Take a look at what's in today's #PaperTrail, which covers all the latest in #oversight news:
🔎Many HUD Contractors Lack Whistleblower Protection;
🔎Hanford’s Radioactive Legacy Defies Solution;
🔎Climate Change Making Parts of U.S. Uninsurable;
🔎and More.
Ability Without Accessibility: @chrisriotta reports on an initiative the government hopes will make it easier for federal contracting officials to connect with small, disadvantaged and minority-owned businesses nextgov.com/policy/2023/05…
The government's $528 billion plan to clean up radioactive waste at the Hanford Site may never be achieved, @RVartabedian says, so it's now considering a quick solution that could endanger future generations nytimes.com/2023/05/31/us/…
Civil liberties advocates say the Justice Department's updated guidance on how law enforcement should avoid bias includes needed improvements, but still contains serious flaws. Story by @courtneybublegovexec.com/management/202…
The climate crisis is becoming a financial crisis, as insurance companies raise rates, restrict coverage and, as State Farm is doing in California, pull out of some regions altogether nytimes.com/2023/05/31/cli…
Sick Food Workers = Sick Public: People who showed up to their restaurant jobs while sick were linked to 40% of food poisoning outbreaks. Many businesses don't provide paid sick leave nytimes.com/2023/05/31/us/…
SCOTUS Giveth, SCOTUS Taketh Away: This interactive guide shows which personal rights established in Supreme Court rulings are at risk of being curtailed or eliminated by the current court projects.propublica.org/supreme-risk/
Yesterday, we filed a complaint with the Justice Department, urging DOJ to investigate SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas' failure to disclose the receipt of gifts potentially worth millions of dollars.
Unless DOJ uncovers facts that differ from recent reports, DOJ should seek fines
You can read the full complaint on POGO's website.
The complaint spells out that when Justice Thomas failed to disclose that he accepted gifts of luxury vacations from a political donor, he violated the Ethics In Government Act of 1978. pogo.org/letter/2023/04…
Despite what Thomas and his defenders have claimed, the disclosure requirements of the Ethics In Government Act are not unclear, nor have requirements recently changed.
The law indisputably applies to Supreme Court justices, and it clearly required disclosure of these gifts.
Suspected Classified Document Leaker Arrested;
Clarence Thomas’ Secret Property Sale;
H-1B Visa Program Abuse;
and More.
While refusing to disclose gifts from billionaire Harlan Crow, Justice Clarence Thomas consistently voted to gut political spending disclosure laws, insisting donors have a right to secretly influence politics with unlimited cash levernews.com/thomas-pushed-…
Speaking of Harlan Crow's financial ties to the justice, @propublica found the first known instance of money flowing from Crow to Thomas: In 2014, Thomas sold properties in Georgia to Crow's company. Thomas never disclosed the deal propublica.org/article/claren…
Take a peek at your Friday edition of the #PaperTrail, with the latest in #oversight news:
➡️Probing Silicon Valley Bank’s Collapse;
➡️Proud Boy Inside the Intelligence Community;
➡️The Lasting Impacts of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”;
➡️and More.
The Fed's support of a 2021 Silicon Valley Bank merger—declaring the merger would pose no systemic risk—followed Fed Chair Jerome Powell's approval of other deregulatory moves that may have led to the bank's collapse levernews.com/powell-approve…
Federal law prohibits FCC employees from owning stock in firms they regulate, but @jbrodkin found several officials had sizable investments in Comcast, Charter Communications, AT&T and Verizon arstechnica.com/tech-policy/20…
On Nat'l Whistleblower Day, it’s important to recognize reprisal whistleblowers sometimes face, & fight to end it. Recent example: DHS IG repeatedly impeded & delayed investigations into whistleblower retaliation—which may have set the stage for #Jan6. pogo.org/investigation/…
P.S.: if "DHS IG" sounds familiar, it’s because Inspector General Ken Cuffari’s time at DHS has been rife with misconduct, including suppressing findings of sexual misconduct & domestic violence at the department, quashing investigations involving the Secret Service... (cont⬇️)
...leading up to the 2020 election, including one into violence at Lafayette Square in June 2020, and most recently, hiding knowledge of deleted Jan. 6th texts.
➡️More Missing Text Troubles for DHS Watchdog
➡️The Looming Monkeypox Threat
➡️Pelosi’s Semiconductor Stake
➡️and much more!
Keep on reading👇
The struggle for limited resources as thousands of at-risk gay and bisexual men try to get vaccinated, tested and treated during the growing #monkeypox outbreak has exposed deep disparities in the gay community, reports @FenitN washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07…
This week brought news that federal prosecutors are probing former President Trump’s actions in trying to overturn the 2020 election. The DOJ seized phone records of Trump’s top aides washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
In a bombshell article, @hunterw spoke to organizers of the January 6 pro-Trump rallies who say they participated in "dozens" of planning meetings with at least 7 members of Congress, including 1 who discussed a possible pardon rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
60 U.S. Border Patrol agents violated agency rules by sharing violent and obscene posts on Facebook. Only 2 were fired and, as @mariasacchetti & @NickMiroff report, most are back on the job working with migrants washingtonpost.com/immigration/fa…