Drug-addicted doctors can run clinical trials. The drug industry hires many kinds of doctors to oversee trials — even those who are under investigation for drug abuse. Reviewing doctors' disciplinary history before appointing them to manage clinical trials isn't explicitly required by FDA regulations. And in today's medical industry, "speed and efficiency…appear to trump concerns about the doctors who run trials."— MATTER via @elbertchu
"Classified" or off-message? James E. Doyle, a nuclear weapons lab contractor, was fired after allegedly disclosing classified information in an academic paper, even though he had it cleared for publishing by the lab. Doyle claims he was actually let go because he took a strong anti-nuclear position in the paper. — Center for Public Integrity
"You don't go to the Peace Corps to die." That's what Nick Castle's father thought. But Nick passed away just months after being sent to China by the government agency. Nick received little follow-up care after complaining to a Peace Corps doctor about stomach problems and weight loss. He died three months later. The Times retraces a trail of medical missteps. — The New York Times via @laura_nelson
What happens when a school "goes shopping for technology without a plan." Five years into the one-to-one student laptop program, Hoboken Junior Senior High School superintendent Mark Toback says keeping the laptops is "unsustainable." The laptops invited a slew of logistical and technical issues, not to mention, they deemed by some teachers as a distraction in the classroom. — Hechinger Report via @justinelliott
He's a distinguished lawyer for the NRA. He was also briefly convicted of murder at age 19. Robert J. Dowlut was imprisoned for shooting a woman, and then had his conviction thrown out over a flawed police investigation. Meet the man at the center of a half a century old murder mystery and follow how he became a gun rights advocate.— Mother Jones via @amzam
The life and death of the man behind South Korea's ferry tragedy. Yoo Byung-eun was a tycoon who had built an empire of at least 70 companies that he used "as a personal A.T.M." The empire included the ferry company that owned the Sewol, the ferry that sank in April, killing 304 passengers — mostly high schoolers. Prosecutors say Yoo and his family siphoned so much money from the ferry company that it spent just two dollars on crew safety training last year.— The New York Times
The White House office that quietly lends an ear to lobbyists: Lobbyists looking to roll back government regulation often head to the little-known Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, which can quietly reshape laws. One study found that 84 percent of EPA's proposed rules featured changes suggested by the office.— ProPublica
