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☆ How the job of Amazon delivery has changed with Rivian's electric vans and routing software
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-14 | by ( Katie Tarasov | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

For now, most Amazon drivers are still in about 110,000 gas-powered vans — primarily Ford Transits, Mercedes-Benz Sprinters and Ram ProMasters. Amazon wouldn't share how it determines which of its 3,500 third-party delivery firms, or delivery service partners (DSPs), are receiving Rivian vans first. Workers load packages into Amazon Rivian Electric trucks at an Amazon facility in Poway, California, November 16, 2022. Amazon vans have driver-facing cameras inside, which can catch unsafe driving practices as they happen. For example, an Amazon driver in Missouri was found dead in a front yard in October, allegedly after a dog attack.

☆ A Dollar General clerk is charged with manslaughter after police say he shot and killed an armed robber. The clerk said it was the 6th attempted armed robbery at the store since August.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A Dollar General employee is facing charges following an armed robbery that left the suspect dead. According to the police report, Rafus Anderson was working at the Dollar General in downtown Monroe on Monday when an armed suspect robbed the store. Dollar General did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Discount retailers like Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Tree are opening more new stores than any other retail category in the US as Americans change their spending habits. Dollar General led the pack by a wide margin with more than 1,000 new stores, according to data from Coresight Research.

☆ Warren Buffett's deputy grew his retirement account from $70,000 to $264 million in under 30 years. He explained how to save a fortune, and why shrugging off losses is key.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Theron Mohamed | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Warren Buffett's deputy grew his retirement fund from $70,000 to $264 million within 30 years. "In a perfect world, nobody would know about this account," Weschler told Sloan in an email, adding that he hoped the revelation would motivate people to start saving and investing early in their careers. The investor opened his individual retirement account (IRA) in 1984. "One of my personal investment mantras is that there's no such thing as a loss, it's just an unmonetized lesson," he told Sloan. The switch means he won't owe any taxes when he cashes out his retirement account.

Arizona Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs is taking the state’s child protective services agency in a radically different direction in the wake of a ProPublica-NBC News investigation into the racial disparities that have plagued the child welfare system here. This week, Hobbs, a Democrat, announced that she has selected Matthew Stewart, a Black community advocate, as the new head of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety. Arizona’s child welfare system has long disproportionately investigated Black families. After leaving DCS, Stewart formed the community organization Our Sister Our Brother, which has fought the department for more equitable treatment of Black and also low-income parents. Child welfare experts in the state and families affected by the system praised Stewart’s selection, though some wondered how much change he could bring about even in DCS’ top position.

☆ Kimberly Guilfoyle described January 6 organizers, including one of her friends, as gossipy 'Mean Girls' who had turf wars and complained about each other
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kimberly Guilfoyle compared two female GOP organizers to the teenage girls in "Mean Girls." The exchange appeared in Guilfoyle's January 6 witness testimony before the House panel. Guilfoyle told the committee that Pierson and Wren's arguing was generally unpleasant to be around. "Like 'Mean Girls.'" Minutes later, Guilfoyle told the committee she considered Wren a friend, though she couched her explanation of their relationship.

House Democrats are scrutinizing why the Internal Revenue Service failed to fully audit Donald Trump's tax returns when he was in the White House, despite an agency policy mandating such a review. Some insight into the lapse came in a report Tuesday from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a bipartisan congressional panel that examined Trump's tax returns from 2015-20. The JCT report was issued Tuesday, after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to make Trump's 2015-20 tax returns public. Trump was the first president not to make his tax returns public since the 1970s. Neal is pressing for legislation that would require the IRS to publish and audit presidential tax returns.

☆ A Texas superintendent ordered school librarians to remove LGBTQ books. Now the federal government is investigating.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms | Mike Hixenbaugh | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +11 min

The U.S. Education Department’s civil rights enforcement arm has launched an investigation into a North Texas school district whose superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove LGBTQ-themed library books. The comments, combined with the district’s subsequent decision to remove dozens of library books pending a review, fostered a “pervasively hostile” environment for LGBTQ students, the ACLU wrote in its complaint. Last year, voters in Granbury elected a pair of school board members who campaigned against LGBTQ-affirming school curricula and library books. “These comments, combined with the book removals, really send a message to LGBTQ students in the districts that: ‘You don’t belong here. Lou Whiting, a student at Granbury High School, becomes emotional after speaking against the removal of LGBTQ books at a Granbury school board meeting in March.

Known in the legal world as the “death penalty” of child welfare, it can happen in a matter of months. One in 100 U.S. children — disproportionately Black and Native American — experience termination through the child welfare system before they turn 18, the study found. Still, longer timelines can also reflect a stronger focus on family reunification and a willingness to devote greater resources to meet that goal, child welfare experts say. And some child welfare advocates have criticized the law’s focus on narrow initiatives like parenting classes, which they say fail to address poverty and the other root causes of neglect that prompt most child welfare cases. Snodgrass said she never imagined when her child welfare case started that she could lose her rights to her children.

☆ ProPublica to return $1.6 mln received from Sam Bankman-Fried's foundation
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 20 (Reuters) - Non-profit investigative news outlet ProPublica will return $1.6 million it received from the family foundation of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a staff memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday. "It does not seem appropriate to keep these funds," said executives at ProPublica in the memo, the content of which were first reported by Axios. ProPublica also said it had terminated its relationship with the foundation, called 'Building a Stronger Future'. Last month, FTX filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection and Bankman-Fried resigned as chief executive, after rival cryptocurrency exchange Binance walked away from a proposed acquisition. Meanwhile, several crypto firms are bracing for a hit from the FTX collapse as they have exposure in millions to the beleaguered exchange.

☆ Weaponizing Tax Returns
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Many norms have been broken in American politics in recent years, and one of them is the use of private tax returns as a political weapon. The trend is destructive, as a pair of events this week illustrate. The first is a useful lawsuit by hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin against the Internal Revenue Service seeking damages for the leak of his tax records to ProPublica. In June 2021 and in articles since, the left-wing website has published the confidential tax data of Mr. Griffin, who runs Citadel Securities, and other wealthy Americans.

☆ A market downturn hasn't made activist investing any easier. Here's why.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

But even with a market downturn, activist investors' campaigns haven't been the cakewalk some might expect. Insider's Daniel Geiger, Rebecca Ungarino, and Casey Sullivan spoke to industry insiders — including famed activist investor Carl Icahn — about why the current landscape isn't as accepting as some might think to activist campaigns. But when the going gets tough, the tough get going, and a difficult market environment doesn't mean we'll see the number of campaigns decrease. Click here to read more about why top activist investors like Carl Icahn say this line of work is riskier than ever. Here's a five-step plan to help you decide when that side gig you have should be the only gig you have.

☆ Billionaire Ken Griffin sues the IRS after his tax records were disclosed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-13 | by ( Robert Frank | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

ProPublica used IRS tax data provided by an anonymous source, and it's unclear how the data was obtained. Griffin reported an average income of $1.7 billion from 2013 to 2018, ProPublica said, citing his tax returns. Griffin was not listed as one of the billionaires who paid zero or low tax rates in any one year, and, in fact, the ProPublica tax information showed Griffin pays a higher effective tax rate than many top earners. The leaked tax returns sparked an uproar in Washington, which continues to escalate. "IRS employees deliberately stole the confidential tax returns of several hundred successful American business leaders," Griffin said in a statement.

Put another way, more Black children in metro Phoenix will go through a child maltreatment investigation than won’t. Almost all described a system so omnipresent among Black families that it has created a kind of communitywide dread: of that next knock on the door, of that next warrantless search of their home. Many Black families first moved there as a result of redlining and racial covenants that blocked them from renting or owning property elsewhere. In Maricopa County, Black children experienced child welfare investigations at one of the highest rates among large counties nationally, and nearly three times the rate of their white peers, from 2015 to 2019. But throughout the country, investigations were more pervasive among Black families.

☆ Herschel Walker had ties to two charities that appear to have engaged in little, if any charity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

He was also featured in marketing material for the Livio Cares Foundation and was listed as a Livio Cares Partner. However, there is no evidence Livio Cares engaged in philanthropic activities. According to ProPublica's Nonprofit Explorer, Walker was listed as the director of VMP Nutrition Foundation in Fort Worth, Texas. According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts website, the right to transact business in Texas for VMP Nutrition as well as VMP Nutrition Foundation is listed as "forfeited." In 2017, VMP Nutrition and its founder Rodriguez settled a lawsuit filed by Southside Bank for an alleged failure to repay a $2,795,534 lien.

The answer is simple, according to more than a dozen Washington insiders, FTX employees, and crypto industry observers who spoke with Insider. I don't think anyone believed that he was going to fund candidates who were, quote unquote, committed to ending pandemics who were also hostile to the crypto industry." Alex Wong/Getty ImagesRebuffed by the SEC, Bankman-Fried turned his attention to Congress. "It's not that he was welcoming regulation," says the senior figure in the crypto industry who attended meetings with Bankman-Fried. But while Bankman-Fried was busy wooing Washington, FTX was about to become Exhibit A in the case for more effective oversight of the crypto industry.

☆ How FTX's implosion put crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt in the spotlight as they work to fend off an ad slump and conspiracy theories about their coverage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Reed Alexander | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

Crypto news sites like CoinDesk, The Block, and Decrypt have dominated coverage of the FTX implosion. Now, crypto media staffers are wondering whether more dominoes falling from FTX could further hurt the industry or cripple their ad revenues. "We cover the good, the bad and the ugly," Dan Roberts, the editor-in-chief of Decrypt, told Insider. "In general, I think these things are good for crypto media," he said. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the managing editor for Bloomberg's crypto team, likened burgeoning crypto coverage to 1990s coverage of the Internet.

☆ The story of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX implosion put crypto news sites like CoinDesk and The Block on the map. Inside their plan to fend off an ad slump and conspiracy theories — and keep winning.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Reed Alexander | Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Now, crypto media staffers are wondering whether more dominoes falling from FTX could further hurt the industry or cripple their ad revenues. Crypto media kicks into overdriveRoberts said Decrypt's traffic doubled during the first week of the FTX saga. "In general, I think these things are good for crypto media," he said. Stacy-Marie Ishmael, the managing editor for Bloomberg's crypto team, likened burgeoning crypto coverage to 1990s coverage of the Internet. "It's now a situation where the crypto media has egg on their face.

☆ Vegan canapes and fat donations: How Sam Bankman-Fried won Washington before he lost everything
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Seitz-Wald-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alex Seitz-Wald | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +13 min

Everybody was trying to get in,” said one source close to the Bankman-Frieds’ political operation who requested anonymity to speak candidly. Attempts to contact Sam Bankman-Fried for this article were unsuccessful. Sam Bankman-Fried’s mentor and the spiritual leader of Effective Altruism has disowned him. Sam Bankman-Fried is a Democrat, and he spent at least $40 million supporting the party. Some of the biggest recipients of Bankman-Fried’s money did not respond to NBC News when asked about donations they received.

☆ Why far-right GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert is in an extremely close re-election race in Colorado
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is in a closer-than-expected race against Democrat Adam Frisch. Her Colorado district backed Trump by less than 10 points in 2020, unlike other hard-right Republicans. Boebert's district is more ideologically heterodox. "But within there, there's ski communities, there's traditional ranching communities, there's mining communities, there's industrial communities." Frisch also benefited from the endorsement and backing of GOP state Sen. Don Coram, who represented a far-southwest Colorado district and unsuccessfully challenged Boebert for the GOP nomination this year.

☆ A long-shot Democratic candidate raised more than $15.6 million to defeat Marjorie Taylor Greene. He lost by 31 points.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-09 | by ( Bryan Metzger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Marjorie Taylor Greene's Democratic opponent, Marcus Flowers, raised $15.6 million for his campaign. "Tomorrow, with your help, we could make history by defeating Marjorie Taylor Greene," Flowers wrote in a fundraising email sent on November 7, the night before the election. But let me make my case: We're building the most extensive Democratic campaign this district has EVER seen — and MTG is terrified." AP Photo/Ben GrayThe sum that Flowers raised is gargantuan for a congressional campaign, far outpacing the amounts raised by the party's most vulnerable members. Compare that to Democratic candidates in more competitive races, who have tended to raise between $3 and $10 million this year.

☆ Walmart's PAC has quietly donated nearly $1 million to campaigns ahead of the midterms. While the company has a ''don't rock the boat strategy,' it contributed to 41 election deniers.
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-07 | by ( Ben Tobin | Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

WALPAC donated almost 50-50 to Democratic and Republican federal candidates for the midterms. Walmart's PAC donated to 41 candidates who denied the 2020 presidential election results, ProPublica found. Of that, about 53% went to Republican candidates, and 47% went to Democrats. Some members of Congress, particularly among Democrats, also reject any corporate PAC contribution — WALPAC or otherwise — as a matter of practice. However, the company did donate a significant amount of money to candidates who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election results.

☆ Calls from Uvalde show pleas for help from inside school long before police confronted shooter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Phil-Helsel-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Phil Helsel | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The disturbing audio released by the Texas Tribune and ProPublica include 911 calls from a hiding teacher and a child who was trapped, calling with muffled voices. At 11:33 a.m., a man called 911 and yelled, “He’s inside the school shooting at the kids!” according to the audio released by the Texas Tribune and ProPublica. More coverage of the Uvalde school massacre Newly released Uvalde video shows officers discussing need to confront gunman, concerns about being shotBlistering report finds 'systemic failures' by authorities in the wake of Uvalde school shootingThe officer husband of slain Uvalde teacher tried to save her. Uvalde school district superintendent will resign after outrage over response to school massacreArredondo has testified that he thought of the situation as a “barricaded subject,” state legislators said in their report released in June. Last month, the school board approved the terms of district superintendent's retirement, the Texas Tribune reported.

☆ Elon Musk denied reports that he's speeding up Twitter layoffs to avoid paying out hefty stock grants to workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Elon Musk said reports he's speeding up layoffs to avoid paying out stock grants are false. Musk is set to lay off workers before Tuesday, when they're scheduled to receive stock grants, per the NYT. Media reports suggest that Musk may also avoid giving fired execs their expected multi-million-dollar payouts. The Times reported that Musk could therefore avoid paying the grants. The Information reported that the "for cause" terminations were an attempt to avoid paying out severance pay and unvested stock awards.

☆ Fact Check-Fabricated Lauren Boebert quote compares Trump and Biden administration unemployment rates
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The supposed quote reads: “Under President Trump, 89% of Americans had jobs. Under Joe Biden, the unemployment rate is a staggering 3.4%.”Examples of the quote shared online can be found (here), (here), (here) and (here). A Google advanced search did not reveal any news outlet reporting on the supposed quote (archive.ph/wip/C0vNv). Under the Trump administration, the unemployment rate was recorded as 3.5% in February 2020, a half-century low, before rising to 14.8% in April 2020. Reuters found no evidence of any such quote made by Boebert that compared unemployment rates between the Trump and Biden administrations.

☆ The US never banned asbestos. These workers are paying the price.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Kathleen Mcgrory | Neil Bedi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +39 min

But protocols failed to match reality at the Niagara Falls plant, according to more than a dozen workers. In addition to those signature diseases, which are rare even among asbestos workers, the tiny strands can harm the body in other ways. In the 15 years that followed, congressional attempts to ban asbestos would continue to fall short. OSHA declined to make an official available for an on-the-record interview or comment on ProPublica's findings at the Niagara Falls plant. At the OxyChem plant in Wichita, union president Keith Peacock said he was comfortable with the way asbestos was handled.

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