Christa Pike’s failed execution in September has raised fresh questions about Tennessee’s lethal injection execution protocol, which is in its fourth iteration in the past two decades. Pike’s was the second botched execution by Tennessee this year. She had been sentenced to death for her role in the 1995 torture and murder of her 19-year-old…
Advances in artificial intelligence are making it a cinch to create so-called deepfake images, videos and audio recordings, raising concerns that bad actors could bombard people with hyper-realistic scams and spread disinformation. Deepfakes that use the voices and likenesses of public figures, including celebrities or political candidates, can also deceive the public in various ways, security…
Next week’s midterm elections could prove momentous for Social Security, with time running out to put the program on solid financial ground. Social Security trustees’ most recent report projects that the program’s main trust fund is on course to be depleted by late 2032, after which Social Security recipients would face a more than 20%…
Attorney General Todd Blanche has long maintained that the so-called Epstein files, even those kept from the public, contain no secret information related to national security. When the document releases began last winter, Blanche noted that the Epstein Files Transparency Act authorized withholding information in the interest of national security or foreign policy, but said,…
The Trump administration has hinged federal funding for states on whether they end or loosen powerful but controversial laws that regulate the construction of new hospitals — with a handful of states poised to comply. A chunk of the $50 billion available to states through the five-year Rural Health Transformation Program is partly contingent on…
Beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program have been waiting longer than they ever have before for the government to decide on renewing their deportation protections, federal data shows, leading some to lose work authorization in the interim. While the number of people whose DACA protections have expired due to delays is not…
A law designed to protect patients from surprise medical bills succeeded in eliminating unexpected charges, but spawned a lucrative arbitration industry with providers and specialized middlemen extracting payments far above benchmark billing rates. The practice is ultimately driving up healthcare costs for consumers, a CBS News investigation found. The arbitration system Congress created to settle…
Is it even possible to choose a favorite Alan Alda character? How about Senator Arnold Vinick on “The West Wing”? Or lawyer Jack Burroughs in “The Four Seasons”? And, of course, “Hawkeye” Pierce, the sarcastic Korean War combat surgeon, on “M*A*S*H”? For his work on “M*A*S*H,” which aired on CBS for 11 seasons beginning…
Democratic congressional members and candidates are already planning to use any midterm election gains to expand health coverage, including boosting Affordable Care Act subsidies, reversing Medicaid cuts, and lowering the Medicare eligibility age. But Democratic strongholds across the country — including Oregon, California, New York, and Washington — have more ambitious goals: single-payer, universal healthcare…
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo Tuesday directing institutions like the Military Academy at West Point and the Naval Academy in Annapolis to immediately stop granting tenure to civilian faculty, in Hegseth’s latest change to military higher education. “Tenure often leads to academic stagnation, faculty complacency, and institutional inability to adapt to emerging needs,”…
