Morning Media Summary

Tech:

Google Near Deal in Drug Ad Crackdown:
“Google Inc. is close to settling a U.S. criminal investigation into allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws, according to people familiar with the matter. ”

Facebook paid PR firm to smear Google:
“Facebook has been caught secretly paying a top public relations firm to plant negative stories about Google in the US media.”

Global Warming / Environment / Energy:

School Board Orders Global Warming Class to Include Conservative Views:

“Before Los Alamitos High School science teachers can tackle topics such as global warming, they will have to demonstrate to the school board that the course is politically balanced.”

Kruauthammer rips oil company congressional ‘show trials’: ‘A disgrace’:
“Beating up on oil companies has always been low-hanging fruit for politicians when gasoline prices are high. And as the country is headed into the summer driving season, gas prices are certain to go higher, giving Democrats the opportunity to play that card.”

Big Oil execs hit back on tax proposal:
“Dragged before Congress as gas prices explode at the pump, oil executives mounted a vigorous defense of their business practices on Thursday — pushing back against plans to eliminate tax breaks for the “big five” oil and gas companies.”

Insurance / Gambling:

SD: Deadwood casino group may seek changes in law:
“Rather than fight the addition of games resembling slot machines in video lottery establishments across the state, the organization representing casinos in Deadwood may explore ways to expand and enhance their own games, the group’s president said Wednesday.”

Health / Safety:

Desperate Americans Buy Kidneys From Peru Poor in Fatal Trade:
“Luis Picado’s mother remembers the day her son thought he had won the lottery. He came home to their tin-roofed cinder-block house in a Managua, Nicaragua, slum and said he’d found a way to escape poverty and start a new life in the United States.”

Sen. Rand Paul: Right To Health Care Is Like Believing In “Slavery”:
“SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): “With regard to the idea of whether you have a right to health care, you have realize what that implies. It’s not an abstraction. I’m a physician. That means you have a right to come to my house and conscript me. It means you believe in slavery.””

Economics:

Two Years In, Obama Says Full Recovery Will “Take Us Several Years”:
“PRESIDENT OBAMA: That’s exactly right. So — so part of what’s happened also is some structural changes in the economy. Where it used to be that there was broad-based shared prosperity, now if companies are doing really well — they’re not necessarily hiring back workers. They’re just figuring out how to do more with fewer workers. That may increase profits, but it doesn’t help folks who are lookin’ for a job. And often times that look — puts a lot of pressure on the people who are already on the job.”

Legal:

Judge OKs extra releases for Reagan shooter, Hinckley:
“The man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan 30 years ago is being granted additional time away from the Washington psychiatric hospital where he lives.”

Labor:

Muscle: SEIU’s million-dollar ad push for more taxes:
“California’s largest public- employee union, Service Employees International Union, launched a seven-figure television advertising blitz pressuring GOP legislators to back Gov. Jerry Brown’s tax extensions.”

Transportation/ Land Use:

Florida’s $2 Billion for High Speed Rail Goes Elsewhere:
“The Tampa to Orlando line had the backing of everyone from business to the state’s Republican legislators; but Rick Scott, the new Tea Party-backed governor, blocked it as a “big government boondoggle”. Today the Transportation Department announced that the money will go elsewhere.”