Government & Regulation

Conservative lawmakers who demanded Planned Parenthood executives answer for “alleged atrocities” are holding the first in a series of congressional hearings on Wednesday on the video controversy that has rallied anti-abortion Republicans and could become the flashpoint in a battle over government shutdown. Noticeably absent from the hearing, however, is Planned Parenthood itself. The House…

On June 25, 2015, the Associated Press reported that Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, had been accused of pressuring the Good Will-Hinckley school, a nonprofit charter school for at-risk youth, into removing Mark Eves from his position as president. According to the report, LePage threatened to withhold from the school $500,000 in yearly funds if it kept Eves on board, which, in turn, could have led the school to miss out on 
another $2 million in private funds, a potentially devastating blow to the small nonprofit. Eves, as it happens, is Maine’s Democratic House Speaker...

Angered by videos in which Planned Parenthood officials discussed compensation for providing fetal tissue from abortions, Republicans in Congress are again demanding an end to government funding for the nearly 100-year-old provider of women’s health services. Away from the headlines, however, the group is facing other major challenges, including one from a far different source:…

Federal agents from Washington raided Memphis Goodwill this week as part of a growing national fraud investigation into AbilityOne, the top taxpayer-funded program that provides work to disabled workers, according to inside sources. More than two dozen agents from numerous federal agencies drove onto the Memphis Goodwill headquarters on Wednesday, sealing the back of the…

When they first started popping up around town, the colorful metal collection bins for donated shoes and clothing didn't cause much of a stir in Stanton. And then they multiplied. "Within a year, they were all over the city, specifically on Beach Boulevard," said City Manager James Box, whose Orange County municipality is among many…

Planned Parenthood on Tuesday asked a federal court to block enforcement of an order by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal that would bar patients from receiving medical care through the organization using Medicaid. Officials with the group, along with three patients who are co-plaintiffs in the case, allege that Jindal’s order is illegal and will cut…

A $20-million donation to the financially troubled Paul Smith’s College in rural upstate New York is in limbo, dependent on whether the college agrees to rename itself, a controversial issue that has landed the matter in court. Joan Weill, a longtime board member and benefactor to Paul Smith’s College and the wife of Wall Street…

A two-term state senator admitted in federal court Thursday that he stole $1.8 million from the nonprofit agency where he worked and filed a false tax return. Sen. Rick Brinkley, 54, admitted wrongdoing on all six charges—five counts of wire fraud and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. He negotiated a plea…

The American Red Cross, which has often boasted of its transparency, attempted to halt a congressional inquiry into its disaster relief work last year, according to a private letter Gail McGovern, CEO of the American Red Cross, wrote to Rep. Bennie Thompson. In the letter, McGovern asked Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and the ranking…

Should charitable fundraising be allowed at work? The popular "Fill the Boot" fundraiser has sparked this debate in Texarkana, Texas. The city manager has placed restrictions on firefighters participating in the event that raises funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. He says it creates a safety hazard on roadways, and it should be done off-duty…