Five Doctors Arrested in South Florida Pain Clinic Raids ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Narcotics agents descended on more than a dozen South Florida pain clinics Wednesday, arresting at least 20 people - including five doctors - in the most dramatic effort yet to curb the region's booming business of illegal prescription narcotics, reports the Miami Herald. The raids were the culmination of a two-year investigation by a task force of federal, state and local investigators, an operation dubbed "Operation Pill Nation." Undercover agents were dispatched to storefront pain clinics to buy potent painkillers such as oxycodone without any medical justification for the pills, investigators said. Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti called the raids a new front in a "new kind of drug war" on the massive trafficking of prescription drugs through pain clinics operating with the outward appearance of legitimacy. Inside the clinics, doctors hand out pills without taking medical exams, and armed guards patrol the lobbies. These clinics have popped up all over South Florida in recent years. In Broward alone, the number of clinics grew from four to 130 in four years, making the region the prime supplier of illegal pills in the eastern United States. |
Celebrities and Sex Addiction: Is It a Disease or an Excuse? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From Tiger Woods to Charlie Sheen to Silvio Berlusconi, the spate of stories about sexual escapades of famous people is raising a central question: Why would these men risk everything to satisfy their urges? When it comes to addiction, the line between morality and disease has always been blurry, says Time. But only in the past 25 years have we come to regard excesses in necessary cravings - hunger for food, lust for sex - as possible disease states. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is debating whether sex addiction should be added to its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The addition of what the APA is calling "hypersexual disorder" would legitimize sex addiction in a way that was unthinkable just a few years ago, when Bill Clinton's philandering was regarded as a moral failing or a joke - but not, in the main, as an illness. But the legitimacy now being granted to sex addiction requires a closer look. In the 20th century, we changed our thinking about alcoholism: what was once a moral weakness came to be understood as an illness resulting in large part from genetics. Sexual acting out seems different, though. Is excessive lust really just another biochemical accident? |
Brady VP Sees Hypocrisy in House Vote on 'Sensible' Gun Plan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Writing on the Huffington Post, Dennis Henigan, vice president of the Brady Center, says he sees hypocrisy in last week's House vote to block a move to curb gun trafficking to Mexican cartels. He wrotes, "'We don't need new gun laws. We just need to enforce the laws on the books.' How many times have you heard this argument from the gun lobby and its wholly-owned subsidiaries in Congress? And how many times have their actions on gun law enforcement exposed the hypocrisy of their words? "It has happened yet again on the issue of gun trafficking to Mexico. It is now beyond dispute that more than 60,000 guns - primarily military-style semiautomatic assault rifles - have moved from American gun shops in the border states into the hands of the murderous Mexican drug cartels, and more are moving every day. Yet on Friday, the House of Representatives, heeding only the National Rifle Association's command, voted to block the Obama Administration from implementing a sensible proposal that would enhance enforcement of our laws to curb gun trafficking to the Mexican cartels." |
Eyeing Deficit, Rhode Island Cuts Legal Fees by 15 Percent ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Chafee administration is notifying scores of private lawyers doing contract work for the state of Rhode Island that it will cut their legal fees by 15 percent on March 1, reports the Providence Journal. The memo is the first demonstration of Governor Chafee's promised effort to head off a potential $295 million deficit next year by cutting spending. State government spent more than $2.32 million on legal fees in 2009, which was the last year for which the state had complete numbers on Wednesday. The state-run Economic Development Corporation spent another $640,800 that year. Cutting these fees by 15 percent would have saved the state a potential $444,428. |
Law Center Report Prompts Debate Over Definition of 'Hate Group' ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The definition of a "hate group" is putting those on the political right at odds with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which says that its count of the groups in the U.S. has topped 1,000 for the first time. Some say the civil rights group's broad definition of hate vilifies innocent people and stifles vigorous debate about critical issues, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Tension erupted between the SPLC and some Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota (who tops the SPLC's "militia enablers list"), who protested the SPLC's listing of the conservative Family Research Council as a hate group. The SPLC said the Family Research Council is knowingly pushing falsehoods about gay people. The Montgomery, Ala.-based SPLC, is careful to note that organizations on its list don't necessarily advocate violence. Its definition of a hate group and "ideologues" includes groups and people who suggest that an entire group of human beings are, by virtue of class characteristics, "somewhat less," says an SPLC official. |
Former CA Official Gets 248-Year Sentence for Sex Abuse of Adoptee ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A former executive director of California state mental hospital and Walnut resident will die in prison for molesting his adopted son over the course of nine years, reports the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. Claude Foulk Jr., 63, got a prison sentence of 248 years for his conviction on more than 30 counts of child molestation for abusing his adopted son from age nine to 18. The abuse took place while the father and son lived in Long Beach, then continued when they moved to Walnut. Though the case against Foulk involved only his adopted son, four other men testified during his trial that they were molested by Foulk as far back as 1966, district attorney's officials said in the statement. Foulk served as the executive director of the Napa State Hospital until he was charged, and subsequently fired, on Feb. 24, 2010. |
Thefts, Assaults Drive 12 Percent Crime Increase on DC's Metro ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Crime increased on Washington's Metro transit system increased by 12 percent last year, fueled by surging numbers of aggravated assaults and robberies by thieves who snatch smartphones, MP3 players and other electronic devices from rail passengers and flee, the city's Post reported. The bus and rail system serving Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia reported 2,279 serious crimes in 2010. That marks a five-year high from 2006, when 1,440 incidences were reported. From 2009 to 2010, the number of rapes and sexual offenses grew from one to seven; four of the sexual offenses allegedly involved assaults on disabled customers by MetroAccess drivers. The largest single increase was in aggravated assaults, from 94 to 136. Metro officials said a third of those altercations involved its own bus drivers, some of whom had confrontations with passengers who refused to pay fares. |
After Florida Cop Shooting, Bradenton Police Make Vests Mandatory ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bradenton, Fla., police officers will now be required to wear bulletproof vests in light of the shooting of an officer in St. Petersburg, reports MyFoxTampaBay.com. Officer David Crawford was not wearing a vest when he was shot and killed late Monday. But for most agencies across the state, it's still up to the officer, and there is no statewide movement underway to change that. No vest is fully bulletproof, but the vests have saved the lives of more than 3,000 police officers since the late 1980s. "We hope they all wear their vests, but it should be up to their choice and discretion," explained Michael Krohn of the PBA. He said the vests are "extremely hot and uncomfortable." |
Cancellation of PA Prison Project Comes as Blow to Locals ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After years of waiting for a promised new prison, officials in Fayette County, Pa., were stunned last week when Gov. Tom Corbett's administration canceled the $200 million project. German Township Supervisor Dan Shimshock said he wasn't even notified; he learned of the news from a reporter, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The news came out when a letter to executives of the firms selected to build the prison was posted on the Department of General Services website. The state Department of Corrections said the new prison was not "absolutely needed" because other state prisons are already under-used. The news comes as a hard blow to the German Township area, a once-booming coal district that's now riddled with boarded storefronts, and where one in five residents live below the poverty level. |
WA State Prison System Finds Cost-Cutting Is Challenging ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Washington state's prison population has become more violent, whiter and older in the past decade, reports the Associated Press. And while running the prison system eats up 5 percent of the state budget, there appear to be few places that funding can be cut without resorting to releasing inmates early, as some states have done. Changes started in the 1980s have dramatically altered the state prison population. While Washington has a relatively small prison population - about 17,000 for a state of 6.6 million people - the percentage of inmates serving time for violent crimes is greater than the national average. Early release of some inmates to help reduce the projected $4.6 billion deficit in the next two-year state budget is being discussed by lawmakers. At a legislative hearing on Wednesday, Steve Aos of the Washington State Institute for Public Policy estimated that cutting 60 days off the sentence of low- and moderate-risk offenders could save the state $4.6 million a year, with just a 15 percent probability that crime would rise as a result. |
Population Up Slightly in Native American Jails, Says Justice Dept. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The inmate population in Indian country jails increased about 2 percent to 2,176 offenders between midyear 2008 and 2009, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Indian country jails are operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Eighty Indian country jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other correctional facilities reported inmate counts to BJS in 2009, down from 82 facilities in 2008. Nationwide, American Indians and Alaska Natives under correctional supervision in the U.S. increased 5.6 percent, from an estimated 75,400 offenders in 2008 to 79,600 in 2009. Nearly two-thirds of the population (63 percent or 50,200) was under supervision in the community on probation or parole in 2009, and about a third (29,400 or 37 percent) was in prison or jail. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives in prison or jail at midyear 2009, almost half (14,646) were confined in state prison; about 11 percent (3,154) were held in federal prison; and 32 percent (9,400) were in local jails operated by county or municipal authorities. Indian country jails held 7.4 percent of the population under correctional supervision. |
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Thursday, February 24, 2011
Articles for 24 Feb 2011
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