Monthly Archives: <span>May 2016</span>

Publicizing DNA Results Does Not Fall Within TCPA Exclusion

An interesting case was just decided by the District Court in Texas (Southern District) in Evanston Ins. Co. v. Gene By Gene, Ltd., 2016 WL 102294 (filed Jan. 6, 2016). In Gene by Gene, the insured, Gene by Gene, Ltd., …

Synthetic Drugs Spark New Look at Drugged-Driving Laws

Eighteen-year-old Kristian Roggio was riding in a friend’s car when another driver careened across a Brooklyn street, colliding head-on and killing her. That driver had inhaled aerosol dust cleaner moments before to get high, and prosecutors say he was impaired …

Task Force Created to Reduce Farm Equipment Metal Theft in 3 States

A new group trying to reduce metal theft from agriculture operations in Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas. Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said his office is creating a Mississippi Delta Agricultural Theft Task Force to connect law enforcement agencies, scrap …

Japan Plans $4.5B in Quake-Relief Spending

Japan is preparing an extra budget of more than $4.5 billion for reconstruction of areas hit by this month’s deadly earthquakes, sources said, but the central bank is unlikely to grant any relief to banks in the stricken region. The …

Robot Sub Aids in Recovery of El Faro’s Data Recorder

An underwater search has successfully recovered a voice and data recorder that may provide clues about why a cargo ship sank last year off the U.S. East Coast in a hurricane. The National Transportation Safety Board, which last year located …

Researchers Find Electronic Medical Records Often Targeted by Hackers

For 10 days in February one hospital’s records hung in limbo. At Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California, a ransomware attack kept health care records in control of anonymous hackers, until hospital officials paid $17,000 to take back their system. …

Earthquake Risk at Utah Fault Studied

Signs of earthquakes are everywhere in the chaotically beautiful geology of southwest Utah and the region where the mile-high Colorado Plateau falls off into the corrugated Basin-and-Range landscape that dominates neighboring Nevada. The treeless desert lays bare the lines of …

Altmaier Promoted to Florida Insurance Commissioner

After a contentious and bumpy process that saw Florida’s top Republican officials deadlock several times, the state has a new insurance commissioner just weeks before the start of hurricane season. During an emergency meeting on Friday, Gov. Rick Scott and …

Less Severe Wildfire Season Expected in 2016

The upcoming wildfire season across the U.S. isn’t expected to be as bad as last year’s infernos, when a record 15,800 square miles burned, the nation’s top wildland firefighting official said Wednesday. But parts of the nation should expect a …

Researchers Blame Rain for Causing Some Earthquakes

Rainwater may play an important role in the process that triggers earthquakes, according to new research. Researchers from the University of Southampton, GNS Science (New Zealand), the University of Otago, and GFZ Potsdam (Germany), identified the sources and fluxes of …