Investigations: Drug Informant Killed, Tortured While Agents Looked Other Way

U.S. federal agents looked the other way while one of their drug informants participating in the torture and murder of a dozen people in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, says this item about the revelations of the DEA's retired former head of South American operations, Sandalio “Sandy” Gonzalez. The informant received $220,000 for his services infiltrating the notorious Juarez cartel, says Gonzalez in this very interesting Q&A. Gonzalez says he was reprimanded after he questioned the cover-up of the informant's activities and forced into early retirement.

TAGS: war on drugs, investigations, DEA

Investigations: SEC's Shorting Ban Could Prolong Crisis

The SEC's ban on short-selling financial stocks - and similar bans in Canada and elsewhere - are unlikely to help those companies and may just prolong the market crisis, says this report by analyst Mark Hulbert, who specializes in statistical studies of the markets. Short-sellers tend to react to market momentum, rather than cause it, according to research Hulbert cites. As well, while SEC restrictions on naked short-selling were in place last summer, the financial stocks affected actually performed worse on average than the rest of the market, the research shows. Hulbert reports that the SEC's own research supports these conclusions. He notes that the ban impairs normal market dynamics and could cause stocks to trade at values that diverge widely from their true value.

TAGS: market, SEC, investigations

Investigations: Over Half of Nursing Homes Cited for Violations

More than 90 percent of nursing homes were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year, says this New York Times story on this federal audit. About 17 percent of nursing homes had deficiencies that caused “actual harm or immediate jeopardy” to patients. Problems included infected bedsores, medication mix-ups, poor nutrition and abuse and neglect of patients.

TAGS: investigations, health

Investigations: 57% of Pharma Trials Go Unpublished

The results of 57 percent of studies on new pharmaceutical drugs aren't published within five years of the drug coming to market, says this Guardian story on a review of 90 drugs approved by U.S. regulators. The researchers say the failure of drug companies to publish the evidence amounts to "scientific misconduct" and "harms the public good" by preventing informed decisions by doctors and patients. Read the complete study in Public Library of Science Medicine here.

TAGS: drugs, pharma, science, investigations

Investigations: $91M Carbon Offset Market Lacks Credibility

The fast-growing market for carbon offsets, now worth $90 million in the U.S. alone, is so opaque and loosely regulated it offers consumers "limited assurance of credibility," says this Wall Street Journal story on a federal audit of the market. The offsets should be approached with caution by legislators regulating companies that use them to comply with greenhouse-gas emissions controls, the audit says. See the Government Accountability Office report here.

TAGS: environment, investigations, carbon, climate change