Some of the best #MuckReads we read this week. Want to receive these by email? Sign up to get this briefing delivered to your inbox every weekend.
Drought be Dammed, ProPublica
Tear down the #GlenCanyon dam? How big stuctures and storage projects are making the #West's #water crisis worse: https://t.co/GruBjprJ7H
— Paige Blank (@PaigeBlank) May 20, 2016
Climate change. An epic drought. Neighboring states in the American West unwilling to act together for the common good amid an urgent water crisis. In such 21st Century circumstances, has the 20th Century promise of America's great dams run its course? Glen Canyon Dam was erected as a solution to the early water wars on the Colorado River, but now, as Lake Powell loses an extraordinary amount of water, some are wondering if it should be decommissioned.
When the oil boom went bust, Oklahoma protected drillers and squeezed schools, Reuters
Great #muckreads from @cohenluc & @jschney | When oil boom went bust, Oklahoma helped drillers and squeezed schools https://t.co/GPPwnsPsMt
— Cezary Podkul (@Cezary) May 17, 2016
Instead of maximizing and preserving state revenues when oil was booming, Oklahoma offered large tax breaks to drillers. Now that the boom has busted, the state is scrambling to find money elsewhere. This investigation asserts that while tax breaks "topped $1 billion between fiscal years 2012 and 2015," the state has now moved to cut its education budget by $58 million, and that might just be for starters.
The Hidden Workforce Expanding Tesla's Factory, The Mercury News
.@TeslaMotors fueled by cheap foreign workers & "apparent violation" of labor laws #muckreads by @HansenLouishttps://t.co/JnMnVTry10
— Will Evans (@willCIR) May 17, 2016
The United States issued 6.2 million business visas – known as B1/B2 visas – in fiscal year 2014. The visas are intended to allow foreigners to enter the country for leisure and "limited work purposes." But the system is being abused, this investigation claims, with the foreign workers being shortchanged. According to the Mercury News, at Tesla Motors in Fremont, Ca., at least one foreign worker earned the equivalent of $5 an hour for hands-on work, and several others work long hours for pay well below that of their American counterparts.
More than 100 lawsuits, disputes, tied to Trump and his companies, USA Today
See how @realdonaldtrump tries to not pay the taxes his companies owe. #MuckReadshttps://t.co/T8yNr7gaMS
— Ray Locker (@rlocker12) May 19, 2016
Since Donald Trump declared his candidacy for president in June 2015, at least five Trump companies have been issued warrants for late or unpaid taxes in New York State. Moreover, according to USA Today's analysis, Trump and his holdings have been involved in "battles over taxes almost every year from the late 1980's until as recently as March."
#MuckReads Local
Taxpayers pony up for counties' private lawyers, lohud.com
Public money, private lawyers: https://t.co/uXDVVrdywP via @lohud#legalreform cc: @NYPIRG@LegalReform@ProPublica
— Jorge Fitz-Gibbon (@jfitzgibbon) May 19, 2016
The college debt crisis is even worse than you think, Boston Globe
"I never had the space to be a student." Devastating @neilswidey dive on debt burden of 1st-gen kids @ some colleges https://t.co/enjoPVs3g4
— Eric Moskowitz (@GlobeMoskowitz) May 18, 2016
