donations
Combined with an earlier court decision, the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that lifted restrictions on corporate and union donations may also lead to these powerful interests contributing for and against campaigns without disclosing their parti... read more
National Archives Wants Investigation into Destruction of John Yoo Torture Emails
Emails discussing the early development of the Bush administration’s use of torture against detainees were deleted several years ago by a key Department of Justice (DOJ) official, prompting the National Archives and Records Administration and othe... read more