Law

National

Examining The 'Red Flags' In A Massachusetts Crime Lab Scandal

6:07pm November 23, 2013

by Deborah Becker

A former Massachusetts chemist is now behind bars because of sloppy drug testing that went on for years, compromising up to 190,000 criminal cases and costing the state millions of dollars. The scandal raises questions of accountability in forensic labs around the country.

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The U.S. government says JPMorgan Chase & Co. knowingly sold faulty mortgage-backed securities in the years leading up to the financial crisis. The bank says it's broken no laws.

JPMorgan Says It Broke No Law. So Why Pay The $13 Billion?

1:20am November 23, 2013

by Jim Zarroli

The banking giant has agreed to pay a record sum to the U.S. government over charges that it knew it was selling risky mortgage products. But it's not clear exactly what, if anything, the bank is admitting to — or if the government's case would have held up in a jury trial.

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National

Personhood In The Womb: A Constitutional Question

4:57pm November 21, 2013

A study released this year examined cases where law enforcement intervened in the lives of pregnant women who were believed to be endangering their fetuses. State laws are stepping in on behalf of the fetuses' constitutional rights — but what of the mothers' rights? Fresh Air looks at three perspectives in the debate.

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What A Bitcoin Political Debut Could Mean For Transparency

7:28pm November 20, 2013

by Peter Overby

The Federal Election Commission is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to allow virtual currency contributions to political action committees.

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The federal immigration detention center in Florence, Ariz., is one of about 250 such facilities around the country. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is required to house 34,000 immigration detainees per day, nationwide.

National

Little-Known Immigration Mandate Keeps Detention Beds Full

5:04pm November 19, 2013

by Ted Robbins

A congressional directive requires U.S. detention centers to fill 34,000 beds per night. Supporters say it ensures that the nation's immigration laws are being enforced. But critics say housing a fixed number of immigrants at any given time is inhumane, inefficient and too expensive.

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In 1973, Ray Litt and a group of Detroiters went to court in an attempt to force the state to desegregate the city's schools.

Education

How Court's Bus Ruling Sealed Differences In Detroit Schools

1:46pm November 19, 2013

by Sarah Alvarez

It's been 40 years since the Supreme Court accepted what became a landmark case about school desegregation. The case was controversial because it involved busing students between a largely African-American city — Detroit — and its white suburban areas.

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World News

Hundreds Arrested In Massive Child Pornography Ring

6:09am November 18, 2013

Steve Inskeep talks to Robert Cribb, a reporter with the Toronto Star, who for the past year followed a sweeping investigation into a child pornography ring. The three-year investigation, made public last week, began with a Toronto-based website and led to the arrest of dozens of producers and clients and the rescue of nearly 400 children.

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Health & Safety

Laboring In The Shadows To Keep The Web Free Of Child Porn

6:10pm November 17, 2013

by Rebecca Hersher

The rise of pornography online has created a new industry of people whose job it is to screen vast numbers of images of exploited children.

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Books

Judge: Google's Book Copying Doesn't Violate Copyright Law

10:49am November 15, 2013

by Laura Sydell

Google has prevailed in a long-running lawsuit over the millions of books the company has digitally scanned without permission from authors and publishers. A U.S. Circuit Court judge has ruled that it's "fair use" when Google scans portions of books for public to use.

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An all-plastic gun fires a bullet in this screenshot from a video made by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

National

Plastic Guns Made With 3-D Printers Pose New Security Concerns

12:30pm November 14, 2013

by Carrie Johnson

Agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have spent months testing new plastic weapons, and report that the guns can be lethal and hard to detect. The findings come just as a federal law that requires guns to be composed of at least some metal to help people in schools and airports detect them is set to expire.

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