The chief executive of Haven Healthcare took millions from the nursing home chain for personal use, including the purchase of a yacht and three apartment buildings in Connecticut, according to a state audit. The actions by chief executive Raymond Termini are a major reason for the chain's financial troubles, John F. McCormick, audit manager for the state Department of Social Services, said in the report Wednesday. “The siphoning of cash from the healthcare facilities is a major reason for th...

may have caused to the neurological illnesses of workers at Quality Pork Processing in Austin, Minn. Last week the Minnesota Department of Health revealed 11 workers are exhibiting symptoms. Pig brains are sold as food, though not commonly. Workers at Quality Pork Processing used compressed air hoses inserted into the pig's skull cavity to pulverize the brain matter and push it out the snout or the base of the skull. Some industry experts say the high pressure hoses splattered brain tiss...

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson filed two separate lawsuits Thursday against out-of-state mortgage consultants. Swanson says the companies took advantage of homeowners facing foreclosure by charging them for services they didn't receive. "Both companies charged consumers up-front fees ranging between $1,200 and $1,395 promising to save their homes from foreclosure," Swanson says. "After taking the homeowners money, however, that was the last time homeowners heard from the company. The ...

What is the relationship between the mass production of synthetic chemicals, workplace chemical exposure, environmental pollution and rising cancer rates in the 20th and 21st centuries? In her new book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, Devra Davis, director of the Center for Environmental Oncology at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, argues not only are there links between these developments, but the industries responsible for producing these chemicals and wastes have long...

JEFFERSON'S MANUAL According to Section 603 of Jefferson's Manual, "there are various methods of setting an impeachment in motion": 1) By charges made on the floor by a member of the House; 2) By charges preferred by a memorial filed by a House member; 3) By charges contained in a Resolution introduced by a House member; 4) By a message from the President; 5) By charges transmitted by a State legislature, or a grand jury; 6) By facts developed and reported by an investigating committee o...

The market has done a characteristically fantastic job of "trimming the fat" at nursing homes--i.e., by providing less care. One may wonder, how do the residents of such homes get taken care of when staff are fired and other The WSJ : drug them. Nearly 30% of the total nursing-home population is receiving antipsychotic drugs. . . . In a practice known as "off label" use of prescription drugs, patients can get these powerful medicines whether they are psychotic or not. Federal and some st...

The state of consumer protection in America is abysmal. Competing by cheating seems to be the rule of the land, with thousands of companies acting as if there are no laws and demonstrating no fear that misleading or harming consumers puts them at any risk for penalties. To know why, simply look at the roster of players assembled to fight on our behalf. The agencies charged with making America fair and safe have been undercut and underfunded for decades. It's as if we're asking a minor-league...

They've been shown to be wrong time and time again. And their policies have led to widespread disaster and misery for millions of people. Who am I talking about? The NeoCons and their wrong-headed views on Iraq? Nope, I'm talking about free-market economists. No group of "experts" has a worse track record on accurate information about how our world really works. And yet, mysteriously, free-market economists are still held in reverence and awe by many. And their proclamations are hailed as ...

Will Don Imus be defiant or contrite? Will he mock his skeptics while making his triumphant return to radio Monday. Or will he muzzle his mouth? "That question is part of the drama of his reemergence," said Michael Harrison, publisher of Talkers magazine, an industry trade journal. "Imus faces some choices." Imus isn't talking, yet, but it's safe to say radio's best-known curmudgeon will have lots to say when his show kicks off at 6 a.m. EST Monday on WABC-AM and other Citadel Broadcasting...

Youths tried as adults and housed in adult prisons commit more crimes, often more violent ones, than minors who remain in the juvenile justice system, a panel of experts appointed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new report. Longer sentences and the transfer of juvenile offenders to the adult system gained traction in the 1980s and 1990s as youth crime increased. The trend raised fears in statehouses and in Congress about young predators, and laws to push more juveni...

A national study released in October estimated that 60 percent of department heads at the nation's medical schools have relationships with industry, for such things as consulting, sitting on boards and giving speeches. The kinds of companies seeking relationships with medical school faculty include pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device firms, the study found. The study's results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggest that these contacts can influence d...

The Movement Vision Lab at the Center for Community Change -- a special project that aims to "bring together grassroots organizers and social justice advocates to share and debate long-term, visionary ideas for the future" -- has launched an interesting blog. Each week has a special theme; this time it's "race and racial justice." Two long-time Southern organizers weigh in on the discussion: Gerald Taylor, who heads up the Southern division of the Industrial Areas Foundation, and Scott Douglas ...

By Amy Goodman "Black Friday” is the name retailers have given to the day after Thanksgiving in their attempt to make Christmas synonymous with shopping. On Black Friday, Americans are expected to flock to the malls and shopping centers, eager for discounts, armed with plastic. Business analysts fill the airwaves with predictions on how the fickle consumer will perform, how fuel prices and the subprime mortgage crisis will impact holiday shopping. Black Friday is followed by “Cyber Monday,” a n...

We’re not who we think we are. The American self-image is suffused with the golden glow of opportunity. We think of the United States as a land of unlimited possibility, not so much a classless society but as a place where class is mutable—a place where brains, energy and ambition are what counts, not the circumstances of one’s birth. But three important new studies suggest that Horatio Alger doesn’t live here anymore. The Economic Mobility Project, an ambitious research initiative led by ...

Delays May Deny Vote to Hundreds Of Thousands The Department of Homeland Security failed to prepare for a massive influx of applications for U.S. citizenship and other immigration benefits this summer, prompting complaints from Hispanic leaders and voter-mobilization groups that several hundred thousand people likely will not be granted citizenship in time to cast ballots in the 2008 presidential election. Bush administration officials said yesterday that they had anticipated applicants wou...

Uncle Sam's magic tricks hide trillions Accounting practices disguise real face value of the government's increasing debt When it comes to financial magic, the government of the United States takes the prize. Sleights of hand and clever distractions by purveyors of line-of-credit mortgages, living-benefit variable annuities and equity-indexed life insurance that I have illustrated in recent weeks are clumsy parlor tricks compared to the Big Magic of American politicians. Consider the proud tr...

The US prison population has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little impact on crime but at great cost to the taxpayer, researchers say. There are more than 1.5 million people in US state and federal jails, a report by a Washington-based criminal justice research group, the JFA Institute says. Inmate numbers are projected to rise by 192,000 in five years, costing $27.5bn (£13.44bn) to build and run jails. The JFA recommends reducing the number and length of sentences. The , which was pu...

Recruiting of foreign teachers questioned For the past two years, school district officials here have traveled to the Philippines to recruit teachers to fill teaching vacancies. That may be at an end after school board members this week refused to approve a third trip, saying they wanted more information and will revisit the issue next month. Several school districts in Kansas, including Wichita, have relied on overseas educators as it becomes increasingly difficult to find certified Kansas t...

Hate crime incidents in the United States rose last year by almost 8 percent, the FBI reported Monday, as racial prejudice continued to account for more than half the reported instances. Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of prejudice against a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from the 7,163 incidents reported in 2005. ...

In a déjà vu announcement, the Department of Veterans Affairs says a computer containing the names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of 12,000 veterans was taken over the Veterans’ Day weekend from the VA medical center in Indianapolis. Three computers were taken from an unlocked room at the Roudebush VA medical center in Indianapolis, and one computer contained records that could be used for identity theft. Federal, state and local law-enforcement agencies are investigating. The recor...

CAPTIVE PRISON LABOR EXPOSED TO TOXIC CHEMICALS Imagine wondering if your nagging cough, cuts that won’t heal and strange rashes have something to do with the work you are forced to do in a federal prison. Everyday U.S. prison inmates smash computer monitors without adequate protection from the glass or a respirator to keep the toxic dust from their lungs. A growing number of prison inmates and guards are expressing fears for their health and safety in electronics recycling factories run by UNI...

Legislation to Express Hanging of Nooses as Horrible Acts That Should Be Considered Criminal In regards to the recent incidents involving nooses directed towards African-Americans, Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) has co-authored a resolution with Rep. Al Green of Texas (H. Res. 826) declaring "that the hanging of nooses are horrible acts and when used for the purposes of intimidation under certain circumstances, may be considered criminal acts that should be thoroughly investigated by Federal law ...

Short sales raise tax questions Do you owe more to your bank than your home is worth? You are not alone. In fact, falling prices and the need to sell are pushing many into foreclosure, with the banks taking over the properties. If you are facing this harsh situation, you may have been approached with the idea of a "short sale." A short sale involves negotiating with your bank to reduce the amount owed before completing a sale. Before you consider this option, you need to be sure that you are ...

1997 Congressional Hearings - Intelligence and Security National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Mr. Chairman and Other Distinguished Members of the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime: Thank you for affording me this opportunity to speak on behalf of my client, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), a non-profit, non-partisan, professional bar association with 9,000 direct members, and 78 state and local affiliates with another 25,000 members, i...

Industry special interests are burying information on cancer-causing chemicals and, according to watchdog groups, the government is helping them do it—in the name of “data quality.” In a study of the National Institutes of Health’s National Toxicology Program, OMB Watch, a DC-based policy-research group, reports that industry is frustrating the work of government researchers with petitions that are light on science but heavy with accusations of anti-business “bias.” Public interest advocates w...

Katrina's surge up the Pearl River damaged or killed many thousands of trees, and the tons of debris left to rot is slowly spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, according to new research released Thursday by Tulane University. The scientists, led by Tulane ecologist Jeffrey Chambers, hand-counted trees along the river and compared satellite images from before and after the storm to identify damage hot spots. From their data, published in the journal Science, Chambers said trees felled i...

Today marks the beginning of the 2007 open firearms season for deer in Illinois, and a state program allows hunters to make a difference in the lives of others with their hobby. The Sportsmen Against Hunger program, sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, provides deer hunters with an outlet to donate venison to food pantries, shelters and churches for use in the holiday season. Hunters can bring deer to a participating meat processor, where it will be turned into one- or tw...

On paper, Alabama last year showed remarkable gains in improving its schools. But a new report claims that Alabama – and a number of states – are manipulating statistics to make their schools appear better than they really are. The , a nonpartisan think tank in Washington, D.C., contends states are gaming the system under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the 2002 law that measures states’ annual progress toward getting all students reading and doing math at grade level by 2014. I...

In light of the massive payoffs that corporations are handing to failing executives -- most recently the ousted chiefs of Merrill Lynch and Citigroup -- that could be the legitimate lament of millions of U.S. workers whose jobs have been sacrificed of late in the name of corporate competitiveness and free trade. Cleaned up grammatically, that question would probably express the sentiments of many of the 24,000 Merrill employees fired in recent years and the 17,000 Citi employees who are soon ...

Marchers flooded Pennsylvania Avenue and surrounded the Justice Department headquarters this afternoon to protest what they see as a failure by the federal government to prosecute hate crimes. At about 12:35 p.m., the group, led by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, began marching east along Pennsylvania Avenue, where they began to circle the Justice Department's massive building seven times in a gesture reminiscent of the biblical Joshua's procession around the walled city of J...