Gaetz Faces Probe by House Ethics Over Potential Misconduct
The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation of Rep. Matt Gaetz, citing reports of sexual and other misconduct by the Florida Republican.
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ethics
Book Marketing Puts Senator Cruz in Campaign Finance Pickle
Reporting the Texas senator to the Federal Election Commission, a watchdog says he used campaign funds to promote a book on Facebook that in turn brought in royalties.
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Devin Nunes
A federal court in Virginia dismissed Congressman Devin Nunes’ RICO claims against research firm Fusion GPS, finding he failed to show he was directly injured by the defendant acting with the Campaign For Accountability, which made an ethics complaint against him, or that the firm’s creation of a “dossier” about him directly harmed his business as a U.S. representative.
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Ethics Panel Affirms Rep. Gohmert Fine Over Metal Detector
The House Ethics Committee upheld a $5,000 fine against Rep. Louie Gohmert on Tuesday after he was accused of failing to submit to a full security screening when entering the chamber’s floor last month.
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Belief in God Not Needed to Tell Right From Wrong, Surveys Say
An analysis from the University of Chicago finds more similarities than differences in the morals driving atheists and believers in God, challenging the notion of the amoral atheist.
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UK Study That Will Infect Volunteers With Covid Approved
A study which will expose volunteers to the coronavirus is to begin in Britain within a month after it gained approval from the country’s clinical ethics body, the government said on Wednesday.
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Toxic Culture Persists in Oakland Police Department, Lawyers Say
Civil rights lawyers say the Oakland Police Department’s reluctance to investigate troubling social media posts with suspected links to its officers represents a “cataclysmic failure of judgment and leadership.”
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Go Forth and Lobby: Trump Nixes Own Ethics Pledge for Aides
On his way out the door, the outgoing president lifted a five-year lobbying ban that he proudly adopted four years ago.
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Study Finds Global Hostility to Gene Editing, Particularly Among Christians
Studying the appetite for gene editing around the world, Pew reported Thursday that the controversy over so-called designer babies becomes less pronounced when the same tools are used to fight disease or infertility.
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Thai Prime Minister Acquitted of Ethics Breach, Retains Post
Thailand’s highest court on Wednesday acquitted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha of breaching ethics clauses in the country’s constitution, allowing him to stay in his job.
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BBC Names Ex-Judge to Lead Probe Into 1995 Diana Interview
The BBC’s board of directors has approved the appointment of a retired senior judge to lead an independent investigation into the circumstances around a controversial 1995 TV interview with Princess Diana.
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French Doctor to Face Charges Over Hydroxychloroquine Claims
A controversial French professor who touts the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a coronavirus treatment — without evidence, scientists say — will appear before a disciplinary panel charged with ethics breaches, an order of doctors said Thursday.
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Cambridge Analytica Ex-Boss Banned From Running Companies
The former boss of Cambridge Analytica, the political consulting firm brought down by a scandal over how it obtained Facebook users’ private data, has been banned from holding company directorships for seven years.
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Dramatic Diorama Raises Ethical Issues for Pittsburgh Museum
A Pittsburgh museum decided a dramatic diorama that has been on display for more than a century should remain out of public view while it considers ethical issues about its accuracy and appropriateness.
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Big Pharma Makes Unusual Ethics Pledge on Vaccine Work
In a bid to assuage safety misgivings in the public imagination, nine drug company CEOs signed a rare pledge Tuesday attesting to strict ethical standards and scientific principles being followed in work on the coronavirus vaccine.
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Survey Finds Gen Z Says ‘No Thanks’ to Lab-Grown Meat
Members of Generation Z have numerous distinctions: first digital natives, pro-government, more racially and ethnically diverse and better educated than previous generations. But they’re not interested in eating meat grown in a laboratory.
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Still Too Soon to Try Altering Human Embryo DNA, Panel Says
It’s still too soon to try to make genetically edited babies because the science isn’t advanced enough to ensure safety, says an international panel of experts who also mapped a pathway for any countries that want to consider it.
Read moreMontana Ethics
The Montana Supreme Court ruled that the state’s political practices agency was justified in dismissing an ethics complaint that claimed the agency’s deputy made statements to a radio station that constituted election advocacy. The high court found that the statements could reasonably be interpreted as a defense of a state statute.
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Panel Revives Taxpayer Suit Over Orange County Jailhouse Informant Scheme
Orange County’s district attorney and sheriff must face a lawsuit seeking to end a jailhouse informant program in operation for decades after a California appeals court panel unanimously ruled Wednesday that a group of county residents have sufficient taxpayer and public interest standing to bring their claims forward.
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