Dec 21 Top payouts to federal false claims whistleblowers in fiscal year 2014 By Saskia de Melker In the last fiscal year, the federal government recovered a record $5.69 billion under the False Claims Act. And as recoveries have increased, so have the awards for those whistleblowers who play a crucial role in exposing cases of fraud. Continue reading
Dec 20 Gunman 'assassinates' two NYPD officers in Brooklyn ambush By Andrew Mach Two New York City Police Department officers were shot and killed in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn on Saturday, and the gunman also died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Continue reading
Dec 20 North Korea calls Sony hack claims 'slander,' threatens to retaliate By Andrew Mach Leaders in North Korea on Saturday called the Obama Administration's accusations that it was behind the cyber attack on Sony Pictures "groundless slander" and threatened to retaliate unless the United States agreed to conduct a joint investigation with them. Continue reading
Dec 20 Watch 10:02 Freedom of religion? Mosque debate in Georgia town reveals sharp divide By PBS News Hour In Kennesaw, Ga., the city council recently rejected, then approved a bid to house a mosque at a shopping mall. The vote has ignited a fierce debate in the community over how residents feel about Muslims and their First Amendment… Continue watching
Dec 20 Congress passes last-minute tax breaks. What should you know? By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press WASHINGTON -- In an almost annual ritual, Congress has passed a last-minute package of temporary tax breaks, sparing millions of businesses and individuals from unwanted tax increases just weeks before start of filing season. Congress extends these tax breaks every… Continue reading
Dec 19 Watch EPA decision not to classify coal ash as hazardous angers environmentalists By PBS News Hour Environmental groups have long pushed for coal ash, a by-product of coal burning energy production that contains toxic contaminants, to be classified as a hazardous material. While the EPA announced new standards for storage and disposal, the agency decided to… Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch 12:50 Shields and Brooks on reconciling with Cuba, Sony censorship By PBS News Hour Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week’s news, including the choice to censor a Hollywood film about the assassination of Kim Jong-un, President Obama’s move to renew U.S. ties… Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch Teens and elders bridge generation gap and digital divide By PBS News Hour There are fewer and fewer opportunities for senior citizens and millennials to encounter one another in daily life. The NewsHour’s Mary Jo Brooks reports from Denver on two organizations that pair adolescents to help elders with household tasks and digital… Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch 3:23 Obama closes 2014 with remarks on Cuba, North Korea By PBS News Hour In a year-end news conference, President Obama discussed reestablishing ties with Cuba, the North Korean cyber-attack against Sony Pictures and race relations in America. Judy Woodruff reports. Continue watching
Dec 19 Watch How should the U.S. government respond to North Korea's attack on Sony? By PBS News Hour President Obama told the White House Press Corps that Sony was wrong to withdraw its film, “The Interview,” and that the U.S. would react “proportionally” to the damaging cyber-attack by North Korea. Judy Woodruff turns to Dmitri Alperovitch of CrowdStrike… Continue watching