Tag Archives: feds

A federal panel of experts has recommended that all Americans ages 15-64 should be tested for HIV. If their proposal is adopted, insurance companies and Medicare will be required to cover the tests. The draft guidelines were written by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent group that operates under the auspices of the Department of Health and Human …

The Postal Service has reported a record $15.9B loss for the year, more than three times last year’s loss. Much of the red ink was due to mounting costs for future retiree health benefits, which made up $11.1 billion of the losses. Without that and other related labor expenses, the mail agency sustained an operating loss of $2.4 billion, lower …

Yesterday President Obama nominated Judge William Thomas to the United States District Court of Southern Florida. If approved, Thomas will become the first openly gay black man to serve on the federal bench. Chris Geidner has more: Thomas is the first out LGBT black judge to be nominated by Obama, but, if approved by the Senate, he would be the …

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A federal court in Illinois has fined a local man $1.5 million for posting ten gay porn films to a popular site for illegally sharing copyrighted materials. The figure is believed to the biggest awarded in a file-sharing case. The award is thought to be so large because the accused, Kywan Fisher, did not defend himself against claims that he …

Igor Volsky has the story at Think Progress.

From the New York Times: The flooding in subways and tunnels in Lower Manhattan was so severe that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has asked a team of specialists skilled at draining flooded areas from the Army Corps of Engineers to help New York City officials. The team plans to first assess the severity of the flooding, and over the …

The two men charged in the federal government’s first-ever federal anti-gay hate crime case were acquitted yesterday by a Kentucky jury. Prosecutors had argued that Anthony Ray Jenkins and his cousin David Jason Jenkins attacked 29-year-old Kevin Pennington at a rural state park because of Pennington’s sexual orientation, violating a hate crime law that was expanded in 2009 to cover …

AFER Today’s decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit continues the unceasing momentum toward marriage equality for all Americans and affirms that discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans is unfair, unjust, and unconstitutional. The body of evidence in support of marriage equality is clear and convincing. This decision, as well previous decisions in other DOMA …

Via press release from the ACLU: A federal appeals court ruled today that the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA) unconstitutionally discriminates against married same-sex couples. In striking down DOMA, the court held that government discrimination against lesbians and gay men now is assumed to be unconstitutional and that DOMA’s defenders could not offer any good reason for treating married …

Yesterday the Second Circuit Court of Appeals began hearing Edith Windsor’s DOMA case in New York.  Chris Geidner reports that the legal team hired by House GOP immediately opened with references to polygamy. The lawyer for House Republican leaders had to reach all the way back to 1885 today when asked where the “traditional understanding” of marriage could be found …

Shortly after midnight yesterday federal authorities questioned anti-Islamic filmmaker Nakoula Basseley Nakoula over parole violations he allegedly committed to promote his movie. Nakoula had been imprisoned for bank fraud and his parole stipulates that he may not use computers or the internet. Such stipulations are commonplace for those committed of financial crimes. Nakoula, 55, was interviewed by federal probation officers …

The anti-gay Pacific Justice Institute is calling for sanctions against Department of Justice attorneys who have refused to defend the federal government from lawsuits seeking to overturn DOMA. “Government lawyers are essentially rising from the table for counsel for the defendant, walking across the courtroom and sitting down at the plaintiff’s table,” said PJI chief counsel Kevin Snider. “These attorneys …

For the second time since the adoption of the Matthew Shepard Act, the federal government has won a conviction for an anti-gay hate crime. Via White House press release: Everett Dwayne Avery, 36, of Detroit, Mich., pleaded guilty in federal court today to a federal hate crime, admitting that he assaulted a victim because he believed the victim was gay, …

Citing News Corp’s ongoing involvement in a hacking scandal, a public policy watchdog group has filed an FCC challenge against the renewing of broadcasting licenses for three Fox stations in the Washington DC area. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a petition to deny Fox’s applications to renew licenses for three of its TV stations – WTTG-TV and …

The Federal Trade Commission has fined Google $22.5M for secretly placing tracking cookies on the users of Apple’s Safari browser after telling them that they wouldn’t. It’s the largest tech fine in FTC history. In its complaint, the FTC charged that for several months in 2011 and 2012, Google placed a certain advertising tracking cookie on the computers of Safari …

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against three Michigan pastors who claimed that the federal Hate Crimes Act restricted their freedom to be bigoted douchebags. Ryan J. Reilly reports at Talking Points Memo: Opponents of the law argued the legislation outlawed “thought crimes” and was meant to “eradicate religious beliefs opposing the homosexual agenda.” The suit was first …

Via press release from GLAD: Today, a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional as a violation of equal protection guarantees. Her ruling comes with respect to claims brought by six married same-sex couples and one widower from the states of Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont who were denied federal …

Two House Democrats have introduced a bill that would direct $100M in federal funds specifically to the search for an AIDS cure. Representatives Jim Himes (CT-4) and Barbara Lee (CA-9) announced today that they have introduced the Cure for AIDS Act (H.R. 6187), a bill that would fund research and development of a cure for HIV/AIDS. Currently, the majority of …

In a wide-ranging AIDS Conference 2012 opening speech on numerous HIV/AIDS topics, this morning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praised the campaign to circumcise adult male Africans as a preventive for HIV infection. An excerpt via White House press release: On male circumcision, we’ve supported more than 400,000 procedures since last December alone. And I’m pleased to announce that PEPFAR …