WASHINGTON–President Obama today signed a proclamation to establish the first shoreline addition to the California Coastal National Monument. Using his authorities under the Antiquities Act, President Obama designated the Point Arena-Stornetta Unit, protecting approximately 1,665 acres of a significant and spectacular stretch of public lands along the Mendocino coastline in Northern California. “In my State […]

WASHINGTON–Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Allison Macfarlane said Tuesday the agency and the nuclear industry have made substantial progress in work to enhance the safety of U.S. nuclear plants by applying the lessons from the tragic Fukushima reactor accident three years ago. Speaking on the third anniversary of the accident in which the multi-unit plant was […]

WASHINGTON–A former Detroit-area physician pleaded guilty Thursday for his role in an $11.5 million health care fraud scheme. Jose Mercado-Francis, 60, formerly of Brownstown Township, Mich., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nancy G. Edmunds in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. According to court documents, […]

LOS ANGELES–A retired Marine Corps captain who was convicted of drugging and sexually abusing girls in Cambodia was sentenced Friday to 210 years in federal prison. Michael Joseph Pepe, 60, of Oxnard, was convicted by a jury in May 2008 of seven felony counts for traveling to Cambodia to engage in illicit sexual conduct with […]