Washington, DC - A Texas woman who managed aspects of an international program at an Ohio-based adoption agency pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to corruptly facilitate adoptions of Ugandan children through bribing Ugandan officials and defrauding U.S. adoptive parents and the U.S. Department of State.

Washington, DC - The Federal Trade Commission is sending refund checks totaling more than $516,000 to 3,977 consumers as the result of a settlement with the operators of a debt collection scheme that allegedly tricked people into paying money for debts they did not owe. The average refund amount is $129.

Washington, DC - The National Science Foundation has invested $36 million in the first projects under its Understanding the Rules of Life portfolio. These awards are aimed at accelerating development in two key areas of science and engineering research: building a synthetic cell, and epigenetics.

Sacramento, California - With only a few weeks left in this year's Legislative Session, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) is pleased to report that his farmworker and Native American housing initiatives have passed favorably in the Senate Appropriations Committee and are ready to go before the Senate for a floor vote.

Washington, DC - Had you asked yesterday, we would have said the largest financial remedy for violations of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule was $5.7 million. Today’s $170 million total monetary judgment against YouTube and its parent company Google raises the stakes when it comes to COPPA compliance. Filed jointly with the New York Attorney General’s Office, the record-breaking FTC settlement offers three primary takeaways for other companies.

San Leandro, California - A huge celebration took place at George Mark Children’s House earlier today (Sept. 3, 2019), complete with animals from the Oakland Zoo including a lesser tenrec, a box turtle and a blue-tongued skink and flamingo and giraffe puppets from the San Diego Zoo. The special event for patients, their families, hospital staff and invited guests was presented to announce the arrival of San Diego Zoo Kids, a closed-circuit television adventure channel, at George Mark Children’s House making this the 250th launch event for the innovative television channel.