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☆ A US Navy amphibious warship returned home for repairs just 10 days after deploying
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Rachel Nostrant | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

USS Boxer, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship, is returning home just 10 days after deploying. "USS Boxer is returning to San Diego to undergo additional maintenance in support of its deployment in the Indo-Pacific region," Lt. Cmdr. "We're seeing some potential delays on [the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp]," Franchetti said. A spokesperson for Surface Force Atlantic told Military.com following the incident that "during the underway, the ship discovered an engineering irregularity" and "returned to port to effect repairs." The amphibious assault ship USS Boxer transits the East Sea during Exercise Ssang Yong 2016 March 8, 2016.

Persons: Boxer, —, Cmdr, Jesus Uranga, Military.com, Uranga, Craig Z, Adm, Lisa Franchetti, Franchetti, Bill Dodge, Yong, Seaman Craig Z, Konstantin Toropin Organizations: US Navy, Service, USNI News, Navy, Marine Corps, Boxer, Marines, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, USNI, Space, Maritime, USS Boxer, USS Boxer U.S . 5th, . Navy, Naval, Surface Force, REUTERS, U.S . Navy, Reuters, USS, Somerset Locations: San Diego, Boxer U.S, USS Boxer U.S, Norfolk, Virginia, Handout, USS Somerset, Somerset, India

Washington CNN —CNN has sued for access to recordings of federal investigators’ interview with President Joe Biden in the now-closed probe over his handling of classified documents. “Without access to any of the interview records, the press and public initially could not form their own conclusions about Hur’s characterization of Biden. Jason Leopold, a reporter for Bloomberg News who frequently brings FOIA lawsuits, also has filed two lawsuits for access to records Hur created. The Judicial Watch complaint, filed in March, specifically seeks access to the Biden interview recordings. In the interview, Hur said Biden couldn’t remember the years he was vice president or when his son died.

Persons: Washington CNN —, Joe Biden, Robert Hur’s, Biden, Hur, …, Donald Trump, Jason Leopold, Beau’s, “, ” Organizations: Washington CNN, Washington CNN — CNN, Justice, DOJ, CNN, DC, Justice Department, Bloomberg News, Heritage Foundation, Judicial Watch, ” Locations: Washington ,

☆ Fed-up 23andMe users lash out at the company, accusing it of scamming them into auto-renewal
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Read previewIf you think you've been charged for a 23andMe subscription renewal even though you know you cancelled it, you're in good company. The Federal Trade Commission released over a hundred complaints that 23andMe users had submitted since the beginning of 2023, after Gizmodo submitted a FOIA request for the documents. In many of those complaints, some of which Gizmodo published, users detailed renewal practices that they considered dubious and unethical. I turned off the auto-renewal, which this company does not make easy to do and does not send a confirmation about. A spokesperson for 23andMe told Gizmodo that the company does send a notification to customers 30 days before their subscription is set to renew.

Persons: —, you've, Gizmodo, 23andMe, Reddit Organizations: Service, Fed, Business, Federal Trade Commission, 23andMe

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Ben Phillips’ childhood memories include basketball games with friends, and neighbors gathering in the summer shade at their St. Louis housing complex. Phillips and Deanes, 75, are co-founders of PHACTS, which stands for Pruitt-Igoe Historical Accounting, Compensation, and Truth Seeking. Their attorney, Elkin Kistner, said it would be “appropriate and necessary” for Hawley's proposal to be widened to include former Pruitt-Igoe residents. And St. Louis wasn't alone in being subjected to secretive Cold War-era testing. The area of the testing in St. Louis was described in Army documents as “a densely populated slum district.” About three-quarters of the residents were Black.

Persons: — Ben Phillips, Louis, ” Phillips, “, Phillips, Chester Deanes, Pruitt, —, inactions, Sen, Josh Hawley, Joe Biden, Elkin Kistner, Louis wasn't, Lisa Martino, Taylor, ” Deanes, ” Pruitt, Igoe, Deanes, Army “, Deane, Cori Bush, ” Organizations: LOUIS, Army, Associated Press, AP, Missouri Independent, Act, Republican U.S, Democratic, PHACTS, Democratic U.S . Rep Locations: St, Louis, ”, Pruitt, Deanes, Igoe, California, America

(AP) — Arkansas lawmakers voted Wednesday to shield travel and security records for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ administration, a day after ditching a more far-reaching proposal that critics said would weaken government transparency. Sanders and Republican legislators on Tuesday backed off a broader plan that would have closed off access to other records, including any “reflecting communications” between the governor's office and her cabinet secretaries. I want to be able to see the documents,” Joey McCutchen, a Fort Smith attorney who has specialized in public records cases, told lawmakers. Sanders is seeking the limits as State Police is being sued by an attorney and blogger who has accused the agency of illegally withholding records about the governor’s travel and security.

Persons: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Sanders, ” Joey McCutchen, “, Scott Gray, she's, Donald Trump's, Sen, Clarke Tucker, It's, ” Tucker, Nicole Clowney, Lawmakers, Bart Hester, he’s, Hester Organizations: —, Gov, Republican Senate, State Police, Tuesday, Fort, The Arkansas Press Association, Saline County Republican, Democratic Locations: — Arkansas, Fort Smith, Saline County, Pulaski County, Arkansans

Republican lawmakers filed legislation exempting release of the travel and security records after an outcry over a proposal to significantly scale back the state's Freedom of Information Act. Sanders is seeking the limits as State Police is being sued by an attorney and blogger who has accused the agency of illegally withholding records about the governor's travel and security. The newest bill also removes proposals facing opposition that would have created an attorney-client privilege exemption for state records and a change in how attorneys' fees are awarded in open records lawsuits. The legislation filed Tuesday would require State Police to file quarterly reports that identifies by month and budget category expenses for the governor’s security. It would also make the exemptions on the governor's security retroactive to June 1, 2022.

Persons: Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Sanders, Bart Hester, Donald Trump’s, Democratic Sen, Clarke Tucker, “, ” Tucker, Robert Steinbuch, William H, ” Steinbuch, ” Organizations: —, GOP, Republican, Senate Republicans, State Police, Democratic, University of Arkansas, Bowen School of, Arkansas Press Association, Society of Professional Journalists, Press Association, Arkansas Broadcasters Association, Republican Party Locations: — Arkansas, Arkansas, Little

(AP) — An Arkansas attorney and blogger has filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas State Police that accuses the agency of illegally withholding public records he requested related to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' travel and security. The requests included communications regarding the security for Sanders and her husband, Bryan Sanders, and records regarding their costs. Campbell also requested communications and travel records for the State Police plane, which the governor uses for travel, and records related to Sanders’ trade mission to Europe earlier this year. They include an exemption for the governor's “working papers,” and another regarding records related to governor's mansion security.

Persons: —, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Matthew Campbell, Sanders, Bryan Sanders, Campbell, “ Rather, ” Sanders, “, Alexa Henning Organizations: Arkansas State Police, Gov, State Police, ASP, FOIA Locations: — An Arkansas, Europe, Arkansas

☆ Some U.S. government agencies are testing out A.I. to help fulfill public records requests
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Lewis Kamb | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

Still, some open government and civil rights advocates are already raising concerns that the government's move toward using AI to help address FOIA problems may create new ones. So far, government agencies haven't widely disclosed to the public what kinds of AI tools are being used, and in what fashion, Marshall said. But experts widely agree the FOIA process must be modernized and fixed, as requests can sometimes take months, even years, to fulfill. An increasing number of requesters have turned to the courts for help in prying records loose in a timely manner. The state department is now testing two AI models to help process FOIA requests, Stein said.

Persons: —, Jason R, Adam Marshall, Marshall, they're, Michael Sarich, Eric F, Stein, that's, There's, Bradford Brown, Brown, Mitre, Baron, Clinton, Brett Max Kaufman Organizations: State Department, Justice Department, Centers for Disease Control, NBC News, University of Maryland, Freedom, Press, Justice Department's, Information, Department of Veterans Affairs, Justice, CDC, NBC, Mitre Corp, National Archives, Records Administration, Mitre Locations: —

☆ 'Lots of smoke. Lots of questions': Internal emails show JPMorgan Chase execs worried about the bank's ties to Jeffrey Epstein. So why did it take so long to cut him loose?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Kaja Whitehouse | Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

That, of course, is the billion-dollar question: What did JPMorgan, America's largest bank, know about Epstein's alleged sex trafficking? Today, banks have entire departments dedicated to tracking client activity and flagging suspicious behavior. Lots of questions'The fuss JPMorgan compliance officers raised about Epstein in 2011 was extensive. Lots of questions," declared a senior JPMorgan compliance officer reviewing Epstein's accounts as part of that 2011 compliance review, according to court papers filed by the US Virgin Islands. Staley sent Epstein internal JPMorgan documents and relied on him for guidance on an array of business and personal dealings, the JPMorgan internal report shows.

Persons: —, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers —, Jamie Dimon, Jeffrey Epstein, Leon Black, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Epstein, Jes Staley, Staley, Jeffrey Epstein's, Michelle Licata, Courtney Wild, Stephanie Keith, Jane Doe, JP Morgan —, Epstein —, jes staley, Patricia Wexler, Wexler, Dimon, Barry Krischer, JPMorgan, Ghislaine Maxwell, Rod Stewart, Cipriani, Joe Schildhorn, Patrick McMullan, Frank Haberstroh, Haberstroh, Les Wexner, Wexner, Tom Williams, JP Morgan, Little, Little Saint James, Epstein's, Jim Spellman, Staley didn't, Morgan, James, Emily Michot, Bill Gates, Larry Summers, Woody Allen, Stephen Cutler, Cutler, Mary Erdoes, Erdoes, Youngbee Dale, Dale, JPMorgan Chase, Michael M, NYDFS, Bernie Madoff, Cecile de Jongh, Joe Shmoe, Jacob Shamsian Organizations: JPMorgan, Highbridge Capital Management, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers, titans, Apollo, US, US Virgin Islands, Bloomberg TV, Financial, US Department of, Treasury, Getty, BSA, Polaris Market Research, United Nations University Centre, M2C Model, Palm, JPMorgan Chase, Washington D.C, Inc, Apollo Global Management, The New York Times, Little Saint, Virgin, U.S ., Miami Herald, Tribune, Service, Microsoft, Columbia University, Mountain Capital, DOJ, New, Deutsche Bank, New York Department of Financial Services, Virgin Islands, Barclays, Authority, Wall Street Journal Locations: York, Manhattan, New York, US Virgin, dimon, Palm Beach , Florida, New York City, UN, Paris, Washington, Prague, thomas, Wexner, Little Saint, I'm, Little St, U.S, U.S . Virgin Islands, Staley, Dimon's, Virgin, British

☆ JPMorgan Chase's drawn-out breakup with Jeffrey Epstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Kaja Whitehouse | Emmalyse Brownstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

Several months later, in October 2006, JPMorgan categorized Epstein as a "high-risk" client, according to a transcript of Dimon's deposition in May. Today, banks have entire departments dedicated to tracking client activity and flagging suspicious behavior. Lots of questions'The fuss JPMorgan compliance officers raised about Epstein in 2011 was extensive. A 'faithless servant'One person who might know much more about the tangled relationship between Epstein and JPMorgan is Jes Staley. Staley sent Epstein internal JPMorgan documents and relied on him for guidance on an array of business and personal dealings, the JPMorgan internal report shows.

☆ Judge gives US government one week to handle request for Prince Harry’s visa records
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Holmes Lybrand | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —A federal judge has given the Department of Homeland Security until next Tuesday to decide how it will handle a conservative think tank’s request for Prince Harry’s US immigration records. The group is questioning whether immigration officials properly granted Prince Harry’s application, since admission of past drug use can be grounds to reject a visa application. In court filings, DHS has noted that the US Customs and Border Protection agency originally denied the requests from Heritage because the group did not have Prince Harry’s authorization or consent to release the information. “A person’s visa … is confidential,” DHS attorney John Bardo said in court Tuesday. When asked about the privacy aspect of their records request, attorney Samuel Dewey, who represents Heritage, said Prince Harry’s privacy on the issue of past drug use has been “extraordinarily diminished” given his public remarks on the subject.

Persons: Prince, Prince Harry’s, Carl Nichols, John Bardo, Samuel Dewey, “, ” Dewey, “ He’s, ”, Dewey, Prince Harry, it’s Organizations: CNN, Department of Homeland Security, Heritage Foundation, US Border Patrol, DHS, US Customs, Border Protection, Heritage Locations: Washington , DC, London

☆ Ford F-150 Lightning fire footage highlights a growing EV risk
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Michael Wayland | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

EV fires have become a growing concern as automakers push to increase sales of electric vehicles and meet tightening emissions standards. An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers. A bill that requires them to complete a training program about the risk of electric vehicle fires passed unanimously this year. There's also the risk of reignition: Lithium-ion battery fires can re-engage weeks later with little to no warning. An electric Ford F-150 Lightning caught fire on Feb. 4, 2023 due to a battery issue traced back to one of the automaker's suppliers.

"Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping," the short seller said in its report. Up to 35% of Cash App's revenue is derived from interchange fees, Hindenburg alleged. But Block avoids that regulatory cap imposed on large financial institutions by routing the revenue through a small bank, Hindenburg alleged. The small-bank routing method is one employed by Block rival PayPal , the short seller claimed, and which prompted a Securities and Exchange Commission probe. Hindenburg took issue with Cash App's practices during the pandemic, when the government issued stimulus checks to qualified American adults.

☆ Brazil's Yanomami region looks like ‘concentration camp,’ says official
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

“It looks like a concentration camp,” Tapeba, a doctor appointed to the position by Brazil’s new government, said in a radio interview. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, visits the Yanomami Indigenous Health House (Casai) in the Boa Vista rural area, Roraima state, Brazil, on Saturday. “It’s an extreme calamity, many Yanomami are suffering from malnutrition and there is a total absence of the Brazilian state,” Tapeba said. This can only be resolved by removing the gold miners and that can only be done by the armed forces,” he said. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered the removal of the gold miners.

☆ Brazil declares emergency over deaths of Yanomami children from malnutrition
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

BRASILIA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Brazil's ministry of health has declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country's largest indigenous reservation bordering Venezuela, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining. In four years of Bolsonaro's presidency, 570 Yanomami children died of curable diseases, mainly malnutrition but also malaria, diarrhea and malformations caused by mercury used by wildcat gold miners, the Amazon journalism platform Sumauma reported, citing data obtained by a FOIA. Lula visited a Yanomami health center in Boa Vista in Roraima state on Saturday following the publication of photos showing children and elderly men and women so thin their ribs were visible. In recent violent incidents, men on speed boats on the rivers have shot with automatic weapons at indigenous villages whose communities oppose the entry of gold miners. Lula said the new government will put an end to illegal gold mining as it moves to crack down on illegal deforestation in the Amazon, which surged to a 15-year high under Bolsonaro.

☆ The Secret Service may reveal the names of people unofficially vetted when they visited Biden's Delaware home, a report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Fox News said that the Secret Service is willing to give Congress a list of visitors to Biden's home if asked. "Like every president in decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal," the White House Counsel's Office said on Monday. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi similarly told reporters that the agency does not keep visitor logs for private residences. If the agency did give up records of Biden's visitors to Congress, it would mark a different approach during Trump's presidency. While no official records are kept, the way they are for White House visitors, there are electronic reports that are generated and kept.

☆ George Santos says his mom was in the World Trade Center on 9/11. Records show she wasn't in the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Rebecca-Shabad-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Rebecca Shabad | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., has claimed that his mother was at her office inside the World Trade Center during the 9/11 terror attacks, but records obtained by NBC News on Wednesday show she was living in Brazil at the time. She later applied for re-entry and was re-admitted into the U.S. in 2003, the records show. In 2021, when he was running for Congress, Santos claimed in a reply to an account on Twitter that 9/11 claimed his mother’s life. Calzareth, who’s originally from Nassau County but not Santos’ congressional district, submitted the FOIA requests about Santos’ mother in late December 2022. But House Republicans awarded him slots on two committees after pressure to prevent him from being seated on congressional panels.

☆ The U.S. Government’s Woke Training
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Department of Veterans Affairs has a gender gingerbread person. And if U.S. Army servicewomen express “discomfort showering with a female who has male genitalia,” what’s the brass’s reply? Talk to your commanding officer, but toughen up. These are details from hundreds of pages of diversity and inclusion training materials used by the federal government in 2021 and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Everyone in corporate life knows such training, lampooned in the second episode of the TV show “The Office.” Yet taxpayers might be curious how their money is being spent to instruct the federal workforce these days.

☆ Michigan’s Gender Studies Secret
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The Freedom of Information Act is a popular tool for taxpayers and journalists to hold government to account. But what if the FOIA law doesn’t apply to documents or communications among many government employees? That’s the theory endorsed by Michigan state Judge Jacob James Cunningham , who ruled on Dec. 15 that the state’s Freedom of Information Act doesn’t apply to public-school teachers.

☆ The Education Department 'failed to protect some of the most vulnerable student-loan borrowers' who had their wages stripped from them illegally during the pandemic, Elizabeth Warren says of a new 'al
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A new Student Borrower Protection Center report found illegal wage garnishment for student-loan borrowers during the pandemic. Wage garnishment happens when student-loan borrowers falls behind on payments by more than 27o days, considered to be in default. The Education Department has not commented publicly on this report, but is has announced steps to help borrowers in default. But until that change is fully implemented, advocates argue debt collection practices should not resume. "If ED can't guarantee that its debt collection tool can comply with consumer protections, it should never turn this machinery on again."

☆ The National Archives wants to release hundreds of pages of emails about Hunter Biden and Burisma — and the White House won't say whether it will let it happen
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Mattathias Schwartz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

National Archives is set to release White House emails about Burisma, the Ukrainian company that reportedly paid Hunter Biden $1.5 million. The White House now has 60 days to decide whether to stop the release of the emails by invoking executive privilege. The Biden White House repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether it intended to fight release. The Burisma emails are, of course, only one of the many ongoing Hunter Biden controversies. House Republicans have promised to launch their own far-reaching inquiry into Hunter Biden's finances and tumultuous personal life, and some of Hunter Biden's allies are discussing ways to counter-attack.

The FOIA request sought, among other things, communications between SEC Chair Gary Gensler and various stakeholders involved in retail stock trading. Cifu has said Virtu may sue the SEC over potential rule changes Gensler outlined in June. Agencies legally have 20 days to respond to FOIA requests, but are not required to provide all responsive documents within that time frame. FOIA requests do not always yield substantive responses and can have lengthy waiting periods. Virtu is represented by law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, where Cifu previously worked as a lawyer.

☆ Trump's White House blocked government websites aimed at helping Americans vote, fighting human trafficking, easing homelessness, and stopping fraud, federal records show
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Dave Levinthal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Federal agencies asked the Trump White House to approve dozens of new ".gov" websites. Such custom ".gov" website domains enhance government agencies' ability to effectively provide and market services to an American public that's all but universally connected to the internet. On December 23, 2019, the CIA asked Trump's White House to approve the website domain DataTransport.gov. Chiu/APBlock and delayIn at least one case, Trump's White House denied a website request — the United States Agency for International Development-sponsored ProsperAfrica.gov — that Biden's White House later approved. In March 2021, Office Management and Budget officials denied Insider's FOIA request, stating that "no responsive records were located."

☆ Food sanitation company accused of employing at least 31 children on graveyard shifts in slaughterhouses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-11 | by ( Julianne Mcshane | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +10 min

A leading sanitation company is accused of employing dozens of children to clean the killing floors of slaughterhouses during graveyard shifts, the Department of Labor announced. The Department of Labor’s Child Labor Regulations designates many roles in slaughterhouse and meatpacking facilities as hazardous for minors. That order requires PSSI to “immediately cease and refrain from employing oppressive child labor” and comply with the Department of Labor’s investigation. Yet, the children working overnight on the kill floor of these slaughterhouses cannot wait,” the complaint states. When they are hired by PSSI, workers sign paperwork assuming the risk of death and injury on the job, NBC News reported last year.

NBC News, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, The Washington Post, and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism, interviewed more than 40 current and former employees of contractors at military bases. According to an NBC News analysis, at least 10 companies with substantiated trafficking violations since 2007 have received billions in new government contracts. ‘Mad scramble’Foreign workers are crucial for the more than 700 military bases with U.S. service members around the world. One company that continues to get work at Middle East bases despite past violations documented in an Army compliance agreement is Tamimi, Abdulla’s employer. Lusambu Karim, a 50-year-old Ugandan, told NBC News about trafficking violations he said he encountered working for Aegis in Afghanistan from 2018 to 2020.

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