A unanimous Supreme Court said on Thursday that companies can’t patent human genes that occur naturally, but they can patent synthetic genes created after the extraction of genetic materials from a person’s body.
CHICAGO (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is excited to call the Clinton Foundation "my home" for a number of new initiatives at the organization founded by her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
Opower is a Virginia-based software company that uses data sorcery to pioneer innovative methods to lower energy consumption and encourage efficiency. Partnering with 85 utility companies in 31 states, Opower’s software generates tailored reports for customers that analyze their energy usage and make recommendations about how to reduce it with small changes, using advanced behavioral-science techniques. The company calculates that since 2007, it has helped customers save a total of $290 million on energy bills and has eliminated 3.6 billion pounds of carbon emissions. ...
Minnesota-based HealthPartners has developed a deceptively simple online diagnostic tool, called virtuwell, that has the potential to drive costs down and improve efficiency. Patients complaining of common problems answer questions about their symptoms online. Physician assistants sign off on treatment within 30 minutes, and patients pay $40 or less for the service, depending on their health insurance. Bringing technology to bear on the diagnoses of simple ailments lightens physicians’ burden and costs patients significantly less.Southcentral Foundation’s Nuka System of Care
Facing a shortage of qualified workers in its new gas-turbine factory in Charlotte, N.C., this engineering and electronics multinational decided to create its own, to the benefit of young workers in the community. In 2011, Siemens launched an apprenticeship program that recruits noncollege-track seniors from nearby Olympic High School. The students take classes at Central Piedmont Community College, in addition to working in the plant for an hourly wage. At the end of the apprenticeship, they have associate degrees and guaranteed jobs at Siemens. ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's health care law is called the Affordable Care Act, but a glitch could make it unaffordable for many low-wage workers, including employees at big chain restaurants, retail stores and hotels.
The 57-43 roll call Thursday by which the Senate killed an amendment by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to the immigration bill. The amendment would have required the U.S.-Mexico border to be under control for six months before any immigrant here illegally could obtain legal status.
WASHINGTON (AP) — FBI Director Robert Mueller is defending the government's collection of millions of U.S. phone records, emails and other information that people transmit online as vital to the nation's national security.
WASHINGTON (AP) — In an early test of support for a comprehensive immigration bill, the Senate on Thursday voted down a Republican attempt to require the U.S.-Mexico border to be under control for six months before immigrants here illegally could take the first steps toward citizenship.
Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand walked into a Senate Armed Services committee markup Wednesday prepared to fight committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.), conservatives on the committee, and many members of both parties in a fight to strip military commanders out of the process for prosecuting sexual assault cases. But Gillibrand walked away with a very unlikely [...]
Rep. Mike Rogers is the latest lawmaker to make a linguistic blunder when it comes to NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Speaking to reporters today, Rogers made clear for the first time that he thinks Snowden ought to be tried for treason.
Big brother is watching. And listening, and reading. And using your purchasing and communications history to hone algorithms that predict what you will buy and click on next.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has unanimously rejected Texas' claim that it has a right under a 30-year-old agreement to cross the border with Oklahoma for water to serve the fast-growing Fort Worth area.
There are over 400 people, heavily involved in politics, who used to have access to top secret government information but never went through any security clearance process. You know some of their names: Rick Santorum, Allen West, Bob Dole. Why haven't any of the politicians you haven't heard of, or wouldn't hear of if they stayed anonymous — former members of Congress who might want to score a few political points — revealed details of how Americans are being surreptitiously surveilled? Perhaps, in part, because the security apparatus keeps those people in the dark.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers next week will honor Frederick Douglass, the early civil rights leader, orator and writer who escaped slavery in 1838, with a statue in the U.S. Capitol. A gift of the District of Columbia, the statue will be placed in Emancipation Hall of the Capitol Visitors Center on Wednesday, June 19. [...]
