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The Wisconsin Department of Justice has filed a motion with the 4th District Court of Appeals, seeking an order staying Judge Maryann Sumi’s temporary restraining order blocking the publication of 2011 Wis. Act 10. “The publication of this Act will allow the State to save significant money–evidence of which the trial court did not allow presented and did not appear to consider are the cost savings identified by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau which require, of course, publication.” the motion reads. “Thus it is vitally important that this Court act before March 25, 2011–the last possible publication date

(Reuters) - The New Orleans Police Department too often uses excessive force, conducts illegal stops and arrests, and has a pattern of discriminating on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation, the Department of Justice said in a report on Thursday. "For too long, the Department has been largely indifferent to widespread violations of law and policy by its officers," according to the report by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. The report outlined problems with training, recruiting, supervision and interrogation practices. DOJ said that the police department encourages under-investigating violence against women. It also found that officers used...

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Export-Import Bank, an independent federal agency, loaned more than $1 billion to the Mexican state oil company PEMEX in 2009 to support the company’s oil drilling in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The bank has another $1 billion in loans in the pipeline for 2010, unless Congress objects. On May 27, after the British Petroleum oil spill, President Obama imposed a moratorium on U.S. deepwater drilling in the Gulf, effecting 33 deepwater drilling rigs in the region.

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday the Justice Department "sandbagged" him with the lawsuit it filed earlier in the day against him. The Justice Department claims in its suit that the controversial Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics. It surprises me because our lawyers have been meeting with the Justice Department officials the last week and we were cooperating," Arpaio told Fox News' Neil Cavuto.

This is the first issue of Sovereign Subjects, a new Morgan Stanley publication focusing on sovereign risk in advanced economies. In this first installment, we take a broad perspective on government balance sheets and raise several themes to which we will return in more depth in subsequent issues. We encourage clients to provide us with feedback on this new publication. Debt/GDP ratios are too backward-looking and considerably underestimate the fiscal challenge faced by advanced economies’ governments. On the basis of current policies, most governments are deep in negative equity. This means governments will impose a loss on some of their...

The Energy Department’s internal watchdog has mixed reviews of the department’s distribution and use of economic stimulus dollars, even as the White House touts the massive spending bill in the run-up to midterms. President Obama’s planned tour Monday of ZBB Energy Corp.’s facilities in Menomonee Falls, Wis., is the latest in a series of stops this election season to highlight what the administration calls the effectiveness of federal clean energy stimulus investments.

Back in February, a leaked memo from the Department of the Interior showed that the Obama administration was considering designating as many as 17 new national monuments throughout the West, effectively closing off huge swaths of land to development. That this was being done without the input of Congress or local authorities angered many. Now Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, Chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus and Ranking Member on the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands has uncovered 14 more pages from the document that were previously unavailable. The new pages show a federal bureaucracy...

From Tuesday’s Energy & Environment Daily story, “Lawmaker ownership in BP, Transocean, Halliburton stirs controversy” (subscription required): At least two dozen lawmakers own investments in the three companies tied to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as Congress investigates the disaster and considers reforms. “This is a serious conflict of interest,” said Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, a watchdog group. “Only Congress exempts [itself] from this type of conflict of interest. “They should not be making decisions that affect their own personal well-being,” Holman added.

(CNSNews.com) – The U.S. State Department is marking lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender “Pride Month” by changing its policy concerning gender change on passports and consular reports of birth abroad. As of June 10, the State Department no longer requires that individuals provide proof that they have had sex reassignment surgery, but only requires certification from an “attending physician” that the individual received “appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition,” which may or may not include surgery. In other words, a conservative group complained, "cross-dressers no longer need to undergo 'sexual reassignment' surgery to change the gender listed on their passports."

The United States has not determined whether Syria has transferred Scud missiles to Lebanon's Hezbollah, a U.S. State Department spokesman said on Tuesday. "We are still looking into it. We haven't [made] any particular judgment at this point as to whether any transfer has taken place but ... this is something that we have great concern about," Assistant Secretary of State P.J. Crowley told reporters. The United States summoned the senior Syrian diplomat in Washington on Monday to address what it called "provocative behavior" regarding the potential transfer of Scud missiles to Hezbollah, which it said could be threaten Lebanon...

Top Obama counterterrorism adviser John Brennan says the Justice Department made the decision to handle the case of Detroit terror bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab in the criminal justice system. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Brennan was asked why the Obama administration did not choose to treat Abdulmutallab as an enemy combatant. "He was arrested on U.S. soil," Brennan answered. "The Department of Justice makes that determination about what is the best tool to use."

In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day. The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

The Obama State Dept. wants to discourage American citizens from traveling to Jerusalem, Israel this week during "Sukkot", also known as the "Feast of Tabernacles." This is the largest tourism event in Israel. According to this report in Jpost: "In an unusual move, the US State Department on Friday called on American citizens to avoid Jerusalem's Old City during the week of Sukkot, warning citizens of increased violence, crime and heavy traffic." Jews and Christians from all over the world have come to Jerusalem for decades to join in the Biblical celebrations without a problem. It is an occasion in...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar moved Monday to prepare the nation's parks, refuges and endangered species for the onslaught of global warming. Salazar signed an order setting up a Climate Change Response Council and eight regional response centers to study and respond to such issues as rising sea levels threatening to swamp historic structures and warmer temperatures shifting where wildlife live. The order also commits the Interior Department to develop a plan to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions, including setting a firm target.

The Energy Department said Tuesday it would lend $5.9 billion to Ford Motor Co. and provide about $2.1 billion in loans to Nissan Motor Co. and Tesla Motors Inc., making the three automakers the first beneficiaries of a $25 billion fund to develop fuel-efficient vehicles.

The key lessons of the global financial crisis (GFC) may be that the current economic order is "built to fail." The ability to sustain high rates of economic growth, decreed by governments and central bankers, is questionable. The aggressive increase in debt globally resulted in a sharp increase in sustainable growth rates, wherein $4 to $5 of debt was required to create $1 of growth. Approximately half the recorded growth in the US over recent years was driven by borrowing against the rising value of houses (mortgage equity withdrawals). As the level of debt in the global economy decreases, attainable...

CNSNews.com) - The Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched an investigation of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona following requests by congressional Democrats and allegations by liberal activists that the department has violated the civil rights of illegal aliens.

TROUP, Texas - The police chief and a sergeant in this eastern Texas town were arrested on drug and evidence tampering charges and the department shut down. Police Chief Chester Kennedy was charged Friday with tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. He was released from jail on a $400,000 bond. Sgt. Mark Turner, last year's chamber of commerce Officer of the Year, was booked into Smith County Jail late Thursday on a misdemeanor delivery of marijuana charge and a third-degree felony charge of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. Turner was being held on bonds totaling $500,000. The department's equipment...

ABOARD USS AUSTIN, Jan. 24, 2006 - Crew members of the amphibious transport ship USS Austin (LPD 4) received a late Christmas surprise Jan. 20 when several pallets of care packages were delivered by helicopter. The care packages were sent by the New York City Sanitation Department, a project that was spearheaded by Gloria Coletti, the mother of Austin Sailor Ensign John Holzer. “I am a mom on a mission,” said Coletti. She said she wanted to ensure that everyone on board received something. The care packages included numerous items, such as DVD movies, snacks, toiletries and more. “I'm very...

In a move that could curtail Israeli power in the Middle East, the US is calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and forego the use and stockpile of nuclear weapons. Twice in the past two weeks, State Department officials have compared Israel’s status as a nuclear power with that of India and Pakistan, calling on all three nations to give up their nuclear arms. The statements were made by two mid-level State Department Officials, ahead of the NPT Review Conference, scheduled to open in New York on May 2. The purpose of the conference is to...