The final report of an outside investigation into corruption within DeKalb County’s government calls for the county’s Interim Chief Executive Officer (ICEO), Lee May, to resign. But May is firing back. Wednesday, May and former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers, who led the probe, traded barbs through the media.
10 Puerto Rico police officers indicted on organized crime charges
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept. 29 (UPI) — The Department of Justice announced Tuesday the indictment of 10 Puerto Rico police officers for allegedly running a criminal organization from a police department.
The officers used their status as law enforcement to “make money through robbery, extortion, manipulating court records and selling illegal narcotics,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury in Puerto Rico on Thursday. The defendants are charged with conspiring to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act and some of the defendants are charged with extortion under color of official right, narcotics trafficking, civil rights violations and false statements made to federal agents.
Is VW’s Fraud the End of Large-Scale Corporate Deception?
Volkswagen’s brazen and bizarre “Diesel-gate” deception beggars belief. This sustained and sophisticated software scamsuggests truly pathological levels of managerial desperation and contempt: desperation around a failed promise of clean diesel technology and unsubtle contempt for unsuspecting regulators and customers alike. Precisely how gullible did these wizards of Wolfsburg think people would be?
That’s why the real story here revolves less around the deceit than its discovery. An eco-NGO, the International Council on Clean Transportation — not formal regulatory review — effectively uncovered the con. A $50,000 emissions test was run bya West Virginia University lab and its researchers have told reporters they “kind of opened the can of worms” on Volkswagen’s cheating. The discrepancies measured proved neither minor nor marginal; they grotesquely exceeded what the law allowed by 10 times to 30 times. Follow-up tests erased any reasonable, or benefit of the, doubt. Data-driven analysis drove the German giant to confess tampering with 11 million cars.
Cleveland’s weekend gun violence makes September deadliest month of 2015 (map)
CLEVELAND, Ohio — September became the deadliest month of 2015 after a series of weekend shootings left three people dead.
At least 13 people were shot and three killed in the month’s final weekend. The circumstances of many of the shootings remain under investigation.
Cleveland tallied 97 homicides as of Monday morning, a drastic increase over recent years setting the city on track to experience one of its deadliest years in nearly a decade.
Police are still working to determine what’s behind the uptick, but investigators have said that many shootings are related to ongoing battles between local street gangs.
Judge Keeps Intact Bulk of Corruption Case Against Menendez
A federal judge on Monday dismissed four of the 22 corruption charges against U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez and a wealthy friend, keeping intact most of the case against the New Jersey Democrat and his alleged co-conspirator.
In his ruling, Judge William Walls of the U.S. District Court of New Jersey determined that prosecutors failed to meet the legal standard necessary to show that donations to the senator’s legal-defense fund were given in exchange for official acts from the senator.
But Judge Walls issued a number of decisions Monday that maintained most of the Justice Department’s case against Mr. Menendez and his friend, Salomon Melgen, a Florida eye doctor.
VW affair triggers Norwegian fraud probe
Norway’s economic crimes unit said Friday it had opened a fraud probe into German carmaker VW to see if cars sold in Norway had been equipped with pollution test cheating software.
Did Italy Just Assassinate Libya’s Migrant Smuggling Kingpin?
ROME – For months, humanitarian aid workers and Europe’s leaders have been wringing their hands about how to stop the human traffickers who are responsible for the deluge of migrants and refugees making the dangerous crossing from Libyan ports to European shores. There has been talk of everything from destroying smugglers ships to infiltrating the traffickers’ networks, but apparently a more basic plan was also in the works.
Legislator Says Gift Ban Violates His Freedom of Speech
The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited amounts in elections. Now politicians in Kentucky are claiming they have a Constitutional right to receive gifts from lobbyists.
In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Republican Kentucky state Sen. John Schickel, along with two Libertarian political candidates, are suing to overturn state ethics laws, claiming that the campaign contribution limit of $1,000 and a ban on gifts from lobbyists and their employers are a violation of their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
Volkswagen Scandal: Norway, India Probe Emissions Fraud As Board Gathers To Appoint New CEO
Even as Volkswagen readies itself to name a new CEO, the fallout from its emissions test rigging scandal in the United States continues to broaden. On Friday, Norway and India joined a growing list of countries that have launched investigations over the malpractices of the world’s biggest carmaker by sales.
John Boehner to resign as speaker, leave House
Republican House Speaker John Boehner will step down from his post as the country’s number-three elected official and leave Congress effective October 30, an aide told Yahoo News on Friday. The bombshell announcement came a day after Boehner fulfilled his two-decade dream to one day host the Pope at the Capitol.
The Ohio Republican’s decision was sure to touch off a divisive leadership fight among House Republicans even as lawmakers hunt for a way to avoid a looming government shutdown. There was no obvious successor.
“He is proud of what this majority has accomplished, and his Speakership, but for the good of the Republican Conference and the institution, he will resign the Speakership and his seat in Congress, effective October 30,” the aide to Boehner said on condition of anonymity.