Hurricane season is fast approaching and it is likely to be active -- maybe even an extremely active -- season.

The United States has settled its claims filed under the False Claims Act against Lighthouse Disaster Relief and its partners, Gary Heldreth and Kerry Farmer. In its complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, the United States alleged that Lighthouse, Heldreth, and Farmer accepted a $5.3 million payment for work that was not completely performed on a contract with the Department of Homeland Security.

The Sewerage & stalled for several years in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – to make extensive improvements to reduce or eliminate sewage overflows into the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and its storm drainage canal system.

A federal jury in Houston today convicted Helen Etinfoh, 50, and Paula Whitfield, 43, for their roles in a Medicare fraud conspiracy involving, among other things, fraudulent claims of hurricane damage to power wheelchairs.

A federal grand jury has returned an 11 count federal indictment charging three current and two former New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) officers in connection with the police-involved shooting of Henry Glover, a New Orleans resident shot and killed in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Roland J. Bourgeois Jr., 47, currently a resident of Columbia, Miss., was charged in a five-count indictment with conspiring to commit a hate crime, committing a hate crime with a deadly weapon and with intent to kill, making false statements and obstructing of justice in connection with a shooting that happened in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

Paula Whitfield, a patient recruiter for a Houston durable medical equipment company, was sentenced today to 21 months in prison in connection with a $3 million power wheelchair fraud scheme.

Three individuals pleaded guilty today in connection with a Medicare fraud scheme operated out of a Houston-area durable medical equipment (DME) company.

Helen Etinfoh, the former owner and operator of a Houston durable medical equipment (DME) company was sentenced today to 41 months in prison in connection with a $3 million power wheelchair fraud scheme.

Marion Beverly Metoyer, a patient recruiter for a Houston durable medical equipment (DME) company, was convicted today by a Houston federal jury of health care fraud related to a power wheelchair fraud scheme.

Marion Beverly Metoyer, 57, of Dayton, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gray Miller in the Southern District of Texas. Metoyer was convicted by a jury on May 26, 2011, of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, three counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and to receive health care kickbacks and two counts of receiving kickbacks.

A former executive of a Peruvian airline pleaded guilty today for his role in a conspiracy to fix surcharges on air cargo shipments from the United States to South and Central America following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Josh Jambon, 52, a resident of Grand Isle, Louisiana, pleaded guilty today in front of U.S. District Judge Susie Morgan to two counts of federal civil rights violations, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Jocelyn Samuels for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney Kenneth Allen Polite Jr. for the Eastern District of Louisiana

The wave glider created by Iquid Robotics has passed quite a test for robustness. It coasted through the superstorm and provided real time weather data nonstop.

I'm hunkered down in Brooklyn waiting for Hurricane Sandy to pass. Curious about what is happening nearby, I'm looking for photos of the flooding. Here's what I've found so far.

These 5 gardens lost ancient and historic trees, and are in need of donations and volunteers to recover from Hurricane Sandy.

Beyond the headline, a really great overview of how globalization may well be entirely reshaped by energy constraints, for the betterment of local economies in places where manufacturing has been outsourced for years.

See the view captured by the International Space Station as the category 4 hurricane makes landfall over Florida.

From tracking and data to emergency walkie-talkie capabilities and where to find gas, these apps can help weather the storm.

Yet another reason why deforestation is bad: So much of Haiti's mountainsides have been eroded away because of deforestation and hurricanes that it may have stressed Earth's crust, triggering the earthquake that

While global warming naysayers seem content to continue flouting the overwhelming scientific consensus in favor of this anthropogenic phenomenon, they seem to have gotten one point largely right: hurricanes didn't suddenly begin massing over the past

Number of storms predicted per year during the period 1854 -- 2006 versus numbers actually observed for the Atlantic (filled diamonds). The model predictions (grey curve) have been normalized to the data. A quadratic fit to the model is shown for

British Petroleum has created a 22 mile long undersea oil plume, measured as "dispersed" beneath the ocean's surface, stretching from the wellhead, toward Mobile Alabama. Via the Chron: "The thick plume was detected

Lightweight shelters might be an affordable and quick option for emergency housing, but they are also susceptible to damage from high winds. This prototype could be a better solution.

As you may have seen on every major news channel out there, Hurricane Irene is barreling up towards eastern cities like NYC and Washington DC and from the looks of it, it ain't gonna be pretty. Many New Yorkers are evacuating and those who are staying

Climate models show that as the world warms, tropical cyclones will travel more slowly, dumping more rain in one place and making high-speed winds batter buildings for longer

Since New York City's foundation in the early 17th century, the lower tip of Manhattan has been at the heart of metropolitan life - despite its vulnerability to flooding from the harbour. Two possible links between global warming and the damage wrought by Sandy are the raised sea levels which make it easier for the coast to flood, and warm air in the Atlantic Ocean increasing the fierceness of the storm.

Though only 35 weeks pregnant, Christine Schleppy, 34, began having contractions at her home in Skillman, New Jersey just residents were warned to seek shelter and stay indoors.

Greedy landlords and hotel owners looking to make a quick buck from the thousands without power or displaced by Hurricane Sandy were exploiting people's desperation by demanding outrageous prices for a shelter. As of yesterday morning Craigslist was full of posts for costly rooms, with one ad promising people the luxury of a single bedroom apartment with electricity for a 'mere' $700 per night.

Researchers have found that Sandy's Integrated Kinetic Energy index, or IKE, which quantifies the power of a hurricane based on how far out tropical-storm force winds extend from the center, ranked second only to Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

Hermine made landfall in Florida early Friday as a Category 1 hurricane with forecasters warning as much as 20 inches of rain on Thursday.

The sudden onslaught of floods and torrential rain brought by Matthew over the weekend to Florida's east coast has destroyed areas of contained water where the species which carry the disease thrives.

Above-average temperatures will warm Britain tomorrow and on Saturday with highs of 79F (26C) expected before the leftovers of Hurricane Humberto bring heavy rain and gale-force winds.

The wettest and windiest weather today will be in South West England and South Wales, before showers fall across the country over the weekend - with the heaviest rain expected on Sunday.

The east is expected to bear the brunt of the rain tomorrow, with the Met Office issuing yellow weather warnings for the region from midnight until 6pm. Pictured: Porthcawl, Wales yesterday.

Chris Christie attacked Texas Senator Ted Cruz for voting against a $50 billion Hurricane Sandy relief package, saying he used 'reprehensible lies' to defend voting against a bill for 'political gain'.

Sadiq Khan's comments come after Mr Trump pulled out of a trip to Poland for an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the invasion of Poland.

'Many Pols exercise for hours, or travel for weeks. Me, I run through one of my courses (very inexpensive). President Obama would fly to Hawaii,' Trump jabbed on Twitter.

Donald Trump forced employees of his hit reality television show The Apprentice to return to work in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, ex-staffers said on Monday.

The champion golfer took to Twitter on Thursday to announce he and the SexyBack hitmaker are establishing a fund to provide aid and relief for victims of Hurricane Dorian.

Princeton scientists warn that climate change will slow the movements of hurricanes by two miles per hour, resulting in the storm lingering over land longer and cause more destruction.

At the beginning of the year, college seniors were preparing to enter the strongest job market in decades. Now, as more than 25 million people have filed for unemployment, they face a newly competitive search. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Hurricane Hunters Fly into the Eye of the Storm for Science--and TV

With sturdy, spiral trunks and deep roots that intertwine with neighboring trees, a live oak is a force to be reckoned with. Find out how architects and engineers are starting to think like a tree when designing safe and resilient structures.

In the decade since Hurricane Katrina, tools for tracking and modeling powerful storms have grown in sophistication and detail.

NASA takes retired Global Hawk military drones and sets them up to fly dangerous missions monitoring some of the most extreme storms for better weather data.

NOAA meteorologist researcher Jason Dunion talks with WIRED reporter Matt Simon about what it's like to fly a plane into a hurricane, and how scientists track and predict storms.

A look at Staten Island one year after the storm.

We’ve all seen images or animations of hurricanes that color code the wind speeds inside the whirling mass—but it turns out we can do a better job measuring these winds and, as a result, better predict the path of the storm. Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about how a microsatellite-based project for measuring hurricane wind speeds is showing signs of success—despite unexpected obstacles from the U.S. military’s tweaking of GPS signals.    Also this week, Sarah talks with graduate student Samantha Trumbo, a Ph.D. candidate in planetary science at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, about spotting chloride salts on the surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. What can these salts on the surface tell us about the oceans that lie beneath Europa’s icy crust? Download a transcript (PDF)  This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Ads on the show: KiwiCo.com; MagellanTV Listen to previous podcasts. About the Science Podcast [Image: Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SETI Institute; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Preparations for storms include an emphasis on worker recovery