DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Oklahoma Was a Legal Marijuana Utopia. Then Came the Mass Murder
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Matt Stroud | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +32 min

Fourteen months after the murders, the garage of the abandoned marijuana farm on prairie tableland northwest of Oklahoma City sits frozen and dark. Broadway Avenue in Kingfisher, Oklahoma, about 30 miles south of where Wu Chen, 47, executed four people at a marijuana farm. When Oklahoma legalized medical marijuana, the only real requirement was that Oklahoma residents had to be involved in marijuana growing and selling. But Oklahoma required 75% of any marijuana business to be owned by an Oklahoma resident. Deputies from the Kingfisher County Sheriff's Office were the first to arrive at the scene of a quadruple homicide at an abandoned marijuana farm.

Persons: Wu Chen, Mike Simons, Kevin Stitt, Sean Hannity's, Dan Newhouse, Liu, Chen, Yi Fei Lin, Mark Woodward, —, OBN, Adria Berry, BI Adria Berry, I'm, Barb Miuccio, Jeremy Grable, Jeremy, Barb, she's, Barbara Miuccio, Treez, Matt Stacy, Stacy, Stitt, Jeremy they'd, he'd, OMMA, didn't, Barb didn't, Barbara, Stacy —, she'd, Stacy hadn't, BI Jonathan Riedlinger, Riedlinger, Lin, Qirong Lin, Hechun Chen, Qiang Chen, Fang Lee —, Wenbo Lin, Wu Chen —, Wenbo Lin didn't, Reidlinger, Jed Green, Matthew Alan Stacy, Barb —, — he's, He'd, Woodward, Helen Carillo, He's, Kevin Pham, Pham, BI Pham, ProPublica, recriminations, Green, It's, they're, I'd, Ken Thompson, Thompson, Chen didn't, He'll, Jonathan Riedlinger, Kiki, I've Organizations: Oklahoma City, Broadway, BI, Marijuana, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority, Republican, Sean Hannity's Fox, Fox News, Chen Inc, Narcotics, BI Adria, Oklahoma's Army National Guard, OBN, Business, Oklahoma State Bureau of, Sheriff's, Prosecutors, CSI Accounting Services, Whitney Economics, NBC, Cannabis, Virginia Slim, Florida . Police Locations: Oklahoma, Kingfisher County , Oklahoma, Ames , Oklahoma, Kingfisher , Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, California, Arkansas, Republican Washington, China, Kingfisher County, Dallas, Moore , Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Afghanistan, Iraq, Ukraine, He's, Moore, Kingfisher, Hennessey , Oklahoma, OMMA, Mexico, Edmond, Tulsa, Russia, Bulgaria, Armenia, Steakhouse, Virginia, Florida, Miami Beach, Miami

☆ The FTC is going to war with tax services that bill themselves as free
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-28 | by ( Grace Eliza Goodwin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The FTC filed a lawsuit against H&R Block over what the commission called deceptive advertising. AdvertisementSo-called "free" online tax filing services like Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block's Online Filing option have, for a long time, not actually been free for many Americans. The consumer protection agency filed a complaint against H&R Block last week, accusing the company of deceptive advertising and unfairly deleting users' tax data. A 2019 ProPublica investigation found Intuit and H&R Block's practices — including hiding their free filing options from Google search — are part of a decadeslong lobbying effort by the companies to keep tax filing services complicated. It was partially because of those lobbying efforts that the IRS did not roll out its own online free tax filing pilot until last year.

Persons: —, Samuel Levine, Levine, Dara Redler, Derrick L, Plummer Organizations: FTC, H, Intuit, Service, Consumer, Business, NPR, Google, IRS Locations: FTC's

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Times was honored Monday with George Polk Awards for Foreign Reporting and Photojournalism for its coverage of the war between Israel and Hamas. They were among Polk Awards winners announced Monday in 13 categories. In all, five of the prestigious journalism prizes were for coverage of the Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine wars. The winners will be honored in April as the university marks the 75th anniversary of the awards. That prize was established by journalist Jane Freiman Schanberg to honor long-form investigative or enterprise journalism and comes with a $25,000 award.

Persons: George Polk, Photographers Samar Abu Elouf, Yousef Masoud, “, ”, John Darnton, Elon Musk, Osher, Julia Cardi, Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, Alex Mierjeski, Brett Murphy, ProPublica, Clarence Thomas, Jason Motlagh, Jane Freiman Schanberg, Luke Mogelson, Anna Werner, Brett Kelman, Fred Schulte, Holly K, Hacker, Daniel Chang, Julie Pace, Bob Woodward, Christiane Amanpour, Dean Baquet Organizations: New York Times, Foreign, Hamas, Photographers, University, Polk, CBS, Tesla, SpaceX, Supreme, New, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Sydney Schanberg, Reuters, Yorker, CBS News, KFF Health, Food, Drug, Long, Long Island University, Journalism, Digital Media, Associated Press, Julie Pace , Washington Post, CNN Locations: Israel, Gaza, Long, Russia, Ukraine, New York, Haiti, Long Island, Manhattan, Julie Pace ,

☆ John Oliver just made Clarence Thomas an offer he thinks the SCOTUS judge can't refuse
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-19 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AdvertisementJohn Oliver says he will give Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a million bucks a year if he quits the Supreme Court immediately. Besides offering Thomas money, Oliver said he would also throw in a $2.4 million motorcoach. Oliver spent most of the episode discussing the Supreme Court and the issues he said were plaguing it — one of them being Thomas. But it is worth doing for the principle," Thomas told the Bar Association in Savannah, Georgia, according to the Post. He's said it's not worth doing 'for the grief,'" Oliver said of Thomas during his Sunday show.

Persons: John Oliver, Clarence Thomas, Thomas, Oliver, Ginni, ProPublica, Harlan Crow, Paul, Tony, Novelly, he's, He's, it's, he'd Organizations: GOP, The New York Post, Bar Association, HBO, Business Insider Locations: Savannah , Georgia

The small, primarily digital newsrooms are members of the Institute for Nonprofit News. On primary nights and the general election, AP will give these outlets ready-to-publish graphics with national and local results, along with information gleaned from talking to voters from AP's VoteCast survey. AP plays a central role tabulating results across the country on election nights, using them to declare winners of contested races, along with seeking an in-depth view of what is on voters' minds. Some larger and national organizations offer consumers detailed election information, but usually don’t have the capacity to cover local races of interest to readers of INN publications, he said. The organization's members have a median of four staffers and $271,000 in revenue, he said.

Persons: David Scott, Jonathan Kealing, ” Kealing, Newsrooms, ” Scott Organizations: Associated, Google News Initiative, Institute for Nonprofit News, AP, Mississippi Free Press, San Antonio, Iowa, New Locations: AP's, Texas, Charlottesville Tomorrow, Virginia, Fresnoland, California, New Hampshire

The report comes as access to sensitive taxpayer information has sparked calls for investigations — and calls for reform on taxes for the wealthy. Littlejohn had applied to work as a contractor to get Trump’s tax returns and carefully figured out how to search and extract tax data to avoid triggering suspicions internally, prosecutors said in court documents. Werfel said that since the agency has received funding through Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act, it has been able to markedly improve the security of sensitive information, including audit trail deficiencies. “Our data security and environment is dramatically better today than it was in 2017 to 2020 when this unauthorized access occurred," Werfel said. "And it’s dramatically better today because we now have the resources to make the right investments to strengthen our data security.

Persons: Daniel Werfel —, —, ”, “, TIGTA, Charles Edward Littlejohn of, Donald Trump, Littlejohn, Jason Smith, Werfel, Lindsay Whitehurst Organizations: WASHINGTON, IRS, Treasury, Associated Press, Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington, Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington , D.C, New York Times, Associated Locations: Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington ,

☆ Senate probe zeroes in on Harlan Crow tax deductions for superyacht used for Clarence Thomas vacations
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Eamon Javers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

How Crow uses his 160 foot yacht has drawn the attention of Senate Finance Committee investigators, who are probing Crow's financial and personal ties to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Thomas and his wife Ginni Thomas have taken several cruises aboard the ship, the Michaela Rose, including trips around Indonesia and New Zealand. Rochelle Charter, Inc., which was formed by the Crow family to lease out the yacht, reported tax-deductible business losses in 10 of the 13 years for which ProPublic has records. In order for business losses to be deducted from federal income taxes, a company must be engaged in an actual business with paying customers. "Mr. Crow engages professional accounting firms to prepare his tax returns and complies with tax law in good faith.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Al Drago, Harlan Crow's, Crow, Thomas, Ginni Thomas, Michaela Rose, Ron Wyden, Sen, Erin Scott, ProPublic, Wyden, Harlan Crow, Mr Organizations: U.S, Supreme, White, Washington , D.C, Bloomberg, Getty Images WASHINGTON — Billionaire, IRS, CNBC, Finance, Democratic, Reuters Tax, Inc, Internal Revenue Service Locations: Washington ,, Indonesia, New Zealand, Washington, Rochelle

☆ Why U.S. renters are taking corporate landlords to court
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-03 | by ( Carlos Waters | In Carloswaters | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Equity Residential purchased Portside Towers in 2019. A group of renters in the U.S. say their landlords are using software to deliver inflated rent hikes. Renters told CNBC they discovered how revenue management software is used in real estate after reading a 2022 ProPublica investigation. Equity Residential investor materials show that the company started to experiment with Lease Rent Options between 2005 and 2008. Equity Residential and other defendant landlords declined to comment on ongoing RealPage litigation.

Persons: RealPage, District of Columbia Brian Schwalb, We've, Kevin Weller, There's, Jeffrey Roper, Thoma, Thoma Bravo, Harry Gural, Gural, we're, Mark Parrell Organizations: Washington , D.C, District of Columbia, CNBC, Equity Residential, Towers, World Trade, RealPage, U.S . Department of Justice, Equity, U.S, Thoma Bravo, U.S . Locations: Washington ,, RealPage, Jersey City , New Jersey, Portside, U.S, Miami, Van Ness, Jersey City, Atlanta, Austin , Texas, U.S . East

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador immediately interpreted the reports as a U.S. attack on his government and his Morena party before Mexico’s June 2 presidential election. The stories described testimony by traffickers that they passed about $2 million to confidants of López Obrador in 2006, when he narrowly lost the race for president. Political Cartoons View All 253 Images“It is completely false, it's slander,” López Obrador said Wednesday at his daily media briefing. López Obrador is notoriously touchy about anything that tarnishes his own moral authority or reputation, upon which his entire party rests. Campaign operators linked to López Obrador have been caught on video several times receiving large sums of cash, but with no proof he knew about it.

Persons: —, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Salvador, López Obrador, ” López Obrador, “, ” “ It's, Mike Vigil, “ It's, ” Vigil, Cienfuegos, Vigil, Claudia Sheinbaum, López Obrador's, Mexico's, Beltran Leyva, didn't, Guadalupe Correa, Cabrera, ”, Correa, “ That's, Manuel López Obrador, Mexico’s Organizations: MEXICO CITY, ., Mexico’s, . Drug, Administration, López, ProPublica, Deutsche Welle, George Mason University, U.S, Republicans, Republican, DEA, Cienfuegos ’, United Locations: MEXICO, U.S, Mexico, Mexican, Salvador Cienfuegos, Cienfuegos, United States, López Obrador's Morena, ‘ Mexico, Los Angeles

☆ Former Contractor Who Leaked Trump’s Tax Returns Sentenced to 5 Years in Prison
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-29 | by ( Eileen Sullivan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former Internal Revenue Service contractor accused of leaking the tax documents of Donald J. Trump and other wealthy Americans was sentenced on Monday to five years in prison. The former contractor, Charles Littlejohn, known as Chaz, worked for the tax agency from 2017 to 2021, when he stole the tax records of thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including Mr. Trump, prosecutors said. Mr. Littlejohn then provided the information to The New York Times and ProPublica. “Today’s sentence sends a strong message that those who violate laws intended to protect sensitive tax information will face significant punishment,” Nicole M. Argentieri, the acting assistant attorney general who oversees the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the harm from Mr. Littlejohn’s disclosures were “so extensive and ongoing that it is impossible to quantify.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Charles Littlejohn, Chaz, Littlejohn, Prosecutors, Mr, ” Nicole M Organizations: Internal Revenue, New York Times, ProPublica, Justice

Listen and follow The DailyApple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon MusicWarning: This episode contains strong language and audio excerpts of violence. About a decade ago, police departments across the United States began equipping their officers with body cameras. The technology was meant to serve as a window into potential police misconduct, but that transparency has often remained elusive. Eric Umansky, an editor at large at ProPublica, explains why body cameras haven’t been the fix that many hoped they would be.

Persons: Eric Umansky Organizations: Spotify, United States Locations: United

☆ The man who leaked Trump's taxes eluded investigators for years but was finally found after leaking info on Musk and Bezos, WSJ reports
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-28 | by ( Hannah Getahun | Katherine Tangalakis Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Charles Littlejohn confessed to leaking Donald Trump's tax returns. The investigators had focused on Littlejohn for a separate leak involving billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. On two separate occasions, Littlejohn provided tax documents belonging to Trump, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk to two news organizations. Trump's tax returns showed the former president paid just $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. Musk's tax returns showed he paid $455 million in taxes on $1.52 billion in income between 2014 and 2018.

Persons: Charles Littlejohn, Donald, Littlejohn, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, —, Donald Trump's, Trump, Amazon's, ProPublica, Trump's, Bezos's, Barbara Jones Organizations: Federal, Wall, Service, Street Journal, IRS, New York Times, SpaceX, The Times, DOJ, Business, Republican, Prosecutors, Times, Trump Locations: New York

☆ FTC bans TurboTax from advertising ‘free’ services, calls it deceptive advertising
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —The Federal Trade Commission ruled in a final order and opinion Monday that TurboTax, the popular tax filing software, engaged in deceptive advertising and banned the company from advertising its services for free unless it is free for all customers. By running ads for “free” tax services that many customers were not qualified for, the tax filing software violated the FTC Act and deceived consumers, the agency said. The FTC had first sued Intuit, TurboTax’s owner, for its deceptive advertising in 2022. Intuit cannot advertise or market any goods or services as free unless it’s free for all customers, the FTC ordered. The FTC added if the service isn’t actually free for the majority of consumers, TurboTax could state that as well.

Persons: D, Michael Chappell, “, ”, —, Letitia James, ” CNN’s Jordan Valinsky Organizations: New, New York CNN, Federal Trade Commission, FTC, Intuit Locations: New York

☆ Direct File is the most important tech product of 2024, helping you to finally file your taxes for free
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Alistair Barr | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

I'll go further and say this offering is the most important tech product of 2024. Direct FileI'm talking about Direct File , a new way for many Americans to file their taxes for free. She also questioned the value of the new Direct File service in various ways. Give Direct File a tryWhich brings us back to the new Direct File service. When I searched for "free file taxes" this weekend, the top of Google's results page was full of ads.

Persons: —, Dan Grover, ChatGPT, It's, ProPublica, Tania Mercado, Mercado, Janet Yellen, Guess Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, Forbes, IRS, Intuit, Google, Internal Revenue Service, Revenue Locations: Silicon, Arizona , California, Florida , New York, Texas, ProPublica

☆ The Senate’s Supreme Court Subpoena Games
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( The Editorial Board | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The House Oversight Committee investigating Biden family business dealings has issued subpoenas to Hunter and James Biden to appear for depositions. Also requested for transcribed interviews are family members and associates including Sara and Hallie Biden. In a rush of rule-breaking at the end of a meeting, Mr. Durbin moved to bluster through subpoenas for two friends of Supreme Court Justices on a partisan vote. This is part of a Democratic political campaign to portray the High Court as a trinket bought by billionaires. “The pair have become genuine friends, according to people who know both men,” as even the left-leaning ProPublica admitted.

Persons: Biden, Hunter, James Biden, Sara, Hallie Biden, Mark Kelly Illinois, Dick Durbin, Durbin, Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow, ProPublica Organizations: Reuters, Democratic

People visit the U.S. Supreme Court building on the day that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito released their delayed financial disclosure reports and the reports were made public in Washington, U.S., August 31, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsWASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Senate Democrats are expected on Thursday to vote on authorizing subpoenas to a pair of influential conservatives with ties to the U.S. Supreme Court as part of an ethics inquiry spurred by reports of undisclosed largesse directed to some conservative justices. Democrats are expected to face resistance from the panel's Republican members, who have painted the oversight effort as an attempt to tarnish the Supreme Court after it handed major defeats to liberals in recent years on matters including abortion, gun rights and student debt relief. Lawyers for Leo and Crow in letters to the committee criticized the committee's information requests as lacking a proper legal justification. Crow's lawyer proposed turning over a narrower range of information but Democrats rebuffed that offer, according to the panel's Democratic members.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Kevin Wurm, largesse, Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo, Donald Trump's, Dick Durbin, Crow, Leo, Paul Singer, Trump, Thomas, Alito, Singer, John Kruzel, Andrew Chung, Nate Raymond, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, Rights, Democratic, Republican, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Texas, Alaska, New York, Boston

☆ Senate Democrats subpoena Harlan Crow, escalating probe of GOP megadonor's relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Senate Democrats pushed forward on a subpoena of Harlan Crow. The GOP megadonor has been at the center of ethics concerns regarding Justice Clarence Thomas. Republican senators previously filed 177 amendments to the subpoena authorization, including a subpoena of Jeffrey Epstein's estate for his private flight logs. Crow has been in the news for months related to his friendship to Justice Clarence Thomas. ProPublica uncovered numerous trips and gifts Crow lavished on the justice and his family, which Thomas often did not list on his financial disclosure.

Persons: Harlan Crow, Clarence Thomas, —, Leonard Leo, Dick Durbin, Jeffrey Epstein's, Sen, John Cornyn, Durbin, Lindsey Graham, Graham, Crow, Leo, ProPublica, Crow lavished, Thomas, Samuel Alito, Paul Singer, Alito Organizations: GOP, Service, Durbin, United States Senate, Texas Republican, Republican, Supreme Court, Courthouse News Locations: Texas

☆ Trump's fraud trial defense has featured 1 son, 2 pals, and an expert who noted 'glaring' math snafus
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-18 | by ( Laura Italiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Donald Trump Jr. in court for his family's civil fraud trial in New York. AP Photo/Phelan M. EbenhackThe first defense expert witness: a Trump mega-donorThe third defense witness to take the stand, developer Steven Witkoff, was, like Donald Trump, Jr., hardly an objective source of testimony. But on Tuesday he became Trump's first expert witness, in the field of real estate valuation. His multi-billion-dollar brokerage firm, Lockton Companies, earned $1.2 million last year as Trump's insurance broker, he said. He said he didn't have a real estate license — he doesn't need one to be a broker, he explained.

Persons: —, Donald Trump, Donald Trump , Jr, Junior, Donald Trump Jr, David Dee Delgado, Christopher Kise, Trump, Kise, Phelan M, Ebenhack, Steven Witkoff, Witkoff, Trump's, Eduardo Munoz Alvarez, Jason Flemmons, Flemmons, James, Flemmons flubbed, Steven Laposa, Laposa, LIV, Timothy A, Clary, Gary Giulietti, Giulietti Organizations: Trump, Service, New, AP, Republican, Woolworth, Supreme, Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC, Getty, Lockton Companies, Zurich Insurance Group Locations: New York, Manhattan, Trump, New Jersey

☆ Biden, Trump unpopularity buoys third party hopes for 2024 US election
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/3] Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a 2024 presidential election campaign event in Summerville, South Carolina, U.S. September 25, 2023. No third-party candidate has won a modern U.S. presidential election, although they have at times played outsized roles as spoilers by taking votes from major party candidates. Tony Lyons, cofounder of American Values 2024 told Reuters Kennedy shouldn't be considered a danger to just Biden or just Trump. Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said: "Polls show President Trump absolutely crushing Joe Biden even with other candidates present, both nationally and in battleground states." 'PEOPLE WANT BETTER CHOICES'While cash is flowing to third party options, Biden and Trump are raising even more.

Persons: Donald Trump, Sam Wolfe, Republican Donald Trump, Democrat Joe Biden, Trump, Ross Perot, Democrat Bill Clinton, George H.W, George H.W . Bush, Ralph Nader, Al Gore, George W, Bush, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Kennedy, Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Larry Sharpe, Joe Biden, Matt Bennett, Tony Lyons, Reuters Kennedy shouldn't, Biden, Lyons, Steven Cheung, We've, Ryan Clancy, Larry Hogan of, Joe Manchin, Manchin, Clancy, Cornel West, Jill Stein, Stein, ProPublica, Joe Lieberman's, Lieberman, Jarrett Renshaw, Heather Timmons, Deepa Babington Organizations: U.S, Republican, REUTERS, Democrat, Biden, Democratic, Gallup, Trump, RFK, New York, Republicans, Reuters, Democrats, Republican Gov, Wednesday, NBC, White, Thomson Locations: Summerville , South Carolina, U.S, Trump, Gaza, George H.W ., Florida, Manhattan, Arizona , Nevada, North Carolina, Larry Hogan of Maryland, West Virginia

☆ Charlie Munger says there isn't the slightest chance Buffett traded own account to enrich himself
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Jesse Pound | In Jesse-Pound | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Berkshire Hathaway Vice Chairman Charlie Munger pushed back against a report that alleged his partner Warren Buffett at times traded stocks in his personal account before the conglomerate made moves in the same securities. "I don't think there's the slightest chance that Warren Buffett is doing something that is deeply evil to make money for himself. In a Nov. 9 article, ProPublica reported that Buffett on at least three occasions made personal trades in a stock shortly before or in the same quarter that Berkshire did. The ProPublica report said Buffett made at least $466 million in personal stock sales between 2000 and 2019. A securities filing from August showed Buffett owns more than 200,000 Berkshire Hathaway A shares, a position worth more than $100 billion.

Persons: Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, CNBC's Becky Quick, Buffett, Munger, ProPublica Organizations: Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshire, CNBC, CNBC PRO Locations: Munger, Berkshire

☆ Charlie Munger on Warren Buffett: He cares more about what happens to Berkshire than his own money
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailCharlie Munger on Warren Buffett: He cares more about what happens to Berkshire than his own moneyCNBC's 'Squawk Box' crew discuss Charlie Munger's comments in response to a ProPublica report detailing how Berkshire Hathaway chairman and CEO Warren Buffett traded stocks in his own portfolio before Berkshire's trades in the same stocks were made public on three occasions over a period of almost two decades.

Persons: Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger's Organizations: Berkshire Hathaway Locations: Berkshire

☆ A small group of farms in California use more water than entire cities, and it's mostly going to a single crop, according to a new report
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Maiya Focht | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An investigation from ProPublica and The Desert Sun focused on farmers' water use in California. Most of the water in the valley is used by just 20 farming families, the investigation found. A small group in Imperial Valley soaks up billions of gallonsThe winter growing season in Imperial Valley. The Imperial Valley district gets its water for free from the US Bureau of Reclamation, ProPublica reported. "Cheap water helps make growing hay in the Imperial Valley profitable," ProPublica and The Desert Sun wrote.

Persons: what's, Rafael Elias, John Harper, aren't, Biden, Troy Waters Organizations: Service, University of California, Salt Lake Tribune, Sun, Breakthrough Institute, US, of Reclamation Locations: ProPublica, California, United States, Colorado, Imperial, Imperial Valley, halbergman, Utah, Salt, Las Vegas, Hay

☆ Tenants and a top prosecutor have accused major landlords and a popular apartment-pricing site of colluding to inflate rents. A legal expert says it shows algorithmic collusion is no longer 'science f
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-15 | by ( Eliza Relman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . AdvertisementYou're probably aware that a severe housing shortage has driven rents and home prices through the roof in recent years. Now, several lawsuits filed across the country contend that the algorithmic software some big landlords use to determine rents has artificially inflated prices. This allegation is unusual, given that RealPage doesn't have any market power over its clients, Stucke said. AdvertisementProsecutors also allege that RealPage monitors the rents that its clients charge and disciplines landlords who don't adhere to its recommendations.

Persons: —, Brian Schwalb, RealPage, They're, Maurice Stucke, RealPage didn't, Axios, Department —, Donald Trump —, Steve Winn, ProPublica, Stucke Organizations: Service, University of Tennessee, DOJ, The, Department, Prosecutors, Department of Justice, Democratic, Federal Trade Commission, Computer Locations: Washington, DC, RealPage, Texas, Seattle , New York, Boston, Colorado, Nashville

☆ Supreme Court adopts ethics code as justices face criticism over financial disclosures
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Kevin Breuninger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The Supreme Court announced Monday it is adopting a code of ethics, a move that followed waves of criticism over reports about undisclosed gifts and travel received by some members of the high court. The 14-page code of conduct was written to "dispel" the "misunderstanding" that the court's nine justices "regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules," the court said in a statement. It was not immediately clear whether the code would mollify Senate Democrats who had pushed the court for ethics reform and launched an investigation in the wake of the reporting. Spokespeople for Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Senate Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new code. Republicans in Congress have vehemently objected to any effort to require the court to codify ethics standards for justices.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, John Roberts, ProPublica, Harlan Crow, Crow, Thomas, Samuel Alito, Paul Singer, Leonard Leo, Spokespeople, Dick Durbin, Sheldon Whitehouse, pushback, GOP Sen, Marsha Blackburn Organizations: Supreme, Republican, Congress, GOP, Tennessee Locations: Washington , DC, Georgia

The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen on the day that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito released their delayed financial disclosure reports and the reports were made public in Washington, U.S., August 31, 2023. The court released its code "to set out succinctly and gather in one place the ethics rules and principles that guide the conduct of the members of the court," according to a brief introductory statement. Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, the Supreme Court's life-tenured justices had long acted with no binding ethics code. Most of the ethics revelations in recent months involved Justice Clarence Thomas, one of the court's most conservative members. The issue had become an political flashpoint, with Democrats in Congress calling on the court to adopt an ethics code, while many Republicans viewed the ethics narrative involving the court as cooked up by liberals upset at its rightward leanings.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Kevin Wurm, Thomas, Harlan Crow, ProPublica, Koch, Anthony Welters, Andrew Chung, Will Dunham Organizations: U.S, Supreme, REUTERS, Rights, Republicans, Democrats, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Texas, New York

Search resuls for: "ProPublica"

25 mentions found