Amid Rise of RFK Jr., Officials Waver on Drinking Water Fluoridation — Even in the State Where It Started
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As federal agencies review their guidance on fluoridation and the nation’s top health official calls fluoride “industrial waste,” state and local governments are pulling back on the practice, upending a decadeslong public health success story.
https://www.propublica.org/article/fluoride-drinking-water-rfk-jr-michigan-cdc-hhs?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Health #RFKJr #PublicHealth #Michigan #Water #Government

ProPublica and Other News Organizations Fight to Unseal Texas AG Ken Paxton’s Divorce Records
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A group of eight state and national media organizations are arguing that the records are of public interest, especially in light of Paxton’s bid for a U.S. Senate seat.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-divorce-case-records-unseal?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Media #Journalism #Texas #KenPaxton #Government

We Investigated How Oil Companies Take Millions From Mineral Owners. Now, Some Lawmakers Push for Change.
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For years, North Dakota legislators rejected proposals to protect mineral owners from oil and gas companies withholding their earnings. “Something has to be done,” one lawmaker now says.
https://www.propublica.org/article/north-dakota-lawmakers-oil-gas-royalty-proposals?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#NorthDakota#Oil#Gas#Government#Law

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.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-doge-social-security-takeover-leland-dudek?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#DOGE#SocialSecurity#Trump#Government#USPolitics

NEW: Programs for #Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push
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Federal funding for organizations that help students with hearing and vision loss across eight states will stop at the end of the month, according to letters sent by a top #Education Dept. official and obtained by ProPublica.

#news #kids #trump #government#DEI

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-dei-students-education-deaf-blind-grant-funding?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-mastodon-post&utm_content=9-10

The working group was created as part of a towing reform law passed in response to a ProPublica and Connecticut Mirror investigation into towing practices in the state.

#news #law #government #newengland

https://www.propublica.org/article/connecticut-dmv-towing-law-reforms?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-mastodon-post&utm_content=9-09

Across #China, tens of thousands of people tagged as troublemakers…are trapped in a #digital cage, barred from leaving their province & sometimes even their homes by the world’s largest digital #surveillance apparatus. Most of this #technology came from companies in a country that has long claimed to support freedoms worldwide: the #UnitedStates.

#HumanRights#Uyghurs #police #government #dissent#PredictivePolicing#DigitalPoliceState#InternationalLaw #law #geopolitics
https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-silicon-valley-uyghurs-tech-xinjiang-8e000601dadb6aea230f18170ed54e88

Such systems mine a vast array of information — texts, calls, payments, flights, video, DNA swabs, mail deliveries, the internet, even water & power use — to unearth individuals deemed suspicious & predict their behavior. But they also allow Chinese #police to threaten friends & family & preemptively detain people for crimes they have not even committed.

#HumanRights#US #tech#China#Uyghurs #government #dissent#PredictivePolicing#DigitalPoliceState#InternationalLaw #law #geopolitics

Critically, American #surveillance #technologies allowed a brutal mass #detention campaign in the far west region of #Xinjiang — targeting, tracking & grading virtually the entire native #Uyghur population to forcibly assimilate & subdue them.

#US #tech companies did this by bringing “#PredictivePolicing” to #China — #technology that sucks in & analyzes data to prevent crime, protests, or terror attacks before they happen.

#HumanRights #government#DigitalPoliceState#InternationalLaw #law

Over the past quarter century, American #tech companies to a large degree designed & built #China’s #surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling #HumanRights abuses than previously known, an AP investigation found. They sold billions of dollars of technology to the Chinese #police, #government & surveillance companies, despite repeated warnings from the #US#Congress & in the media that such tools were being used to quash #dissent, persecute #religious sects & target #minorities.

Across #China, tens of thousands of people tagged as troublemakers…are trapped in a #digital cage, barred from leaving their province & sometimes even their homes by the world’s largest digital #surveillance apparatus. Most of this #technology came from companies in a country that has long claimed to support freedoms worldwide: the #UnitedStates.

#HumanRights#Uyghurs #police #government #dissent#PredictivePolicing#DigitalPoliceState#InternationalLaw #law #geopolitics
https://apnews.com/article/chinese-surveillance-silicon-valley-uyghurs-tech-xinjiang-8e000601dadb6aea230f18170ed54e88

When art gets censored by the government, you know the artist is onto something.

#streetart #graffiti #banksy #protest #government #uk#Censorship #MastoArt

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/banksy-new-mural-london-royal-courts-judge-beating-protester/

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.
https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-doge-social-security-takeover-leland-dudek?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News#DOGE#SocialSecurity#Trump#Government#USPolitics

Truth & Accountability Project

We’re just saying, they would probably be more likely to trust the scientific evidence.
#Healthcare #health#UnitedStates #government #america #politics #idiocracy

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1FSQ9ktWPA/

NEW: Trump has targeted political foes — including Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook — for claiming more than one primary residence on their loan papers.

But ProPublica found that at least three of the president’s Cabinet members have done the same thing.

#news #trump #FederalReserve#LisaCook#Government#Politics

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cabinet-mortgage-fraud?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-mastodon-post&utm_content=9-04

NEW: Trump has targeted political foes — including Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook — for claiming more than one primary residence on their loan papers.

But ProPublica found that at least three of the president’s Cabinet members have done the same thing.

#news #trump #FederalReserve#LisaCook#Government#Politics

https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-cabinet-mortgage-fraud?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=propublica-mastodon-post&utm_content=9-04

"JAL declined to comment on te #government #audit. Te #transport #ministry also declined.. tpt min in Dec issued a business improvement notice to #JAL after various in-flight incidents in 2024, incl'g a pilot’s excessive #consumption of #alcohol.. In 2018, Akasaka had his pay docked by 20% for 3mths aft a #pilot #drinking incident. "We r committed to work'g as a co to ensure te thorough implementation of measures to prevent recurrence” JAL said Wed"