Top Stories
Katrina Property Owners Sue Corps of Engineers
The US Army Corps of Engineers, builder of the levees and canals in New Orleans, has managed to dodge lawsuits that sought to blame the federal government for the destruction wrought on the Lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish after Hurricane K... read more
Dumped Drugs Pollute U.S. Water—Legally
An investigation by the Associated Press (AP) has found that the American water supply has increasingly become a dumping ground for pharmaceutical ingredients by industry and consumers. The AP calculated that at least 271 million pounds of pharmac... read more
CIA Headquarters Overruled Interrogators to Begin Using Torture
CIA interrogators believed they had already extracted everything useful from detainee Abu Zubaydah, a top al Qaeda official, when agency leaders in Washington, DC, ordered the use of harsher techniques in August 2002. Zubaydah, whom the CIA believ... read more
California River System Tops List of America’s Most Endangered Rivers
The conservation organization American Rivers has released its 2009 report on America’s Most Endangered Rivers. At the top of the list sits the Sacramento- San Joaquin River System in California, which supplies drinking water to almost 25 million... read more
EPA Moves Closer to Regulating Greenhouse Gases
The ball is now in Congress’ court following a decision on Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency to declare carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions a danger to the public’s health. President Barack Obama would prefer that Congres... read more
Obama: Torture Okay if Just Following Orders
In a move with ominous implications for Constitutional rights in the United States, President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that his administration would not prosecute CIA employees or contractors who participated in the torturing of detainee... read more
Marijuana Debate Goes Mainstream
The economic downturn, coupled with changing social perceptions and escalating drug violence in Mexico, has sparked national interest in legalizing, regulating and taxing marijuana consumption. A 2005 study by Harvard University economist Jeffrey ... read more
Who are the Illegal Immigrants?
For all the faults that are levied on illegal immigrants in the United States, one thing they can’t be knocked for is their propensity for nuclear families. In a new report by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center, it wa... read more
Bill Would Give President Authority to Shut Down Internet
The Cybersecurity Act of 2009, currently working its way through Congress, would give the President and a key member of his cabinet unprecedented authority over the Internet, according to the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF). Introduced by Sena... read more
Pentagon Explores Alternative Energy to Save Lives
There is no bigger gas guzzler in the federal government than the Defense Department, which spent $18 billion last year alone on fuel, thanks in large part to the campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. But it might not be long before the American mili... read more
Obama Opens Some Reagan Records Kept Secret by Bush
Nearly a quarter million pages of records from the Reagan White House are finally going to be released to the public today, thanks to an executive order signed by President Barack Obama. Under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the documents we... read more
More Senior Citizens Living in Their Cars
According to a study in the Seattle area, the number of seniors living in their vehicles is increasing, as the King County homeless population in general has risen 68% in the past year. This growing category of homeless includes people who have wo... read more
Bill to Aid Women Veterans
A bill to help improve and expand health care services for women veterans, introduced in mid-March, is currently in the process of being referred to the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs. According to Betty Moseley Brown, a Marine Corps vetera... read more
Drug Testing by FDA in Crisis
Things are so bad with the Food and Drug Administration’s clinical trial system for approving new drugs that the country is “virtually defenseless” from preventing another Vioxx scandal. This finding, and many others regarding dangerous conflicts ... read more
Obama Administration Again Defends Bush Wiretapping
The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Barack Obama has gone beyond anything the Bush administration tried to do in defending the government’s unauthorized wiretapping of American communications earlier this decade, according to legal sch... read more
Judge Slams Justice Department for Hiding Witness’ Mental Illness
It might be difficult to find a more irate judge in the country right now than U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has publicly scolded the Justice Department over the shady legal practices of government attorneys handling the cases of Guantán... read more