Penn Hills School District board members approved a controversial plan to borrow $18 million Wednesday night to pay for day-to-day expenses.
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Leaked mail reveals lobbying by food, beverage giants to access policy making in WHO
NEW DELHI: A leaked mail from the International Food and Beverages Alliance (IFBA) has revealed the hectic lobbying by this alliance of the world’s largest food and beverage companies to influence the framing of rules on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) engagement with the private sector.
It also revealed how the IFBA which includes companies like Coca Cola, Pepsico, Nestle, McDonald’s and Unilever is being backed by the developed world including several countries of Western Europe, Australia, Canada, Israel, New Zealand and the US who seem to have pledged to not accept any framework which excludes the food and beverage industry.
3 Southwest Airlines baggage handlers, 11 others accused of smuggling drugs
Tree Southwest Airlines baggage handlers at Oakland International Airport are among 14 people charged with bypassing airport security in order to smuggle several hundred pounds of marijuana across the country, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.
Ex-BofA exec jailed over muni bond fraud
A former Bank of America executive has been sentenced to 26 months in prison, having admitted playing a key role in multiple frauds over eight years in the $3.5tn US municipal bond market.
Last February Phillip Murphy, a former managing director of BofA’s municipal derivatives product desk from 1998 to 2002, pleaded guilty to being part of bid-rigging schemes related to contracts for the reinvestment of cash raised by selling municipal bonds. The schemes began as early as 1998 and continued until 2006, the Department of Justice found.
Three members of Frederick County ethics commission resign
Three of five members of the Frederick County Ethics Commission resigned today.
Gwen Romack, the commission chairwoman, along with members Carl Benna and C. Steven Snow, sent a letter to County Executive Jan Gardner Monday stating that “the emotional, purposefully-misleading and politicized reaction” to the commission’s last opinion was a driving factor in their decision to resign.
US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Threatening and Censoring Scientists Exposing Bee Death Epidemic
A formal letter to the United States Department of Agriculture reports that scientists are being harassed and their research on bee-killing pesticides is being censored or suppressed by the Monsanto-infiltrated agency (the USDA). Surprised, anyone?
At least we are organizing formally against a scourge that has been painfully obvious for years now. A broad coalition of farmers, environmentalists, fisheries and food-safety organizations (over 25 citizens’ groups) urged an investigation into the USDA’s support of the chemical industry over the American public in a May 5 letter sent to Phyllis K. Fong, USDA Inspector General.
Big British business hide 88% of fraud to protect share prices says Met police chief
A top police chief has slammed opaque accounting practises of some of Britain’s biggest business, accusing them of concealing the true extent of fraud in the UK in order to protect their reputation and bolster share prices.
Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Bernard Hohan-Howe told envoys from FTSE 100 companies and other firms that by failing to report financial crimes, they were leaving police officers “in the dark about the state of the threat and the methods of attack”.
Widening Corruption Scandals Swirl Around New York Governor
They were Albany’s most powerful men: the governor, the Senate leader and the Assembly speaker. Together, they negotiated billion-dollar budgets and decided which bills passed and which ones didn’t.
Now two face federal corruption charges, and the third — Gov. Andrew Cuomo — appears eager to focus on other issues even as he faces questions about his ties to a major real estate firm at the center of the newest scandal to rock the state Capitol.
In recent days he talked about campus sexual assault with U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. He traveled to Buffalo with Cardinal Timothy Dolan to tout an education tax credit. He held briefings at the scene of a nuclear plant transformer fire.
The political crisis in Albany got less attention.
“If the charges are correct, it’s deeply disturbing,” is what Cuomo said following the arrest of Senate Leader Dean Skelos on charges that he extorted payments for his son from the developer and another business. The Long Island Republican resigned his leadership post Monday.
Gun smuggling suspect had ties to Hezbollah, agent says
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The eldest of four Cedar Rapids family members accused of smuggling firearms into Lebanon is a Hezbollah sympathizer who met with reported members of the terrorist group during a trip abroad, federal agents testified Friday.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Murphy called six witnesses to paint Ali Afif Al Herz as loyal to the Lebanese-based Shi’ite militant and political organization. The United States is one of several nations that have classified Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
U.S. Drops Case Against N.C. C-Store Owner IRS seized more than $100,000 over deposit threshold issues
FAIRMONT, N.C. — Months after having the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized more than $107,700 from his bank account over “structuring violations,” L&M Convenience Mart Inc. owner and president Lyndon McLellan has learned that the government has dismissed his case.