They call themselves Catholic Whistleblowers, a newly formed cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators. Although they know they could face repercussions, they have banded together to push the new pope to clean house and the American bishops to enforce the zero-tolerance policies they adopted more than a decade ago. The group began organizing quietly nine months ago without the knowledge of their superiors or their peers, and plan to make their campaign public this week. Most in the steering group of 12 have blown the whistle on abusers in the [ Read More ]
MOORE, Okla. — Emergency crews and volunteers continued to work through the early morning hours Tuesday in a frantic search for survivors of a huge tornado that ripped through parts of Oklahoma City and its suburbs, killing at least 91 people, 20 of them children, and flattening whatever was in its path, including a hospital and at least two schools. Much of the tornado damage appeared to be in the suburb of Moore, where rescue workers struggled to make their way through debris-clogged streets and around downed power lines to those who are feared trapped under mountains of rubble. The [ Read More ]
On January 2, 2013, the United States Congress passed the Tax Relief Extension Act (H.R. 8). This will extend Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) benefits until the end of 2013. The law maintains the restructured benefit tiers enacted under last February’s benefit extension which reduced the maximum number of weeks of benefits to 73. The length of federal benefits is linked to the jobless rate in the State and is based on a three-month average. The continuation of EUC offers up to a maximum of 47 additional weeks of unemployment insurance to people who exhaust New Jersey’s 26 weeks of regular unemployment insurance [ Read More ]
by Jesselyn Radack on May 20, 2013 ( The Whistleblogger / 2013 ) The main-stream-media justifiably has its dander up about the Justice Department secretly obtaining records for AP phone lines impacting over 100 journalists. The Justice Department seized the AP records as part of a “leak investigation,” which fits nicely with the Obama administration’s unprecedented crackdown on so-called “leakers,” who are usually whistleblowers, using the heavy-handed Espionage Act. Espionage Act defendant Stephen Kim appears to be another whistleblower, whose disclosures that U.S. intelligence officials had warned that North Korea planned to respond to a new round of U.N. sanctions with another [ Read More ]
by Jesselyn Radack on May 10, 2013 ( The Whistleblogger / 2013 ) The Washington Post reports on sky-is-falling government warning of impending cyberattacks: The U.S. government on Thursday warned of a heightened risk of a cyberattack that could disrupt the control systems of U.S. companies providing critical services such as electricity and water. No doubt it’s more than coincidence that, as tenacious WaPo reporter Ellen Nakashima writes: The alert comes as the Obama administration is ramping up efforts to share more information about threats and encourage greater computer network security. And that this alert comes just as the White House and [ Read More ]
House Republicans are pushing a bill that takes away extra pay for overtime, substituting “comp” time instead. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com/Roger Jegg – Fotodesign-Jegg.de May 9, 2013 | Copyright, Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission. View the original article at TruthOut.org. Republicans are trying to pass an “alternative” to overtime pay. This is really about taking away the eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek. Will weekends be next? What about an “alternative” to paying workers at all? House Republicans are pushing a bill that takes away extra pay for overtime, substituting “comp” time instead. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 is the [ Read More ]
Colorado man Joe Lobato was fired after posting a status update complaining about work. Joe told KUSA 9News that he was feeling severely sick on the job. Lobato said it was so bad that, “It felt like someone was kicking me in my stomach.” He went on to say that his supervisor’s response to his illness was less than sympathetic, reporting, “He told me I wasn’t allowed to leave my machinery again.” At his computer, Joe logged in to Facebook and vented, posting a 9-sentence status update that included the statement, “Guess they think a person is a machine and [ Read More ]
by Dylan Blaylock on April 29, 2013 ( The Whistleblogger / 2013 ) Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit effectively restored the cornerstone for enforcement of the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA), the key whistleblower protection law for most federal employees. The Government Accountability Project (GAP) is hailing the decision as a major victory for federal whistleblowers, and an important judicial decision outlining that statutory free speech rights trump conflicting federal agency regulations. The court overturned a U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) ruling that upheld the termination of Federal Air Marshal (FAM) and GAP client Robert MacLean. [ Read More ]
TRENTON – A spokesman says Gov. Chris Christie underwent gastric band surgery in February to try to lose weight. The secret surgery was first reported by The New York Post. Christie told the newspaper he wanted to slim down for his wife and four children and was not motivated by thoughts of running for president. The newspaper reports that the governor hired Dr. George Fielding, head of NYU Medical Center’s Weight Management Program, to perform the procedure. Christie had the surgery on Feb. 16. A tube was placed around his stomach to restrict the amount of food he can eat. [ Read More ]
More than seven months after the attack Sept. 11, 2012, on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, the Obama administration continues to defend itself against allegations from House Republicans that the administration has not fully cooperated with Congress on the investigation into the attack. On Tuesday, both President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry addressed claims being made by House Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committee leaders that the administration is impeding the Congressional testimony of State Department and CIA employees who survived the attack. “I’m not familiar with this notion that anybody’s been blocked from testifying,” said the president. “What I’ve [ Read More ]
By Rob Spahr / NJ.com Follow on Twitter Students at six Monmouth County high schools may soon have to submit to random drug searches. The Asbury Park Press reports that officials from the Freehold Regional High School District – which includes Colts Neck, Freehold, Freehold Township, Howell, Manalapan, Marlboro high schools – are reviewing district policy to see if random searches should be authorized. The potential policy change follows the arrest of Tinton Falls resident Shawn Hannon, an assistant baseball coach and paraprofessional at Manalapan High School, as part of a drug sweep that netted more than two dozen arrests [ Read More ]
by Dylan Blaylock on April 25, 2013 ( The Whistleblogger / 2013 ) MSNBC: For Whistleblowers, Fraying Protection James Hansen, 2013 Ridenhour Prize Winner This opinion piece by George W. Bush administration whistleblower Joseph Wilson and POGO Executive Director Danielle Brian discusses the current state of whistleblower protections in the context of yesterday’s 10th annual Ridenhour Prizes held in Washington DC. If you missed the event, video of it is available here. Additionally, this Current piece by notable climate blogger Joe Romm provides his introduction yesterday to noted climatologist and former GAP client James Hansen, who won the 2013 Ridenhour Courage prize. [ Read More ]
New Jersey Governor Vetoes Bill to Expand Public Labor Agreements Date: 4.22.2013 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has vetoed legislation that would have expanded the definition of projects requiring greater use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for New Jersey’s public works. Governor Christie cited the detrimental effect the bill (S2425) could have on the continued Hurricane Sandy repair efforts in issuing his absolute veto. In New Jersey, PLAs are pre-hire collective bargaining agreements applying to specific public works projects that force non-union companies to become signatories. PLAs are used on a wide range of construction, reconstruction, demolition, and [ Read More ]
Once heralded as tidy way to clean up spreading slicks, the chemical agent has proven toxic for sea life—and humans. Every three to four weeks, a cycle of horror repeats itself across Steve Kolian’s face. First it becomes itchy. Then the bumps appear. Then a raw, irritating redness sets in before the skin peels away in patches. Finally, it all disappears for a while. Other parts of his body, however, seem to be in perpetual disrepair. Dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, bloody stools and cognitive issues surface intermittently, painful reminders of the toxic assault he and untold others endured following the April [ Read More ]
The landmark class-action suit has revealed a lot about the NYPD, and it’s not pretty. April 18, 2013 | The city of New York is in the midst of a landmark class-action lawsuit. The suit, Floyd v. the City of New York, alleges that the NYPD has routinely violated the Constitution by stopping and searching black and Latino New Yorkers based on their skin color. Since Michael Bloomberg became mayor of New York City in 2002, stop-and-frisk increased by 600%, from 100,000 New Yorkers targeted to almost 685,000 in 2011. Nearly 90% of those stopped are black or Latino, and [ Read More ]
