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Public posts from @ProPublica@newsie.social
NEW: A Florida cybersecurity company promised to help clients recover data from ransomware attackers.
In a 2019 story, we found the company was making secret payments to hackers and pocketing hefty fees from clients.
The CEO was just indicted for fraud.
https://www.propublica.org/article/zohar-pinhasi-monstercloud-ransomware-indictment?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Florida #Cybersecurity #Tech #Technology #Law #Data #Hacking
NEW: In a Newly Drawn District, Black Voters May Get a Representative Who Spent Years Undermining Their Interests
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Brent Taylor is the front-runner for one of Memphis’ congressional districts, recently redrawn from majority Black to majority white. As state senator, he repeatedly used his power to supersede local officials — and the will of the city’s voters.
https://www.propublica.org/article/brent-taylor-memphis-tennessee-preemption-laws?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Memphis #Tennessee #Vote #Voting #Election #Midterms #USPolitics
NEW: Officer Jaron Alexander says he didn’t come back to Ingram, Texas, to help deport his neighbors.
But one year after joining ICE’s 287(g) program, his department has handed over the equivalent of 10% of the town.
https://www.propublica.org/article/deportations-ingram-texas-287g-jaron-alexander?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #ICE #Police #Immigration #Immigrant #Deportation #Texas
NEW: A week after ProPublica reported how organized crime is stealing food stamp benefits — aided by the government’s refusal to update benefit-card technology — the Department of Agriculture announced plans to adopt more secure cards with microchips.
https://www.propublica.org/article/snap-theft-chip-cards-trump-rule?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Food #SNAP #Poverty #Crime #Government #USDA #Tech #Technology
NEW: “In Texas, we fight fraud head-on,” Ken Paxton said last year.
Yet records show his trust gave $600K to a convicted fraudster’s new company in 2020, which later wired the trust tens of thousands of dollars before and during his 2023 impeachment.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-investment-scott-sherman-wildcatter?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #KenPaxton #Fraud #Business #Investment #TX #Government #USPolitics
NEW: A bird flu outbreak has been raging uncontrolled on a Utah mink farm for two months.
Flu experts fear it could spark a devastating human pandemic.
But officials haven’t acted — instead prioritizing the financial interests of the fur trade.
https://www.propublica.org/article/bird-flu-mink-farm-utah-human-risk?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #BirdFlu #H5N1 #Utah #Pandemic #PublicHealth #Health #Science
NEW: A 2018 Washington state law was supposed to help workers who got sick cleaning up Hanford, a former federal nuclear weapons site.
Eight years later, the DOE has spent nearly $12 million fighting to deny them benefits.
https://www.propublica.org/article/hanford-nuclear-workers-compensation-washington-doe?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Washington #Nuclear #Energy #Labor #DepartmentOfEnergy #WorkersRights
NEW: ProPublica sued the federal government for records that show which schools are facing civil rights investigations — data that was public before Trump’s second term.
Now you can use our searchable database to find cases.
https://www.propublica.org/article/civil-rights-office-education-department-investigations?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#Education #School #CivilRights #Government #Trump #Data #Journalism #Research #Parenting #Children #Teaching #Discrimination #SexaulAssault
Has mail service been reduced in your ZIP code? Use our lookup tool to find out: https://www.propublica.org/article/mail-ballot-delays-postal-service-midterms?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#Data #Research #USPS #Vote #Voting #Election #Midterms #Journalism
NEW: A ProPublica data analysis shows that delays resulting from USPS’ cost-cutting measures have endangered the validity of ballots mailed in rural areas.
Counties that voted for Trump in 2024 have been most affected.
https://www.propublica.org/article/mail-ballot-delays-postal-service-midterms?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Data #USPS #Vote #Voting #Election #Midterms #Rural #USPolitics
Colorado’s Marijuana Enforcement Division may have put consumers at increased risk of using unsafe cannabis products, according to a state audit.
The findings echo a yearlong investigation into the agency by The Denver Gazette and ProPublica.
https://www.propublica.org/article/colorado-marijuana-enforcement-division-audit-findings?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Colorado #Marijuana #Cannabis #Safety #Regulation #Health
NEW: Three people died in Ruidoso on July 8, 2025, after dangerous floods swept through the New Mexico town.
First responders say they were understaffed and inadequately equipped to respond to the flooding.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ruidoso-flood-emergency-response-water-rescue?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #NewMexico #Flood #Emergency #Safety #Rescue #FirstResponders
NEW: After wildfires scarred the Sacramento Mountains above Ruidoso, New Mexico, the community was under heightened threat of catastrophic flooding.
Officials were aware but continued to promote the town to tourists who were oblivious to the danger.
https://www.propublica.org/article/wildfire-flood-risk-ruidoso-new-mexico?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #NewMexico #Wildfire #Flood #Disasters #Safety #Emergency
NEW: The Trump administration committed the U.S. to taking a large stake in a Venezuelan company, some of whose owners and investors are shielded from public view.
The exact details of the agreement over oil fields had remained unclear — until now.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-venezuela-oil-agreement-terms?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Trump #Venezuela #Oil #Gas #Economy #Politics #Geopolitics #Business
How Trump’s FBI Purge Saved Lindsey Graham and James Clyburn From a Bribery Investigation
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An FBI anti-corruption team launched an investigation into whether South Carolina’s most powerful members of Congress were involved in a bribery scheme, ProPublica found. After Trump gutted the FBI and DOJ, the investigation went dark.
https://www.propublica.org/article/navatek-lindsey-graham-jim-clyburn-fbi-anti-corruption-bribery?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #SouthCarolina #Defense #FBI #Government #Corruption #USPolitics
In case you missed it, read our original investigation: https://projects.propublica.org/american-citizens-detained-dhs-civil-rights/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
NEW: We recently reported that more than 500 American citizens have been detained by immigration agents.
Now House members are moving to make it easier for those detained to seek justice through the courts.
https://www.propublica.org/article/american-citizens-wrongfully-detained-ice-bill?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Immigration #Immigrants #ICE #DHS #USPolitics #Congress #Law
NEW: A high-ranking Republican tried to curb the unchecked growth of West Virginia’s school voucher program.
Then three PACs — bankrolled by pro-school choice billionaires like the Koch family and Jeffrey Yass — worked to take him down.
https://www.propublica.org/article/west-virginia-school-choice-billionaires-vernon-criss?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #WestVirginia #Billionaires #Election #Midterms #School #Education #SchoolChoice
NEW: In Texas, Ken Paxton successfully defended a near-total abortion ban before Roe v. Wade was struck down, and he blocked federal guidance for emergency abortion care.
His allies see an opening to further restrict abortion if his Senate bid is successful.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-texas-abortion-senate?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #KenPaxton #Texas #Law #Senate #Election #Abortion #Women #Health #USPolitics
NEW - DHS appointees made an unusual request of CISA, its agency that protects election systems: Secretly acquire a voting machine and hack it.
Though not acted on, the request shows how the Trump administration has tried to use CISA for its own ends.
https://www.propublica.org/article/cisa-election-security-donald-trump?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #DHS #Voting #Vote #Election #Midterms #Trump #USPolitics #Cybersecurity
Over and over, judges have rejected the Trump administration’s arguments for turning over state voter rolls.
“Clearly, this demand is devoid of any factual basis,” one judge wrote.
https://projects.propublica.org/trump-doj-voter-data-lawsuits/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Trump #Law #Judge #DOJ #Vote #Voting #Election #Lawsuit #Legal
NEW on “Paper Trail”: A defense contractor CEO told the FBI that he had bribed politicians — and that Susan Collins was his most important patron. Then Trump shut down an elite FBI anti-corruption unit.
So we took it upon ourselves to investigate. Listen to the full episode:
https://www.propublica.org/podcast/susan-collins-bribery-allegations-fbi-martin-kao?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #SusanCollins #FBI #Trump #Maine #Defense #Government #Corruption #USPolitics #Law
NEW: For 86 years, Missouri has held on to a nonpartisan system of selecting its top judges.
But after the state Supreme Court overruled a gerrymandering attempt by the GOP, some Republican lawmakers are calling for the system to be overturned.
https://www.propublica.org/article/missouri-plan-judge-selection-republican-attacks?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Missouri #GOP #Republicans #Law #Courts #Legal #USPolitics
NEW: Since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott first declared an emergency at the border in 2021, he’s renewed or amended the proclamation at least 69 times.
The proclamation has greatly expanded his powers without going through the state Legislature.
https://www.propublica.org/article/greg-abbott-border-security-disaster-proclamation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Texas #TX #Border #Security #Governor #GregAbbott #USPolitics
NEW: Officials in New Mexico and El Paso, Texas, spent millions of dollars drafting separate plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Neither plan took into account how the construction of three new data centers could upend climate goals in both places.
https://www.propublica.org/article/data-centers-texas-new-mexico-greenhouse-gas-emissions?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #NewMexico #ElPaso #Texas #Climate #ClimateChange #Environment #DataCenters #Energy #Pollution
NEW: The women were victims of domestic abuse.
That’s what they told police officers, attorneys and anyone who would listen.
It didn’t matter.
They were all taken to an immigration detention center.
https://www.propublica.org/article/domestic-violence-immigrant-victims-ice-detention?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Women #Abuse #Violence #Immigrants #Immigration #ICE #Trump
NEW: After four witnesses recanted, a Pennsylvania man spent 20 years in prison insisting he was innocent of murder.
Records show his lawyer, to whom he wrote dozens of letters pleading for help, did little to help besides asking for more time.
https://www.propublica.org/article/post-conviction-legal-delays-pennsylvania?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Pennsylvania #Prison #CriminalJustice #Law #Philadelphia #Legal
NEW: Fraudsters stole $470 million last year from Americans who need help paying for food.
Adopting the same microchip that credit cards have had for years would prevent most of the theft, but Congress won’t pay for it.
https://www.propublica.org/article/food-stamp-snap-benefits-theft-skimmers-fraud?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #SNAP #Crime #Theft #Fraud #Congress #Government #Poverty #Hunger
NEW: Early on Aug. 25, the Tohono O’odham Nation received a one-minute notice from Border Patrol.
A convoy of contractors — guarded by masked agents — was en route to conduct testing for a coming border wall.
The tribe was warned: Do not interfere.
https://www.propublica.org/article/tohono-oodham-nation-arizona-border-wall?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
#News #Indigenous #Native #Arizona #Trump #BorderPatrol #Border
WATCH: Reporter Jake Pearson had an idea: Ask ProPublica editors for $$$, mimic the patterns of a problem gambler on DraftKings and see if the app would encourage his recklessness.
What he didn’t expect was how little pushback he’d get as he spiraled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8IyGjdY1sg
#Video #Sports #Gambling #Journalism #Regulation #Consumer #Technology
