Tag Archives : Build House

Standoff ends with armed man accused of trying to breach Ohio FBI office

An hours-long police standoff with a man who allegedly tried to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Thursday ended around 4:30 p.m.

The Clinton County Emergency Management Agency wrote in a Facebook post that the law enforcement response and operations on a major highway near Wilmington, Ohio, had concluded, but did not give any other details.

A lockdown, which had covered a one-mile radius, is being lifted, and roads are being slowly reopened, according to the Clinton emergency agency.

The Hill has reached out to the agency and local police for comment.

The Cincinnati FBI field office said an armed suspect attempted to breach its visitor screening facility around 9 a.m..

After a swift response by FBI special agents, the suspect fled toward Interstate 71 with the Ohio State Highway Patrol in pursuit.

The suspect, wearing a gray shirt and body armor, soon stopped between I-71 and State Route 73, near Wilmington, where he allegedly traded shots with police officers.

Police had set up a perimeter around the area as they engaged in the standoff.

According to a live blog from the Wilmington News Journal, which reviewed police scanners, the suspect was a white male wearing an orange shirt with sunglasses and driving a Ford Crown Victoria. He later changed into the gray shirt.

The incident drew Ohio State Police, FBI agents, at least two county sheriff’s offices and several emergency personnel, according to the news outlet.

As police and choppers surrounded him, the suspect was perched near his vehicle with a rifle, according to the Wilmington News Journal, which reported a visible blood splatter near his right thigh.

The news comes just days after the FBI conducted a sweeping raid of former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Republicans have decried the raid as a politically motivated stunt, with some calling for the FBI to be defunded.

Source: TEST FEED1

State Dept. offers $10 million for information on Russian hackers

The State Department announced on Thursday that it was offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identity and location of five individuals believed to be tied to the Conti ransomware group.

The agency accused the hackers, known by their online aliases as “Target,” “Reshaev,” “Professor,” “Tramp,” and “Dandis,” of participating in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure.

“Stripping anonymity from key players, offering bounties, seizing illicit funds, and making public declarations of intent are important actions that may help to increase the real and perceived risks of engaging in ransomware operations,” said Jeremy Kennelly, a senior manager of financial crime analysis at cybersecurity firm Mandiant, in a statement. 

Conti, a Russia-based hacker group, has supported the Russian government following its invasion of Ukraine and has threatened critical infrastructure of countries it perceives as a threat to Russia, the State Department said.

The agency added that the group has conducted over 1,000 ransomware operations targeting U.S. and international critical infrastructure, including law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services and 911 dispatch centers.

The State Department has been issuing several of these rewards following the invasion of Ukraine. In May, it offered a similar reward with an additional $5 million for information leading to the arrest of any individual conspiring with the Conti ransomware group. 

In April, the agency said it was offering a $10 million reward for information on a group of Russian hackers who were allegedly involved in malicious cyber activities. 

According to the State Department, the hackers participated in a criminal conspiracy that took part in a destructive malware infection of computers worldwide in June 2017 using malware referred to as NotPetya.

“Continued action by the U.S. government and law enforcement agencies targeting key criminal organizations such as the Conti operators is critical to shifting the incentives that have allowed the ransomware ecosystem to thrive over the past few years,” Kennelly added.

Source: TEST FEED1

On The Money — IRS will focus on auditing the rich, Yellen says

The Biden administration wants the public to know that $80 billion in new IRS funding won’t result in more audits for the average taxpayer. We’ll also look at falling wholesale inflation figures, gas finally dropping below $4 and the FTC’s consumer privacy initiative.  

But first, read about why dried up lakes should concern everyone.  

Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here. 

Yellen tells IRS not to use new funding to increase middle-class audits 

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen directed IRS officials not to use new funding secured for the agency in Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act to increase audits on households making under $400,000 annually. 

In a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, Yellen reaffirmed a commitment “that audit rates will not rise relative to recent years for households making under $400,000 annually,” which she described as a “guiding precept of the planning” for the agency. 

• Democrats have set their sights this week on approving roughly $80 billion in funding to strengthen the office, which has seen its funding and staffing decline for roughly a decade. 
• The message is in response to warnings from GOP lawmakers that the agency would hire tens of thousands more IRS agents and increase audits that would impact those below the $400,000 threshold. 
• In her letter, Yellen specifically directed that no additional resources, including any new personnel or auditors that are hired as part of the proposed funding, should be “used to increase the share of small business or households below the $400,000 threshold that are audited relative to historical levels.” 

Yellen also stressed the IRS’s “enforcement resources will focus on high-end noncompliance,” as Democrats say the proposed funding is aimed at going after wealthy tax cheats. 

The IRS funding proposal is one of several tax-related provisions included in the Inflation Reduction Act to raise revenue to help cut the nation’s deficit over the next decade, while also offsetting investments in health care and climate. 

Aris breaks it down here. 

PRICE DROP 

Wholesale prices decline 0.5 percent as inflation eases in July 

Wholesale prices dropped 0.5 percent in July to hit a 9.8 percent annual increase, down from an 11.3 percent annual increase in June as 40-year high inflation continued to show signs of easing. 

The Labor Department’s producer price index showed that demand for goods dropped 1.8 percent from June to July as demand for services increased only 0.1 percent. 

• Excluding the more volatile categories of food, energy and trade, prices rose 0.2 percent in July to hit a 5.8 percent increase on the year, down from 6.4 percent from last month. 
• The wholesale numbers reinforce that inflation slowed last month after Wednesday’s report showed consumer prices falling from 9.1 to 8.5 percent.  
• It’s unclear, however, whether the numbers represent a temporary blip or a broader trend. 

Tobias Burns has the details here. 

STEP ON THE GAS 

Average US gas price falls below $4 per gallon 

Recent data shows the average national price of gasoline fell below $4 per gallon on Thursday for the first time since March, and experts are expecting the downward trend to continue. 

Prices averaged $3.99 on Thursday, AAA said. The drop represents a dip of more than $1 since prices peaked in June at about $5.02. 

• Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told The Hill that he expects an additional decline of about 5 cents per gallon in the coming weeks and a further drop of about 15 cents per gallon after mid-September, when refiners are able to sell lower-cost winter gasoline. 
• Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis, predicted that prices could fall between an additional 10 and 25 cents per gallon in the coming weeks. 

The Hill’s Rachel Frazin has the rundown here. 

PRIVATE MATTERS 

FTC launches effort to review, update data privacy rules 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will launch an effort to review and update rules on how companies collect and use data, the agency announced Thursday.  

The FTC said it will explore rules to “crack down on harmful commercial surveillance and lax data security,” expanding on Democratic Chair Lina Khan’s aggressive action targeting tech companies.  

• The FTC’s decision to move forward with a process to review and update data privacy protections comes as Congress is weighing proposals aimed at creating a comprehensive federal data privacy law.  
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee advanced the American Data Privacy Protection Act (ADPPA) last month with bipartisan support. A version of the bill has been introduced in the Senate, but it lacks support from Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), hindering its chances of moving forward.  

Get more details here from The Hill’s Rebecca Klar. 

Good to Know 

New applications for unemployment benefits rose slightly in the first month of August to the highest level since November, according to Labor Department data released Thursday.  

Jobless claims totaled 262,000 in the week ending Aug. 6, up 14,000 from the previous week’s revised total. Claims continue to hover around pre-pandemic levels, but they’ve risen in five out of the last six weeks. 

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• Congress is on the verge of rolling back a significant debt relief program intended to provide aid to farmers of color after the Democratic-led effort hit a roadblock last year following legal challenges brought by white farmers claiming discrimination. 

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday relaxed many of the guidelines for COVID-19 in communities, a major shift that emphasizes living with the virus rather than strict prevention of infection. 
• The Federal Election Commission (FEC) voted Thursday to allow Google to push forward a Gmail pilot program that would allow campaign emails to dodge spam filters, a move that comes after accusations from Republicans that the filters were biased against their messages. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Congress needs to pass money laundering and sanctions-busting whistleblower protections

Congress is very close to passing urgently needed whistleblower protections targeting Russian money laundering and sanctions busting. Bipartisan members of Congress recognize that the gapping loopholes in the whistleblower laws covering money laundering and sanctions must be fixed if criminals, such as the Russian oligarchs that keep President Vladimir Putin in power, can be held accountable.

The scope of the problem targeted by the whistleblower legislation is massive. For example, the largest money laundering scheme in history concerned Russian oligarchs, including members of President Putin’s family and the Russian secret police (the FSB). A detailed investigation by the Danske Bank confirmed that Russian millionaires and billionaires illegally used that bank’s offices in Estonia to transfer over $230 billion from Russia and former Soviet states into New York City banks. A whistleblower who first reported the scandal was compelled to resign from his job, sign a highly restrictive nondisclosure agreement and eventually had his identity illegally leaked to pro-Russian newspapers. Danish law provided no protections, the illegal leak was never investigated by the authorities, and ultimately the whistleblower abandoned his career as a banker. None the New York banks that welcomed the billions deposited by their new Russian customers have been held accountable, and their clients continue to enjoy living in elite Manhattan real estate. 

The money laundering and sanctions legislation pending in the House and Senate, House H.R.7195, sponsored by Reps. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-Ohio) and S.3316, sponsored by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), will fix these problems. It will give the Department of Treasury the ability to successfully track down the hundreds of billions of dollars that passed through American banks and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs and others who launder funds to hide their ill-gotten wealth.   

Why is the whistleblower legislation so badly needed?  First, there are no protections whatsoever for whistleblowers who report sanctions violations. Those who wish to report illegal trade or financial transactions with North Korea, Iran, Venezuela or Russia have no legal protections whatsoever. Second, whether you are reporting money laundering or sanctions busting, the Department of Treasury lacks the ability to compensate you for your sacrifices or information, nor is there any requirement that any reward or compensation ever be paid to a whistleblower.   

The reform legislation provides a quick and well-established fix to these problems. The bills simply mirror the Dodd-Frank Act’s highly successful whistleblower laws covering securities fraud, commodities fraud and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. If passed, the legal protections for reporting money laundering and sanctions violations would mirror those in Dodd-Frank.   

Why use the Dodd-Frank model? Dodd-Frank, and other similarly structured whistleblower laws, are widely praised by the law enforcement officials who administer anti-fraud programs. They are widely recognized as the most effective and powerful anti-corruption laws in the United States. Just this past July, the SEC’s Director of Enforcement applauded the Dodd-Frank whistleblower procedures for their “critical role” in helping to “effectively detect wrongdoing” and “bring violators to justice.” She described whistleblower “contributions” under Dodd-Frank as “invaluable” for protecting investors and reporting foreign bribery. The most recent independent audit of America’s foreign corruption laws, conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, also praised Dodd-Frank’s “multi-faceted” whistleblower “protections” as they “provide powerful incentives for qualified whistleblowers to report foreign bribery.”   

The bills pending in Congress are 100 percent based on the successful provisions contained in Dodd-Frank. These provisions would incentivize and compensate whistleblowers whose “original information” results in successful prosecutions. The genius of these laws is that they cost the taxpayer nothing, and generate billions for the victims of crime and the taxpayers. This is accomplished by creating a “revolving fund” where the sanctions obtained from criminals in whistleblower-triggered cases are deposited. All compensation flowing from these revolving funds, whether they are paid to victims, whistleblowers or taxpayers come directly from fines and sanctioned generated by the whistleblowers. The taxpayer pays nothing, yet always obtains the overwhelming majority of the income generated by the whistleblower’s information. There is never need for Congress to appropriate any monies whatsoever.  The programs are self-sustaining and highly profitable.   

The Dodd-Frank procedures are a win-win-win for accountability. The rule of law is vindicated by the whistleblowers when fraudsters are held accountable. The taxpayers and victims of the crimes obtain between 70-90 percent of all monies obtained from the whistleblower cases. For example, under Dodd-Frank alone, the SEC has paid restitution to victims of securities frauds over $1.5 billion from the sanctions earned from whistleblower cases. Finally, the whistleblowers can use the compensation derived from the sanctions paid by the fraudsters to move on with their lives and escape the hardships caused by retaliation. These procedures were carefully studied by the House Oversight Committee and endorsed on a bipartisan basis, including on-the-record endorsements by Reps, Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Gary Palmar (R-Ala.).  

Where does the reform legislation stand? The House Financial Services Committee unanimously approved the bill and it is “marked-up” for a vote in the full House.   

The last remaining known hurdle in the House is coming from the Appropriations Committee, Chaired by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). Once she signs off on the bill it should quickly move forward as the legislation is cleared for a House vote and responsible Senate leadership has committed to passing the Grassley-Warnock-Warren bill once it is sent over from the House. Given the urgency of enforcing sanctions on Russia and seizing the assets of Putin’s oligarch enablers, H.R. 7195 and S. 3316 should be voted on and placed on President Biden’s desk as quickly as possible. The Ukrainians are doing their job under the most trying circumstances. Congress needs to do its job and provide critical support for the sanctions they have already approved.   

Stephen M. Kohn is a founding partner at the whistleblower law firm of Kohn, Kohn and Colapinto and the Chairman of the Board of the National Whistleblower Center

Source: TEST FEED1

Liz Cheney slams ‘sickening’ GOP attacks on FBI agents involved with Trump search

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) on Thursday slammed the “sickening” attacks Republican lawmakers have directed toward the FBI agents involved with the search on former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, arguing that the remarks are putting personnel at risk.

“I have been ashamed to hear members of my party attacking the integrity of the FBI agents involved with the recent Mar-a-Lago search,” Cheney wrote on Twitter. “These are sickening comments that put the lives of patriotic public servants at risk.”

Cheney’s statement came days after the FBI executed a search warrant on Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago property — a move that, according to multiple outlets, was part of an ongoing probe into the potential mishandling of documents.

Reports have indicated that Trump may have brought classified documents to Mar-a-Lago when he departed the White House.

A number of Republican lawmakers criticized the FBI following news of the search, painting the FBI as politicized and likening it to an authority that would operate in a third-world country.

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday, in his first public remarks since the search, addressed those comments.

“Let me address recent unfounded attacks on the professionalism of the FBI and Justice Department agents and prosecutors. I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said in remarks from the Justice Department headquarters.

“The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants. Every day they protect the American people from violent crime, terrorism, and other threats to their safety while safeguarding our civil rights. They do so at great personal sacrifice and risk to themselves. I am honored to work alongside them,” he added.

Garland’s comments came in a statement he delivered to announce that the Justice Department had moved to unseal the search warrant for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, as well as its property receipt.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) on Thursday also pushed back on attacks from his GOP colleagues and called on his fellow Republicans to speak up if they feel the same way.

“Listening to Republicans attack law enforcement is wrong, dangerous, and shameful,” Kinzinger wrote on Twitter.

“They will pick their cult leader over anything, but this is especially wrong. Every Republican official who doesn’t agree with those attacks MUST speak out if there are any patriots left,” he added.

Cheney has frequently criticized her Republican colleagues and Trump, especially through her role as vice chairwoman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

In a closing campaign ad for her upcoming reelection primary race, Cheney took another jab at the former president.

“America cannot remain free if we abandon the truth. The lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen is insidious,” she said. “It preys on those who love their country. It is a door Donald Trump opened to manipulate Americans to abandon their principles, to sacrifice their freedom, to justify violence, to ignore the rulings of our courts and the rule of law.”

Source: TEST FEED1

DHS watchdog declined to publish draft report slamming Secret Service

Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog were prepared to slam the Secret Service in a public report for stonewalling their Jan. 6 probe and for having “wiped” texts from the day of the riot.

But that March draft language, which criticizes Secret Service for “not communicating this highly relevant information,” never made it into a semi-annual report released in June.

Doing so would have alerted the public to missing texts a month before Inspector General Joseph Cuffari notified Congress that Secret Service “erased” its text messages.

The document, obtained by the Project on Government Oversight, was shared along with another showing the language was approved in April by the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) legal counsel.

It’s not clear why the language never made it into the July semiannual report from OIG.

But the draft text shows that OIG realized it had a legal obligation to make that disclosure, noting a provision of the Inspectors General Act requiring inclusion of incidents where an agency has “resisted or objected” to oversight.

The draft also shows OIG was not going to mince words about Secret Service’s pushback on their efforts.

“On Feb. 23, 2022 — more than two months after the OIG renewed its requests for select Secret Service employees’ text messages — Secret Service claimed an inability to extract text message content due to an April 2021 mobile phone system migration, which wiped all data,” the draft language stated.

“Secret Service caused significant delays by not communicating this highly relevant information at the outset of its exchanges with OIG during this reporting period. Moreover, Secret Service has not explained why it did not preserve the texts prior to the migration.”

The disclosure of the draft language comes as House lawmakers have asked Cuffari to step aside from his Jan. 6 investigation and Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin has asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to intervene and take over the Jan. 6 probe.

Cuffari has for years faced scrutiny over his choices, including accusations he has passed over investigations and narrowed lines of inquiry for his investigators. 

The unpublished report language is likely to sharpen questions around why he informed lawmakers of issues in July, when his staff had lost patience with Secret Service as early as March.

The draft language also highlights the watchdog’s confusion over Secret Service’s refusal to turn over any documents without them first being reviewed by DHS attorneys.

“Secret Service interviewees regularly indicate they will not provide documents directly to OIG without the documents first going through an internal review. Secret Service implemented this process without stating any authority supporting delaying or withholding information from OIG,” the language states.

“This practice leaves unclear whether OIG has received the full spectrum of requested documents. The practice continues despite multiple previous discussions between OIG and the Secret Service for withholding information under the IG Act.”

The draft language goes into far more detail than what OIG ultimately published, noting that documents were initially heavily redacted, and that the watchdog wasted “valuable time” before eventually getting unredacted documents.

In its June report, all of the grievances investigators sought to publicly disclose were stripped from the report, condensing four paragraphs into two sentences.

“During the previous reporting period, we included information about Secret Service’s significant delay of OIG’s access to Secret Service records, impeding the progress of our January 6, 2021 review. We continue to discuss this issue with Secret Service,” it concluded.

Lawmakers on Wednesday sent a barrage of letters to Cuffari, Secret Service Director James Murray and even DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking questions over nearly every detail of the episode — from why the texts were missing, whether an effort has been made to recover them and questioning a number of different internal policies — showing that even a month later, DHS leaders have failed to offer much insight into the episode.

Source: TEST FEED1

Garland, in going public, pushes back at cable news firestorm

Attorney General Merrick Garland was quiet all week as former President Trump, GOP lawmakers and cable news pundits theorized about the FBI’s search Monday of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

On Thursday, he ended the silence, announcing the Department of Justice (DOJ) would move to unseal the warrant authorizing the search and defending the integrity of the FBI, which had been under heavy attack all week.  

“I will not stand by silently when their integrity is unfairly attacked,” Garland said, saying the FBI and DOJ had been subject to “unfounded attacks” on their professionalism. 

“The men and women of the FBI and the Justice Department are dedicated, patriotic public servants,” Garland said.  

The attorney general had been under pressure to speak even though it is a standard for DOJ not to comment publicly on details about active investigations.  

But in this case, the silence had been filled by the remarks of lawmakers, a former president and some cable news pundits who had gone so far as to suggest the FBI might have planted evidence at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.  

Garland on Thursday sought to push back, while putting the onus on Trump to agree to unseal the warrant — which could lead to more information about the fight between the ex-president and DOJ over classified documents reportedly taking without authorization to Florida.  

Following standard practice, investigators had provided Trump’s attorneys with their own copy of the search warrant and a receipt that would have itemized the materials seized during the search, neither of which the former president has publicly released.

If a federal judge grants the DOJ’s motion, both documents would be made public, likely in addition to a law enforcement affidavit detailing the reasons why investigators suspected there was evidence of criminal conduct on Trump’s property.  

Just before Garland’s public remarks, The New York Times reported Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents that federal investigators believed he had failed to turn over earlier in the year. The news of the subpoena suggested federal officials had tried more gentle approaches to reach some kind of agreement with Trump over the return of the documents in question.  

On cable news and on social media, the FBI search has been a No. 1 story, and speculation about the FBI’s motives and actions has been running wild.  

“If you are associated with Donald Trump in any way, you better cross all your i’s and dot all your t’s,” Sean Hannity, a close personal friend of Trump, declared on his show Monday. “Because they are coming for you with the full force of the federal government.”  

On Tuesday morning, one of Trump’s attorneys, Christina Bobb, a former host on the staunchly pro-Trump network One America News, said she “was not allowed to observe” the search.   

“There is no security that something wasn’t planted,” Bobb said. “I’m not saying that’s what they did. They have to go through the legal process to figure out what was taken and all of that.”   

Garland on Thursday said a Trump attorney was on site during the search.  

There has been no evidence to suggest anything was planted by the FBI at Mar-a-Lago.  

The search was authorized by a federal judge, and while Republicans have linked it to political motivations, the White House has said that President Biden was unaware it was about to take place. No evidence has been presented to suggest Biden had prior knowledge of the search.   

By Wednesday morning, the theory that the FBI might have planted evidence had made its way onto Fox News’ highly rated morning show “Fox & Friends,” where host Ainsley Earnhardt expressed concern at allegations from Trump’s attorneys that they were not allowed to be present during the search.   

“His lawyer said they brought in backpacks, what was in those backpacks? Did they bring those in to fill them up or did they have something in there?” Earnhardt asked during an interview with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)   

On his evening opinion show Tuesday, Fox host Jesse Watters also floated the idea.   

“They could have easily negotiated the return of documents like that without guns and warrants,” Watters said. “What the FBI is probably doing is planting evidence, which is what they did during the Russia hoax.”   

On MSNBC, hosts and guests have spent the last three days speculating about what the FBI could have been looking for at Trump’s home and suggesting the former president was withholding information about the search deliberately to fuel speculation and keep himself in the news.   

“That’s what this is all about, Trump took this public because he thought it was in his interest not just to spur these conspiracy theories but to pressure on the DOJ, what would they say,” said the political pundit John Heilman Wednesday while guest hosting a show on MSNBC.   

During an appearance on the network’s “Morning Joe” program, contributor Maya Wiley decried Trump and his defenders for “attacking non-politicized and independent law enforcement.”  

Longtime host Andrea Mitchell this week called a promise from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to investigate DOJ over what led to the search if Republicans take back power of Congress this fall “outrageous.”   

“Merrick Garland is the most careful, judicious to a fault some would say attorney general in this case,” Mitchell said.   

Observers say the way Monday’s event and the ensuing political fallout is being spun on cable news fits a predictable pattern.   

“The media and the internet hate a vacuum,” said Peter Loge, the director of George Washington University’s Project on Ethics in Political Communication. “Absent information, pundits, columnists and voters will fill that vacuum with speculation.”   

Loge compared some of the rhetoric across political media in the wake of Monday’s search to that of an impatient child in the back seat of a car.  

“It’s like ‘are we there yet? Are we there yet?’ Cable news can sound like six-year-olds demanding answers,” he said. “And absent information, news organizations that focus on political controversy will either make up a reason for their not being answers or they’ll fill in their best answer for themselves.”    

Garland, on Thursday, appeared to be trying to take back control of the narrative with his statement.  

“All Americans are entitled to the even-handed application of the law, to due process of law and to the presumption of innocence,” Garland said in remarks at DOJ headquarters. “Much of our work is by necessity conducted out of the public eye. We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations. Federal law, long standing department rules and our ethical obligations prevent me from providing further details as to the basis of the search at this time.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

West Virginia reaches multimillion-dollar settlement with Rite Aid over opioid lawsuit

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) announced a settlement with pharmacy chain Rite Aid Thursday over a lawsuit alleging the company had contributed to the oversupply of opioids in the state.

Morrissey filed the lawsuit against Rite Aid and Walgreens in 2020, alleging they had failed to monitor and report orders for opioid prescriptions.

In a statement, Morrissey said the settlement amount could amount to $30 million from Rite Aid.

“So many lives have been lost and shattered by this scourge,” Morrissey said. “With this settlement and other settlements, we will provide significant help to those affected the most by the opioid crisis in our state.”

The West Virginia lawsuit alleged that Rite Aid’s failure to oversee suspicious opioid prescription orders resulted in “significant losses through their [patients’] past and ongoing medical treatment costs,” including the cost of rehabilitation, medical treatments and minors born addicted to opioids.

West Virginia by far has the highest drug overdose mortality rate in the U.S. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has a death rate of 81.4 while the second highest death rate comes from Kentucky at 49.2.

This announcement comes just months after a similar agreement was reached with the drug companies Teva and Allergan for a $161.5 million settlement. At the time, Morrissey described the settlement as “record-breaking.”

The Hill has reached out to Rite Aid for comment.

Source: TEST FEED1

Oil residue from Deepwater Horizon spill still detectable along Louisiana coast: Study

Traces of oil spilled in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion remained in areas along the Gulf Coast, beyond the reach of cleanup efforts, a decade later, according to research published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science. 

Researchers, led by retired Louisiana State University environmental chemist Edward Overton, analyzed about a decade of research on the aftereffects of the spill combined with their own data. The research was funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, an independent research program created with BP funds in the wake of the spill. 

They determined that while about 90 percent of the oil degraded, evaporated or was broken down by bacteria in the first few months following the spill, 10 percent remained as solid residue that does not dissolve in water. Much of this sank as marine snow, the term for organic material that descends to the deeper ocean from near the surface. 

Meanwhile, a portion of the residue also washed up on shore. While the residue washing up on the beach could be cleaned up, the same was not true of the portion that ended up in wetlands, which are inaccessible by the equipment used for cleanup. Coastal marshes comprise about 10,700 square miles of the coastline, and the state has the most salt-marsh acreage of any state. 

While most of the residue stayed within the first 30 meters (about 98 feet) of marsh coastline, events such as hurricanes moved it farther into marshlands in some cases, Overton and his team found.  

“Most environmental consequences from oil spills are caused by hydrocarbon material whose composition has changed, to lesser or greater degree, when compared to the initial spilled material,” researchers added. “In many cases, the alterations represent significant compositional alterations affecting the residue material’s chemical, physical, toxic properties and affecting routes of exposure, and thus their potential for environmental impacts and remediations.” 

Source: TEST FEED1

Parents of transgender children urge Alabama court to keep block on gender-affirming care ban

Parents of transgender children in Alabama on Wednesday filed a brief urging the state court of appeals to uphold an injunction that is currently blocking state officials from enforcing a law that criminalizes the provision of gender-affirming health care to minors, arguing that acting to the contrary would disturb more than 100 years of precedent.

A federal judge in May blocked part of Alabama’s ban on gender-affirming care, which makes it a felony – punishable by up to a decade in prison – for doctors to provide or recommend puberty blockers, hormone therapy or other interventions to treat gender dysphoria in transgender youth younger than 19 years old.

Other parties – including parents – that facilitate the provision of gender-affirming care to a minor may also be charged under the law.

In June, Alabama attorneys said the injunction should be overturned, arguing in an appeal that the state has greater authority than parents to regulate a child’s medical care. Access to gender-affirming health care is also not constitutionally guaranteed, lawyers for the state argued, because it is not “deeply rooted in our nation’s history and tradition.”

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In their brief, a group of Alabama parents suing the state said the injunction should be upheld because courts for more than a century have recognized medical decision-making as a parental right.

“The fundamental right to parent is ‘perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests’  recognized by the Supreme Court and its application to medical decision-making is well established,” the parents’ attorneys wrote in the brief, quoting a 2000 Supreme Court case that strengthened a parent’s right to direct the upbringing of their children.

The brief contends that the state’s argument in its appeal has “no merit” because the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects parents’ rights to make decisions concerning the “care, custody, and control of their children.”

“Because the right of parents to care for their children is fundamental, any substantial infringement of parental autonomy is subject to strict scrutiny,” the brief states. “A core aspect of this fundamental right is a parent’s ability to make medical decisions for a child.”

In a statement released Thursday by her attorneys at The Human Rights Campaign, the mother of a 15-year-old transgender girl in northern Alabama, named in the lawsuit as Megan Poe, said the injunction has allowed her family to “breathe a little easier.”

“While many people may not understand what it means to have a transgender child, I know any parent can relate to worrying about whether your child is healthy and safe,” she said. “This law has shined a spotlight on our family’s personal healthcare decisions that we didn’t ask for, but I’m so glad that the district court heard and understood our experience and the experience of other families like ours.

“My daughter is a confident, engaged and happy teenager today because we are able to provide her care,” Poe said.

Attorneys for Alabama did not immediately return Changing America’s request for comment.

Source: TEST FEED1