Source. Man-made activities like fracking have triggered a sharp increase in earthquakes since 2009 in the central and eastern U.S., according to a new report from the United States Geological Survey. “The increase has been linked to industrial operations that dispose of wastewater by injecting it into deep wells,” the USGS said. Scientists have identified

By: Binyamin Appelbaum, Source: The New York Times. WASHINGTON — As the players here remake the nation’s vast regulatory system, they have been grappling with a subject that is more the province of poets and philosophers than bureaucrats: what is the value of a human life? The answer determines how much spending the government should

Children with disabilities suffer abuse by teachers at a much higher rate than typical kids. And when they’re non-verbal, parents are left wondering what happened. By: Elizabeth Picciuto, Source: The Daily Beast. In June, Texas became the first state in the U.S. to require cameras in certain classrooms—specifically those that serve primarily students with special

This term, the Supreme Court will consider an outrageous case of prosecutorial misconduct. But will it do anything about it? A curious thing happened at the trial of Timothy Tyrone Foster, a young black man accused of killing an elderly white woman: Every black prospective juror was dismissed. Foster was convicted, and sentenced to death,

First such law to be ruled unconstitutional By Leslie Brueckner, Senior Attorney. Source. In a landmark ruling issued today, an Idaho federal court struck down the State’s controversial “ag-gag” statute on federal constitutional grounds, holding that it violates the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause. This is the first ruling in the country on the

Millions already take Advair to breathe easy, despite the drug’s “risk of asthma-related death.” Why has it taken the feds more than two decades to fully study those risks? By: Jeff Gerth, ProPublica, Source: The Daily Beast. Advair is one of the biggest blockbusters in pharmaceutical history. The asthma drug has generated more than $80