What: Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., is charging House Republicans with pushing through 113 earmarks worth $841 million in a defense spending bill that has yet to come to a vote.How: McCaskill alleged that GOP leaders established slush funds to offset spending for pet projects and actively assisted lawmakers in setting amendments that got little or no debate.
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What: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the reopening of a nuclear power plant near Toledo, Ohio, even before completion of an investigation of mysterious cracks in the concrete protecting its reactor.Why: The commission said the plant’s owner gave them “reasonable assurance” that the cracks don’t pose a danger. Meanwhile, the owners have until the end of February to find out what caused the sudden cracks.
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WHAT: A Department of Justice task force celebrated the blockbuster Cyber Monday online shopping day by announcing the seizure of 150 websites accused of selling counterfeit goods.HOW: Most of the seized websites were based in China, and some of the counterfeit goods they allegedly sold included Puma sports sneakers, NFL pro football team jerseys and Ugg boots.
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WHAT: Colombia’s main rebel group executed four of its longest-held captives during combat Saturday between guerrillas and soldiers searching for the men, the government said. A fifth captive fled into the jungle and survived.
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WHAT: The Australian government says it is investigating how a classified booklet detailing Barack Obama’s itinerary came to be lost in a gutter during the president’s visit last week. The booklet contained details on Obama’s itinerary and his security convoy, and the cellphone numbers of senior U.S. and Australian officials.
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WHAT: The posts on LinkedIn offered “pre-IPO shares of Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, Zynga and other hot companies about to go public.” However, money sent to Praetorian Global Fund went to support a lavish lifestyle for the phony hedge-fund operator.
HOW: Praetorian allegedly cheated online investors out of more than $12 million during a 15-month period, claiming to be holding the cash in a safe escrow account, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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WHAT: The government is subsidizing lifestyles of the rich and famous with tax write-offs for vacation homes, luxury yachts and gambling losses, plus subsidies for their ranches and estates, U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., charged.WHO: Samples of the $30 billion loopholes in Coburn’s 37-page report include farm subsidies to rocker Jon Bon Jovi for a plot of land where he raises bees and to Bruce Springsteen for property he leases to an organic farmer.
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WHAT: Sixty percent of college students are required to take an internship in order to graduate, which is supposed to help them get jobs in a tough economy. Half those internships are unpaid, but the college also charges the students for semester credits.
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WHAT: Unknown vandals torched three cars and scrawled Nazi swastikas in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn before dawn on Friday.
HOW: On Ocean Parkway, three parked cars — a BMW, a Lexus and a Jaguar — were set ablaze. “KKK” was spray-painted on a van and anti-Semitic messages were scrawled on a sidewalk. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said dozens of empty beer bottles were found at the scene. He said they would be tested for clues.
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WHAT: Notorious former lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who served three years in federal prison and now labels himself a whistle-blowing reformer, alleged “it is pretty widely known” that Congress members a routinely gain thousands of dollars from insider stock trading.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/taxonomy/term/2879
