The Department’s complaint alleges that Massachusetts and the MDOC are using an unlawful physical abilities test (PAT) that disproportionately screens out female applicants for entry-level correctional officer jobs.

Formosa Plastics Corp., Texas, and Formosa Plastics Corp., Louisiana, will spend more than $10 million on pollution controls to address air, water, and hazardous waste violations at two petrochemical plants in Point Comfort, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La.

The Bank will invest more than $600,000, open a new branch in an African-American neighborhood in west central Alabama and take other steps as part of a settlement.

"We at the Department are especially committed to encouraging compliance with the Act and to fulfilling President Obama's goal of making this Administration the most open and transparent in history."

“We know domestic violence is an epidemic that affects communities across this country regardless of age, race or socio-economic background,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

Matthew Fox, a former Atlantic City, N.J., firefighter, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison by U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Newark, N.J.

Timothy Smith, a resident of Cullman, Ala., was sentenced today to 30 months in prison for tax evasion.

"Talk alone isn’t going to keep crime rates down. Talk alone isn’t going to protect innocent victims. Talk alone isn’t going to stop rival gangs from shooting up our streets, or drug dealers from peddling dope in our schools, or terrorists from attacking our cities. Indeed, we all know that the best ideas in the world are worth little without the resources to implement them."

A federal district court in Texas has permanently enjoined Ludivina Salinas of Mission, Texas, from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

“One of my highest priorities as Attorney General has been to ensure that the Civil Rights Division will again continue to advance the interests of justice and equal protection for all Americans. Tom is an exceptional lawyer and both the Department and the nation will benefit from his leadership and legal expertise,” said Attorney General Eric Holder.

The United States has asked a federal court in Kansas City, Kan., to bar Carlos Cruz, aka Carlos Ruano-Cruz, from preparing tax returns for others.

"Under the visionary leadership of Secretary General Noble, INTERPOL is already at the forefront of the battle against globalized crime. To highlight just one of the many critical steps he has taken: he has modernized the ‘I-24/7’ network, which is used thousands of times each day and millions of times each year to conduct the cross-border police work necessary to find and arrest wanted persons, and to solve and prevent crimes."

The United States has reached a settlement with ranchers in a longstanding dispute over livestock trespasses on public lands in Nye and Esmeralda Counties, Nev.

"Listening to the complex needs of the communities, and recognizing their unique responses, is perhaps the most important thing we can do at the Department."

A federal judge in St. George, Utah, has permanently enjoined Kent Bickmore, the founder of a so-called asset-protection business, from helping customers file fraudulent liens and create hidden nominee bank accounts

A federal district court in Richmond, Va., ruled yesterday that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and other overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in the Nov. 4, 2008, general election.

BASF Corporation has agreed, under a Clean Air Act settlement filed today in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, to reduce the use of refrigerant chemicals that destroy the earth’s stratospheric ozone layer.

Twenty defendants have been charged in seven cases for allegedly participating in Medicare fraud schemes that resulted in more than $26 million in fraudulent bills to the Medicare program.

Today Attorney General Eric Holder announced the arrest of nearly 1,200 individuals on narcotics-related charges and the seizure of more than 11.7 tons of narcotics as part of a 44-month multi-agency law enforcement investigation known as “Project Coronado.”

Three Ohio residents, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 29, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 46, and Wassim I. Mazloum, 28, have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from more than 8 years to 20 years for conspiring to commit terrorist acts against Americans overseas, including U.S. military personnel in Iraq, and other terrorism-related violations.

Daryl Haynor, an accountant who was a tax partner at an accounting firm in Tysons Corner, Va., and Jon Flask, an attorney who was a partner at a law firm in Vienna, Va., were indicted today for conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and for corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede the due administration of the internal revenue laws

A former State Department employee was sentenced today to 12 months of probation for illegally accessing more than 75 confidential passport application files.

The United States alleges that the state of New York has failed to house thousands of individuals with mental illness who currently reside in large, institutional “adult homes” in the most integrated setting, in violation of Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.

The department announced the filing of a consent decree settling a Voting Rights Act lawsuit against the town of Lake Park, Fla., that, subject to court approval, will alter the method of electing the town commission.

Erin Sharma, a former corrections officer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, was sentenced today in federal court in Orlando, Fla., on federal civil rights charges related to the fatal assault of an inmate.

David Plummer, Spencer Plummer and Terry Green, operators of a fraudulent tax shelter that offered tax benefits in connection with the leasing of thoroughbred mares, pleaded guilty today to a criminal information charging them with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States.

The department has reached a settlement with the city of Marion, Ark., that, if approved by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, will resolve the department’s lawsuit against the city alleging race discrimination in employment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended.

Robert J. Cabelly, 61, of Washington, D.C., has been indicted in the District of Columbia charging him with conspiracy to violate the Sudanese sanctions regulations and to act as an unregistered agent of a foreign power.

Bill J. Allen and Richard L. Smith were each sentenced in separate hearings today for their participation in a corruption scheme in which they provided approximately $395,000 in corrupt payments to public officials from the state of Alaska.

A Mobile, Ala., grand jury has indicted a waste disposal company, its president and top manager for offenses involving the illegal disposal of waste into the sewage treatment systems of Mobile and of neighboring municipalities.

Roderick Prescott, a resident of Orem, Utah, and a former principal of National Trust Services (NTS) in San Jose, Calif., and later Selma, Ore., has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for tax evasion, the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

The department announced the release of a new video aimed at educating employers about the employment provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

A hospital group based in McAllen, Texas, has agreed to pay the United States $27.5 million to settle claims that it violated the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute and the Stark Statute between 1999 and 2006, by paying illegal compensation to doctors in order to induce them to refer patients to hospitals within the group

I authorized this significant step following a careful and thorough review process, and I did so only because I believe there is no way for this case to move forward without jeopardizing ongoing intelligence activities that we rely upon to protect the safety of the American people.

On Nov. 3, 2009, the department will monitor elections in the following jurisdictions to ensure compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and other federal voting rights statutes: the cities of Lowell and Springfield, Mass.; the city of Hamtramck, Mich.; Middlesex County and the borough of Penns Grove, N.J.; Orange County and Queens, N.Y., and the city of Philadelphia.

Michael Kennedy was charged with one count of conspiring with others to violate the federal civil rights of inmate Richard Delano and one count of violating Delano’s civil rights by arranging for another inmate to assault Delano.

The nation’s largest nursing home pharmacy, Omnicare Inc. of Covington, Kentucky, will pay $98 million, and drug manufacturer, IVAX Pharmaceuticals of Weston, Florida, will pay $14 million to resolve allegations that Omnicare engaged in kickback schemes with several parties, including IVAX.

Michael Bullard, Richard Armstrong and James Whitewater were sentenced today in federal court in Boise, Idaho, for hate crime and conspiracy charges in connection with the racially-motivated assault of an African-American man outside of a Wal-Mart store in July 2008

“I am pleased to welcome Ignacia back to the Department and the Environment and Natural Resources Division,” said Attorney General Holder.

Dustin Nix of Donaldson, Ark, was sentenced today in federal court in Fort Smith, Ark, on federal civil rights charges related to a conspiracy to drive a woman and her children from their home because they associated with African-Americans.

Under the settlement, which must still be approved by the court, 11 defendants will pay all costs related to making the complexes for which they were responsible accessible to persons with disabilities.

Laurie O. Robinson was sworn in today as Assistant Attorney General in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (OJP).

Susan Holloman, 58, of Washington, pleaded guilty to a one-count criminal information charging her with unauthorized computer access.

The government complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Dallas alleges that Travis Nicholas Stenline of Seagoville, Texas, operates a business he calls Nick Tax or Nick’s Taxes that prepares fraudulent returns for customers.

Steven W. Burgess, a former Jackson County, Mo., sheriff’s deputy, pleaded guilty in federal court today to violating the civil rights of a teenage girl whom he sexually assaulted in his patrol car.

"When I returned to the Department earlier this year, I pledged that the work of the Civil Rights Division would be one of my highest priorities. That was true in February. It is true today."

The lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleges that since 2003, defendants have violated the False Claims Act.

“This task force’s mission is not just to hold accountable those who helped bring about the last financial meltdown, but to prevent another meltdown from happening,” Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Daniel Melgoza, a Bexar County, Texas, Corrections Officer, was charged today in a four-count federal indictment with violating the civil rights of two detainees and obstructing justice.

"We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing, and will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives."