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The seminars offered police officers some useful tips on seizing property from suspected criminals. Don’t bother with jewelry (too hard to dispose of) and computers (“everybody’s got one already”), the experts counseled. Do go after flat screen TVs, cash and cars. Especially nice cars. In one seminar, captured on video in September, Harry S. Connelly Jr., the city attorney of Las Cruces, N.M., called them “little goodies.” And then Mr. Connelly described how officers in his jurisdiction could not wait to seize one man’s “exotic vehicle” outside a local bar. “A guy drives up in a 2008 Mercedes, brand new,”...

Running out of funds and ideas, colleges want more public funding to help keep them afloat. During a recent panel discussion at the liberal think tank Center for American Progress, speakers praised President Barack Obama’s higher education push for performance-based pay and incentives for colleges and universities. Ted Mitchell, , U.S. Department of Education undersecretary, complained about today’s higher education funding environment, telling the audience, “There has been systematic disinvestment by states throughout the Great Recession in higher education,” adding that it “really does disadvantage students” from low-income neighborhoods and backgrounds. He felt the state governments, by not funding state...

Tyler Durden 10/26/2014 “How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?” The federal government does. * * * The topic of civil asset forfeiture has been high on our agenda recently as federal 'agents' discover how to steal Americans' hard-earned cash with zero repurcussions , and decide unilaterally how much cash a 'common man' is allowed to carry; but as The NY Times reports, the escalation to The IRS brings a whole new world of possibilities with regard asset confiscation based on no...

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A truck containing 18 tons of Crisco sticks headed to a grocery store chain distribution center was stolen in a Florida city. St. Petersburg Police say that a tractor-trailer containing the 36,000 pounds of vegetable shortening was snatched Sunday morning.

In the United States, armed citizens are seldom robbed.   When they are, it is usually because the robber does not know that they are armed, and simply makes a mistake in victim selection.   That may be what happened with a Illinois police officer.  It happened on 7 September, 2014.   From wgntv.com: An off-duty Harvey Police Officer is in critical condition after being attacked and robbed. It happened around 3:00am this morning near 59th and Lake Shore Drive, at the nearby harbor. The officer was reportedly hit in the head with a gun, before his gun and badge were...

(CNSNews.com ) -- Wildfire management employees at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) used government charge cards to by $799,000 worth of gift cards from vendors such as REI, American Express, FredMeyer and Visa, according to a report released Sept. 30 by the Interior Department’s Office of the Inspector General. When investigators requested supporting documentation such as purchase orders, receipts, and authorizing signatures, BLM staff claimed that they were “missing,” according to the report. The inspector general describes widespread misuse of government-issued charge cards at the agency, making the “purchase card program susceptible to fraud, waste, and abuse.” In...

To oversee this process, Dodd-Frank created the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), made up of the heads of the financial services regulatory agencies. The council claims very broad power to designate certain activities (like asset management) or companies and products (including mutual funds) as systemically important and subject them to Federal Reserve bank-style regulation, including leverage and capital requirements. And the council is doing just that – first with banks, then insurance companies and now, potentially, mutual funds. President Obama’s “independent” insurance expert on the council issued a blistering dissent when it designated Prudential – the nation’s second-largest life insurer...

It's hard to keep up with the privacy-threatening shenanigans at the Internal Revenue Service, but let's give it a try. Just days after revealing that the tax agency's failure to follow its own rules put the private data of 1.4 million people at risk, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration publicized the sentencing of Tax Examining Technician Missy Sledge for aggravated identity theft and mail fraud, and IRS employee Monica Hernandez for making and subscribing a false income tax return, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. According to the Inspector General's Office, "as part of her official IRS duties,...

The Post found: •There have been 61,998 cash seizures made on highways and elsewhere since 9/11 without search warrants or indictments through the Equitable Sharing Program, totaling more than $2.5 billion. State and local authorities kept more than $1.7 billion of that while Justice, Homeland Security and other federal agencies received $800 million. Half of the seizures were below $8,800. •Only a sixth of the seizures were legally challenged, in part because of the costs of legal action against the government.

MIRA LOMA, Calif. — Week after week, Guadalupe Rangel worked seven days straight, sometimes 11 hours a day, unloading dining room sets, trampolines, television stands and other imports from Asia that would soon be shipped to Walmart stores. Even though he often clocked 70 hours a week at the Schneider warehouse here, he was never paid time-and-a-half overtime, he said. And now, having joined a lawsuit involving hundreds of warehouse workers, Mr. Rangel stands to receive more than $20,000 in back pay as part of a recent $21 million legal settlement with Schneider, a national trucking company.

A couple of years ago I wrote of an unusual experience I had at Mass wherein a person who was troubled by a demon had those demons manifest themselves at the consecration, causing the person to run out of the Church. More on that in a moment.I thought of that long-ago incident in relation to the current events transpiring in Oklahoma City, where a satanic cult stole the Eucharist from a Catholic parish and announced plans to desecrate it at a satanic “mass” in September. Archbishop Paul Coakley filed a lawsuit, asking a judge to stop the desecration by requiring...

Published August 22, 2014 FoxNews.com Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing and cash, according to a new federal report that investigates fraud in the nation’s largest nutrition support program. Complicating the situation is the fact states around the country are having trouble tracking and prosecuting the crimes because their enforcement budgets have been slashed despite the rapidly-rising number of food stamp recipients, according to the Government Accountability Office report. Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, 47 million people have been awarded $76 billion in benefits. State agencies are responsible...

In a decision that civil rights groups said would protect property owners' rights, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that evidence obtained during illegal searches cannot be used to take someone's property through the civil forfeiture process. The ruling comes in the case of a man whose vehicle and money were seized by Plymouth police after they found drugs during a 2012 traffic stop. During the civil forfeiture process in state court, a judge said the stop was illegal. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the man has standing to challenge the civil forfeiture and sent the case back to...

<p>Vice President Joe Biden’s office stonewalled a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for his travel expenses, according to Ronald Kessler’s new tell-all book on the Secret Service, The First Family Detail.</p> <p>Kessler, a former Wall Street Journal and Washington Post investigative reporter, filed a FOIA request in April 2013 with the Air Force for the details and costs of Biden’s personal trips.</p>

ROSSMOOR (CBSLA.com) — A 45-year-old woman turned herself in to Arcadia police Monday in connection with a June shoplifting incident at the Westfield Santa Anita mall. But what really sets this case apart is that the woman, during a violent scuffle with a security guard outside over her purse, somehow lost her shirt and bra. Police say the woman left behind her purse, stuffed with stolen merchandise, and ran topless to her white Mercedes-Benz parked nearby. A witness recorded the woman’s license plate as she drove off, police reported. Investigators found the woman’s driver’s license inside her purse. They identified...

NORTH SMITHFIELD – A North Smithfield Middle School teacher was arrested on Thursday, July 24 and has been accused of stealing nearly $7,000 from the School Department. Brian Chuey, 29, of Cranston has been charged with two counts of felony larceny after allegedly stealing $6,866, according to a release from the North Smithfield Police Department. He is being held pending an appearance before a Justice of the Peace.

Above: Members of the Mexican Civil Proteccion check a truck around the site where radioactive material was stolen in Tultepec,  north of Mexico City (AFP)by Brian Hayes | Top Right NewsThe Mexican government warned Friday that a vehicle containing radioactive material has been stolen, and issued a dire warning to the thieves against taking the potentially deadly material from its protective container.That's if they are indeed mere "thieves" and not terrorists. The AFP reported: Federal civil defense officials said the vehicle had been transporting deadly iridium-192, a radioactive substance used in making some industrial products.

Radioactive material stolen in Mexico: officials Mexico City (AFP) - The Mexican government warned Friday that a vehicle containing radioactive material has been stolen, and issued a dire warning to the thieves against taking the potentially deadly material from its protective container. Federal civil defense officials said the vehicle had been transporting deadly iridium-192, a radioactive substance used in making some industrial products. The substance "can be dangerous for human health if removed from its container," the officials said in a statement, adding that the material can be lethal even if handled for only a brief time. The theft in...

Three years ago, a security guard working for seed company Pioneer Hi-Bred came across something unusual on a road in Iowa: Just off the pavement, a man was on his knees, digging in a field. Challenged by the guard, Mo Hailong claimed to be an employee of the University of Iowa who was traveling to a nearby conference. He jumped back in his car and sped away. U.S. authorities would later accuse Hailong, and five other Chinese nationals, of stealing corn seeds and attempting to smuggle them back to China. A seventh defendant, Mo Yun, was arrested and charged Wednesday...