A bill being taken up by the House Science Committee would force the EPA to include language in its years-long study on fracking that adds “objective estimates of the probability, uncertainty and consequence of each identified impact, taking into account the risk management practices of states and industry.”

The bill, which is scheduled for mark-up on Thursday, was introduced by the Committee’s Chair, Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas. As The Hill reported, in a hearing last week …

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On Wednesday, the Uruguayan House of Representatives approved a bill to legally regulate marijuana. Passing with 50 out of 96 votes, the bill now goes to the Senate. If approved by the Senate, Uruguay will become the first country in the world to legally regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana.

The marijuana legalization proposal was put forward by President José Mujica of the Frente Amplio (Broad Front) last June as part of a 15-measure …

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Civil rights leaders on Wednesday hailed the passage of a Los Angeles City Council resolution calling for federal prosecutors to investigate the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin.

In a 13-0 vote, the Council passed the resolution by Councilmember Bernard Parks, which urged the U.S. Department of Justice and the Attorney General to conduct an investigation into possible civil rights violations in Martin’s death.

The vote makes L.A. one of the first U.S. …

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Uprising’s Friday guest expert Arun Gupta, Independent journalist and regular contributor to AlterNet, Truthout and The Guardian, and co-founder of the Occupied Wall Street Journal and The Indypendent, analyzes today’s news headlines:

After weeks of speculation as to where NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden may end up, he is reported to have finally be allowed to leave a Moscow airport …

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More civilians have died in Afghanistan in the first half of this year than a year ago, bucking a trend toward greater security in the war-torn nation. A new United Nations report finds that civilian deaths and injuries are up by nearly a quarter and that a great number of those are a result of heightened fighting between Afghan government …

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As the Senate confirmed President Obama’s nominee Todd Jones as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives yesterday, one controversial ATF practice was not raised during the hearings.

Jones, who has been working as interim ATF head, was not questioned about a program investigated in a special report by USA Today, that found the government agency had …

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“God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers.” — Rudyard Kipling …

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Single mothers who form one of the poorest demographics in the nation often suffer depression linked to poverty. But rather than obvious factors like food insecurity, it is, surprisingly, access to diapers for their babies that was one of best indicators of maternal mental health.

In a new study by the Yale School of Medicine, researchers interviewed hundreds of mothers …

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he President visited Chattanooga yesterday to continue to promote his job-creation campaign. But Amazon? Really? Why is President Obama using Amazon to tout his ideas for job creation?

President Welcomed To Chattanooga

Today in Chattanooga the President visits an Amazon warehouse to propose a “grand bargain for middle-class jobs.” (This is written before the proposal, details on that later…) A Chattanooga newspaper, the Times Free Press, responded to the President’s visit by reiterating the basic Republican position, …

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When the ten Democrats and eight Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned James Comey in his hearing on July 9 for confirmation as director of the FBI, the words “Lockheed Martin,” where Comey was general counsel and senior vice president between 2005 and 2010, were mentioned only twice. The first was when Chairman Patrick Leahy reviewed his career highlights. The second was when Senator Chuck Grassley noted that the FBI had cancelled Lockheed’s contract …

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