Novartis Faces up to $3.3 Billion in Damages from Whistleblower Kickback Suit

7/2/2015 In what may be the largest whistleblower lawsuit ever, the Justice Department, along with 11 states, are accusing Swiss pharmaceutical titan, Novartis, of running a massive kickback scheme through the U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs. Specifically, the U.S. is accusing the drugmaker of referring patients to a handful of specialty pharmacies who sent in


Will Obama’s new Overtime Rules Help Middle-Class or Kill Jobs?

7/1/2015 President Barack Obama will be speaking in La Crosse Wisconsin on Thursday to highlight a change in federal overtime law that he announced in a Monday night Op-Ed in the Huffington Post. Writing that, “In this country, a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay,” the president announced that the rule change will



New York Bans Fracking

6/30/2015 After a nearly seven-year research process, the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released a damning findings statement on hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking. The statement was the official document needed in order to ban the practice in the state. In a prepared statement, DEC chief, Joe Martens said, “Prohibiting high-volume



More Fallout from OPM Hack as Federal Background Check System is Halted

6/29/2015 ABC News is reporting that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially the human resources department for the federal government, is shutting down its background-check system in the wake of a massive recent data breach discovered in April and reported earlier this month involving millions of current and former government workers. According to


Supreme Court Rules against EPA on Mercury Emissions

6/29/2015 After a historic week in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to legalize gay marriage, as well as delivering a decision that will likely entrench Obamacare as the law of the land, the Court handed President Obama a major defeat to his environmental agenda. On the last day of the Court’s session, it ruled


Takata CEO Apologizes Publicly, Mulls Victim’s compensation Fund

6/26/2015 In a dramatic press briefing in Tokyo following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting, the president of embattled Japanese airbag manufacturer, Takata, Shigehisa Takada, made his first public apology for the faulty airbags responsible for at least 8 deaths and over 100 injuries. First bowing to the media, Takada said, “I apologize for not having


U.S. Court Rules against “Predatory” For-Profit Colleges

6/25/2015 On Tuesday, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge, John Bates, upheld regulations set to begin July 1st restricting the conduct of for-profit colleges and career-training programs. The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) announced rules last fall that could potentially restrict federal funding for schools that saddle students with markedly high tuition


Supreme Court Ruling: Obamacare Subsidies Stay

6/25/2015 The Supreme Court delivered the much-anticipated King vs. Burwell decision on Thursday not to strike down a key portion of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare. The 6-3 decision means that enrollees in states which have not set up their own health exchanges will continue to receive federal subsidies for health insurance. Currently,