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Monthly archive

August 2016

DOJ Inspector General Blames Inadequate Prison Release Programs for High Recidivism Rates

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A watchdog report released Wednesday condemned the Bureau of Prisons for not doing enough to prepare federal inmates for their return home, after serving their sentences. The Department of Justice’s Inspector General discovered “several weaknesses” with Release Preparation Programs (RPP) at facilities nationwide. Federal law requires the BOP to establish the programs to assist offenders in rejoining their communities and finding work after release. The bureau’s lack of oversight of the rehabilitation regime, however, has eroded its effectiveness at reducing prison re-entry. The investigation revealed that the…

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Patent Examiners Claimed To Have Worked Almost 300,000 “Unsupported Hours,” Adding to Backlog

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Patent examiners played hooky for hundreds of thousands of hours over a fifteen month period, according to a Commerce Department inspector general report released on Wednesday. The investigation found that about 8,400 examiners at the US Patent and Trademark Office billed the agency for 288,479 “unsupported hours” between Aug. 2014 and Nov. 2015. “This effort involved comparing the hours that patent examiners claimed to work…on the one hand, with multiple datasets that provided evidence of actual work, on the other,” the inspector general noted. The…

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D.E.A. to Consider Opioid Substitute More Dangerous Than Drugs That Kill 14,000 Annually

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The Drug Enforcement Administration said that it is going to ban the use of a substance that has been shown to be a safer alternative to opioids–one that can be used to help recovering addicts. Kratom will be listed under Schedule I by the DEA, the agency announced on Monday. The move, which is set to take effect on Sept. 30., means the plant-derivative will be considered by the federal government to have zero medicinal value. The rule change comes just weeks after the DEA…

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Memo Instructed Dems How to Placate B.L.M. Activists

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The hacker Guccifer 2.0 published documents online Wednesday morning that were allegedly retrieved from the computer of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), including one memo that informed Democrats on how to deal with the Black Lives Matter movement. The communication sent to employees at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), advised that when meeting with BLM activists, staff should “listen to their concerns,” but “don’t offer support for concrete policy positions.” The memo was prepared by the DCCC’s former Diversity Director Troy Perry, who has…

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Lawsuit Alleges I.C.E. Violated FOIA Laws

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Border enforcement officials unlawfully denied an attorney access to her client’s immigration records, according to a complaint filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado. The ACLU state chapter announced last week that it was taking action on behalf of Jennifer Smith, an immigration attorney who was told by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that she couldn’t view her client’s file because the agency deemed her non-US citizen client to be a “fugitive.” The ACLU contends in its suit that the immigration agency didn’t offer up a…

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Days After T.P.P. Setback for Obama, U.S.-E.U. Trade Deal Looks Doomed

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France’s trade minister said on Tuesday that Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations should not continue. Matthias Fekl said that his government will seek to bring talks to a halt. The deal is currently being hammered out by European Union and US officials. “France is asking for an end to TTIP negotiations,” he said on Twitter. Fekl later explained in a radio interview that “there is no political support from France” for the talks. “The Americans give nothing, or just crumbs,” he said, according…

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“Critical” Protection Needed: Voter Registration Data Stolen in State Election Hack

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As the Department of Homeland Security weighs adding new federal cyber security protection to election systems across the country, the FBI is revealing it may be too late for some voters. The bureau sent an alert this month to state officials, warning them to examine their systems for malicious actors, following the hack of two State Board of Elections databases. FBI sources informed Yahoo News that voter databases in Illinois and Arizona had been compromised by hackers who are believed to be foreign. According to…

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ITT Tech Shuts Enrollment After For-Profit College Disqualified from Federal Aid

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A troubled for-profit college has stopped accepting new applicants, after the Department of Education ruled last week that its students would be ineligible for federally-funded aid. ITT Tech notes simply on its website that it is “not enrolling new students.” Those currently taking courses at ITT can transfer or finish their education, Under Secretary of Education Ted Mitchell said Thursday, in a blog post. If enrollees fail to do that before the school shuts down, Mitchell noted, students “will likely be eligible to discharge” their federal…

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Obama Won’t Get Chance to Sign TPP, McConnell Reveals No Vote This Year

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President Obama will not have a chance to finalize the approval of his signature trade initiative, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said on Thursday that he will not bring up the controversial agreement for consideration this year. “But it will still be around. It can be massaged, changed, worked on during the next administration. So, I hope America will stay in the trade business,” McConnell said, according to Reuters. At a breakfast event in Kentucky, McConnell mentioned his staunch…

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After Public Shaming, Mylan Lowers EpiPen Costs—Barely

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Mylan, the maker of the EpiPen, announced on Thursday that it would offer 50 percent-discounts to some patients who depend on the life-saving allergy shot. The move comes after the company received attention for jacking up the price of the device by 500-percent since 2009. Mylan executives have been met with widespread public ridicule as a result–criticism that has reverberated around Congressional offices amid the summer recess. “As a mother, I can assure you, the last thing that we would ever want is no one to have…

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Ruling Against Puerto Rico Walmart Tax Upheld By First Circuit

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Federal appellate judges in Boston affirmed a lower court’s ruling striking down a tax in Puerto Rico that targeted the crisis-stricken island’s largest businesses—one that would have exclusively impacted Walmart. The First Circuit Court of Appeals said Wednesday that a Federal District Judge in Puerto Rico was correct earlier this year, when he declared the levy to be unconstitutionally discriminatory. The tax at the heart of dispute was passed by the Puerto Rican government in 2015, as part of efforts to raise money amid a…

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