Washington Post

Federal agencies to open investigation into black teen’s death [Justice Dept. Civil Rights Division, FBI] – Sandhya Someshekhar reports that the Justice Department will investigate the shooting death of a black teenager in Florida by a neighborhood watch who claims he shot the unarmed youth in self-defense; federal authorities are pursuing the case after a public outcry over the local police department’s failure to arrest the shooter

IRS employee-screening records found lacking [Treasury Dept., IRS, Office of Personnel Management] – Eric Yoder reports that the Internal Revenue Service often hires employees without completing the “rigorous” background investigation required for its employees who are responsible for handling sensitive information; records of fingerprint checks against FBI records and the applicant’s history of paying taxes are often missing, according to a Treasury Department Inspector General report

U.S. commander in Afghanistan to appear before wary Congress [Pentagon, Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan] – Ernesto Londoño and Richard Leiby preview the congressional testimony of Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, who will be grilled about U.S. plans for withdrawal from the region at a time when relations with the Afghan government are at a new low and discussions with the Taliban have broken off

New York Times

Use of ‘conflict minerals’ gets more scrutiny from U.S. [Securities and Exchange Commission, United States office of Global Witness] – Edward Wyatt reports that the electronic manufacturing industry is worried about an obscure provision of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires publicly traded companies to trace certain minerals used in their products and to report to shareholders and the Securities and Exchange Commission whether their mineral supply comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo — where brutal militias are financing themselves with the profits from the sale of those minerals; following voluminous comments on how to implement the law, and heavy lobbying, the SEC chair said the agency will issue a rule in a couple of months

U.S. war game sees peril of Israel strike against Iran [Pentagon, Central Command, Iran, Israel] – Mark Mazzetti and Thom Shanker report that the U.S. military conducted a simulated war game called “Internal Look” to determine the effect of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities for the U.S., which would likely become involved in such as conflict, and concluded that an Israeli first strike would have “dire consequences” for the region and the U.S., although military specialists note that it is impossible to predict Iran’s response

Wall Street Journal

U.S. energy-efficiency program falls short, report says [Energy Dept.] – Ryan Tracy reports that a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee report sharply criticizes the Energy Department weatherization program as poorly managed and ineffective

Fed choices offer steady path [Federal Reserve] – Kristina Peterson reports on two nominees to the Federal Reserve Board — Democrat Jeremy Stein, a Harvard professor of economics, and Republican Jerome Powell, a former private-equity executive — neither of whom has sparked opposition

Court upholds graphic tobacco labels [Food and Drug Administration, tobacco] – Jennifer Corbett Dooren reports that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that the Food and Drug Administration had the authority to require graphic images on tobacco packages warning of its health effects as part of its authority to regulate tobacco products under a 2009 law, and the court rejected tobacco companies’ claim that such ads violate their free speech rights; the D.C. Circuit will review a lower court decision in its jurisdiction that came to the opposite result, and the Supreme Court is likely to ultimately decide the matter