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Posts by Michael Squires

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“Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability Most of the 15 bills being considered are part of a coordinated effort by groups linked to right-wing activist Leonard Leo.

NEW: Fifteen laws in 11 states that could immunize the fossil fuel industry from climate-related legal claims have either been passed or are being debated.

Many bills are part of a coordinated effort by groups linked to right-wing activist Leonard Leo.

2 weeks ago 895 534 29 43
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RFK Jr. May Reverse a Peptide Ban He Calls “Illegal.” Former FDA Officials Say He Mischaracterized Their Work. The agency’s 2023 decision to place 19 peptides on the “unsafe” list was supported by numerous documented safety concerns, former officials said. Even though demand for peptide therapies has exploded ...

NEW: In 2023, the FDA deemed 19 peptides too unsafe to be dispensed by compounding pharmacies.

Now, under RFK Jr., the agency is poised to reverse itself — despite the fact that few clinical studies support claims of the peptides’ effectiveness or safety.

2 weeks ago 335 153 20 15
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RFK Jr. May Reverse a Peptide Ban He Calls “Illegal.” Former FDA Officials Say He Mischaracterized Their Work. The agency’s 2023 decision to place 19 peptides on the “unsafe” list was supported by numerous documented safety concerns, former officials said. Even though demand for peptide therapies has exploded ...

The agency’s 2023 decision to place 19 peptides on the “unsafe” list was supported by numerous documented safety concerns, former officials said. Even though demand for peptide therapies has exploded since then, there’s been little new science.

2 weeks ago 8 5 2 3
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Albuquerque’s Mayor Said Arrests Were “Not the Solution” to Homelessness. Yet Jail Bookings Have Skyrocketed. Under Tim Keller’s leadership, the city has increasingly criminalized conduct associated with homelessness, causing a growing number of people on the streets to be arrested and jailed.

About half the jail population in Albuquerque is homeless. The county spends about $169 per night to jail inmates without significant medical or mental health needs. Housing individuals in the city’s year-round emergency shelter costs $44 a night.

1 month ago 258 73 3 1
SNL's Weekend Update host Colin Jost besides a screenshot of a ProPublica headline that reads: "Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts." Below the text is an image of Noem in a cowboy hat riding a horse, against the backdrop of Mount Rushmore.

SNL's Weekend Update host Colin Jost besides a screenshot of a ProPublica headline that reads: "Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts." Below the text is an image of Noem in a cowboy hat riding a horse, against the backdrop of Mount Rushmore.

Did you catch a mention of ProPublica's reporting on "SNL" Weekend Update last night? 👀

Read the full investigation here: https://propub.li/4bhyCXX

1 month ago 1207 209 15 9

America right now has big “we never use these fire extinguishers, we should get rid of them” energy.

2 months ago 15 2 0 0
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Firefighters Wore Gear Containing “Forever Chemicals.” The Forest Service Knew and Stayed Silent for Years. As early as 2021, government officials were alerted to the presence of potentially dangerous chemicals known as PFAS in pants used by wildland firefighters, according to emails obtained by ProPublica.

“Email correspondence obtained by ProPublica shows that government officials were alerted to the presence of PFAS in pants used by wildland firefighters as early as 2021.”
Via @abestreep.bsky.social

2 months ago 148 54 7 3
Note from the editors:

ProPublica is publishing the names of the two federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. We believe there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed. 

The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement.

The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.

Note from the editors: ProPublica is publishing the names of the two federal immigration agents involved in the fatal shooting of Minnesota protester Alex Pretti. We believe there are few investigations that deserve more sunlight and public scrutiny than this one, in which two masked agents fired 10 shots at Pretti as he lay on the ground after being pepper-sprayed. The Department of Justice said it is investigating the incident, but the names of the two agents have been withheld from Congress and from state and local law enforcement. The policy of shielding officers’ identities, particularly after a public shooting, is a stark departure from standard law enforcement protocols, according to lawmakers, state attorneys general and former federal officials. Such secrecy, in our view, deprives the public of the most fundamental tool for accountability.

A note from our editors:

2 months ago 16649 3703 275 186
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Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

1/ BREAKING: Government documents reviewed by ProPublica identify Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa, 43, and Customs and Border Protection officer Raymundo Gutierrez, 35, as the two who fired their weapons during the deadly encounter with Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

2 months ago 1799 749 84 99
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Two CBP Agents Identified in Alex Pretti Shooting The two federal immigration agents who fired on Minneapolis protester Alex Pretti are identified in government records as Border Patrol agent Jesus Ochoa and Customs and Border Protection officer Raym...

Jesús Ochoa is a Border Patrol agent who joined CBP in 2018. Reymundo Gutierrez joined in 2014 and works for CBP’s Office of Field Operations.

2 months ago 13 3 1 0
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1-28-26 Fulton Warrant

1/ NEW: @propublica.org has obtained a search warrant that the FBI is executing for records related to the contested 2020 election in Fulton County, Ga., which has not yet been widely shared. It’s an extraordinary document.

Link: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

2 months ago 1751 1062 100 134
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Residents I’ve spoken to are furious and want the agents out of their city. I’ve seen tense encounters in grocery story parking lots, housing developments, and neighborhoods. I've covered unrest around the world and the anger among protesters here is among the most intense I've ever experienced.

2 months ago 269 44 3 0
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I’ve been in Minneapolis the last few days reporting on the ICE raids happening across the city. This morning federal agents shot and killed a man, identified by the AP as Alex Pretti. This marks the third shooting by federal agents since Operation Metro Surge started in Minnesota last month.

2 months ago 647 184 11 16
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Her Parenting Time Was Restricted After a Positive Drug Test. By Federal Standards, It Would’ve Been Negative. In the child welfare system, the threshold at which a drug test is considered positive varies widely from one jurisdiction to the next. There’s no industry consensus on what, or if anything, should be...

Drug-testing labs typically report results in black and white: positive or negative. But a little-known fact about the industry is that those results are often based on standards that are wholly discretionary.

www.propublica.org/article/drug...

3 months ago 7 2 0 0
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How to Contact ProPublica or Send a Tip Securely — ProPublica Our job is to hold people and institutions accountable. To do that, we need evidence.

hey! just putting this out there:

propublica.org/tips

3 months ago 167 96 0 1

THREAD: It was supposed to be a routine surgery. So when the doctor stepped out, Sandra Parker wasn’t sure she heard right.

Her husband’s heart couldn’t have stopped for more than 5 or 6 minutes, the doctor was saying.

“That’s not a lot of time,” Mrs. Parker thought. “Is it?”

4 months ago 1098 319 28 53
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Firm Tied to Kristi Noem Secretly Got Money From $220 Million DHS Ad Contracts The company is run by the husband of Noem’s chief DHS spokesperson and has personal and business ties to Noem and her aides. DHS invoked the “emergency” at the border to skirt competitive bidding rule...

“The Department of Homeland Security spent $220M but has kept at least one beneficiary of the nine-figure ad deal a secret, records and interviews show: a Republican consulting firm with long-standing personal and business ties to Kristi Noem and her senior aides at DHS.”

5 months ago 315 143 17 19
On Sept. 28, the day Trump’s order was implemented, a Fox News broadcast played a clip of Kotek saying that Guard troops were not needed in Portland, then immediately cut to a clip of a hectic scene of protesters clashing with police.
“Wish she could see some of those images,” the anchor said. Sarcastically, as a co-anchor chuckled, she added: “Look at that. Just a peaceful protest.”
A small box on the screen showed the footage wasn’t from Oregon.
It was from Illinois.

On Sept. 28, the day Trump’s order was implemented, a Fox News broadcast played a clip of Kotek saying that Guard troops were not needed in Portland, then immediately cut to a clip of a hectic scene of protesters clashing with police. “Wish she could see some of those images,” the anchor said. Sarcastically, as a co-anchor chuckled, she added: “Look at that. Just a peaceful protest.” A small box on the screen showed the footage wasn’t from Oregon. It was from Illinois.

Amazing kicker on @robwdavis.bsky.social’s story about Fox News’ misleading coverage of Portland before Trump sent in troops.
www.propublica.org/article/port...

5 months ago 354 81 9 6
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Toxic wastewater from oil fields keeps pouring out of the ground. Oklahoma regulators failed to stop it. Salt water laced with cancer-causing chemicals, a byproduct of oil and gas drilling, is spewing from old wells. Experts warn of a pollution crisis spreading underground and threatening Oklahoma’s drin...

Every oil state disposes of toxic wastewater underground. But in Oklahoma, it hasn't been staying there, creating large, ongoing pollution events known as "purges."

An investigation a year in the making for @readfrontier.bsky.social and @propublica.org

www.readfrontier.org/stories/toxi...

5 months ago 16 14 1 1
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This County Was the “Model” for Local Police Carrying Out Immigration Raids. It Ended in Civil Rights Violations. Under Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County was one of the first testing grounds for ICE’s 287(g) program, which lets local police enforce immigration laws. Many Arizonans say those abuses parallel what...

More than a decade ago Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies carried out immigration raids. Now hundreds of departments are partnering with ICE. AZ Latinos see Arpaio as the beginning of what playing out nationally. “They did the experiment, and basically now they’re implementing it at the national level.”

6 months ago 167 59 6 1
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This County Was the “Model” for Local Police Carrying Out Immigration Raids. It Ended in Civil Rights Violations. Under Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County was one of the first testing grounds for ICE’s 287(g) program, which lets local police enforce immigration laws. Many Arizonans say those abuses parallel what...

More than a decade ago Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies carried out immigration raids. Now hundreds of departments are partnering with ICE. AZ Latinos see Arpaio as the beginning of what playing out nationally. “They did the experiment, and basically now they’re implementing it at the national level.”

6 months ago 167 59 6 1
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I have always loved @propublica.org's mission statement. It speaks to method as much as mission, and does not shrink from describling their journalism as a moral undertaking. www.propublica.org/about/

6 months ago 868 200 10 1

Said it a thousand times, but the fact that the general public does not understand the difference between an opinion writer and a reporter is a real fucking problem.

6 months ago 230 39 11 2
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Elon Musk’s Boring Co. Accused of Nearly 800 Environmental Violations on Las Vegas Project Nevada could’ve fined the company more than $3 million, but regulators are seeking a reduced penalty of $242,800, citing an “extraordinary number of violations.”

Our latest on Boring Co.’s alleged flouting of environmental regulations as it builds a tunnel-transportation system beneath Las Vegas. www.propublica.org/article/elon...

6 months ago 24 18 0 3

There are 600,000 of you who now follow us on Bluesky 🦋

As journalists ourselves, we understand that regularly reading stories about broken systems can take a toll, and we never take the community here for granted.

Thank you to all of you who care deeply about the work we do.

7 months ago 5246 713 105 17
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The Untold Saga of What Happened When DOGE Stormed Social Security DOGE has ignored urgently needed reforms and upgrades at the Social Security Administration, according to dozens of insiders and 15 hours of candid interviews with the former acting chief of the agenc...

NEW: Ignoring urgently needed reforms in favor of fruitlessly trying to find evidence of fraud, DOGE descended on the Social Security Administration “thinking it should work like a McDonald’s,” the agency’s former acting chief reveals to ProPublica.

7 months ago 989 437 15 31

Department of Gore

7 months ago 7 0 1 0
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Trump Says America’s Oil Industry Is Cleaner Than Other Countries’. New Data Shows Massive Emissions From Texas Wells. The oil industry touts Texas as a success story in controlling climate-warming methane emissions. The state’s regulator, however, grants nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere.

NEW: The oil industry touts Texas as a success story in controlling climate-warming methane emissions.

The state’s regulator, however, grants nearly every request to burn or vent gas into the atmosphere.

7 months ago 394 176 19 12

At my local paper/website the second sentence is always: What to know.

8 months ago 3 0 0 0
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I'm going to publish the entirety of an exchange I just had with the press office of the DOJ. I want you to see how they are talking about truth.

8 months ago 4122 1675 161 258