ProPublica
type: channel
description: Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
date: 2026-04-10T23:30:33Z
update period: hourly
update frequency: 1
update base: 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00
generator agent: https://wordpress.org/
items: Who’s Been Impersonating This ProPublica Reporter?
items: A Judge Worried a Proposed Settlement Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Victims. The DOJ Is Still Moving Forward.
items: Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Fix to School Threats Law After Kids Were Arrested for Jokes and Misunderstandings
items: “A Slap in the Face”: Trump’s DOJ Plans to Settle Predatory Lending Case Without Compensating Victims
items: They Needed Treatment for Drug Addiction. The Company They Turned to May Have Used Them to Commit Fraud.
items: For-Profit Hospital Chain Never Put Aside Money for Malpractice Insurance to Compensate Injured Patients
items: “The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation
items: “Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability
items: The Federal Government Is Rushing Toward AI. Our Reporting Offers Three Cautionary Tales.
items: RFK Jr. May Reverse a Peptide Ban He Calls “Illegal.” Former FDA Officials Say He Mischaracterized Their Work.

Who’s Been Impersonating This ProPublica Reporter?
type: item
creator: Robert Faturechi
date: 2026-04-11T09:00:00Z
description: The post Who’s Been Impersonating This ProPublica Reporter? appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: The call came from a number I didn’t recognize, with a Canadian area code. A steely voice on the other end of the line greeted me, identifying himself as an official with the Canadian military. He had a question: Had I been reaching out to him on WhatsApp, trying to work him for information? I paused. As an investigative reporter at ProPublica, I’m reaching out to a lot of people all the time. But as I racked my brain, I couldn’t think of any Canadians I had recently tried to develop as sources. It seems as though someone is impersonating you, the man warned. I was at a loss. What was Fake Me asking about? Were they just using my name or my picture too? How could I be sure the person warning me about this impostor wasn’t actually an impostor himself? The Canadian official assured me he’d send a message from his government email to confirm his identity, and he’d include screenshots of his conversation with Fake Me. I thanked him, and we exchanged some pleasantries. Before saying goodbye, I asked him if there was anything he’d like to get on the radar of an investigative reporter. (Without even realizing it, I was working him for information. Maybe Fake Me and Real Me aren’t so different.) The screenshots the Canadian sent over later showed someone with a Miami number using my ProPublica headshot as their profile pic. I’ve never lived in Florida. “This is Robert Faturechi from ProPublica,” Fake Me wrote. “I really need to get in touch with you.” The Canadian asked me not to publicly reveal too many details about his work, but it involves dealing with other countries, including Ukraine. I alerted our security team at ProPublica. They told me that there was little we could do aside from reporting the fake account to WhatsApp. We did, and I put the matter behind me — until two weeks later, when I got another warning. This time it was a Latvian businessman who said he runs an organization providing equipment to the Ukrainian military and is involved in a drone development…

A Judge Worried a Proposed Settlement Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Victims. The DOJ Is Still Moving Forward.
type: item
creator: Zach Despart
date: 2026-04-10T23:45:00Z
description: The post A Judge Worried a Proposed Settlement Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Victims. The DOJ Is Still Moving Forward. appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: The Justice Department said Friday that it would move forward on a proposed $68 million settlement with a Texas land developer it had accused of preying on Hispanic residents, despite a judge’s concerns that the agreement did not do enough to help victims. During a hearing, U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett questioned why the settlement had no compensation for those who were harmed and grilled a federal prosecutor over $20 million devoted to police and immigration enforcement. He said he was uncomfortable with the provision because the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Colony Ridge, which has massive subdivisions north of Houston, mentioned nothing about public safety or immigration. “I thought I was dealing with … folks who had been defrauded, with allegations of above-market interest rates, improper foreclosures,” Bennett said, holding up the original lawsuit in his right hand and the settlement in his left. “Now, all of the sudden, I’m being asked to OK increased law enforcement?” “Who in the settlement room said it would be a good idea to give $20 million to law enforcement?” Bennett asked early in the hearing. “Where did that come from?” The original idea came from the state, said Justice Department senior prosecutor Varda Hussain, referring to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton’s office filed a similar lawsuit that would also be resolved through the settlement. He did not respond to a request for comment. Hussain, a principal deputy chief at the Justice Department’s Washington headquarters, said that the federal government stood by the provision even though neither its lawsuit nor the state’s raised concerns about crime. Colony Ridge residents told federal investigators that they were worried about crime in the development after the lawsuit was filed, Hussain said. “I understand what it might look like to you, but I am telling you that this is a concern that friends of the court and residents will tell you exists,” Hussain said. The…

Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Fix to School Threats Law After Kids Were Arrested for Jokes and Misunderstandings
type: item
creator: Aliyya Swaby
date: 2026-04-10T16:00:00Z
description: The post Tennessee Lawmakers Pass Fix to School Threats Law After Kids Were Arrested for Jokes and Misunderstandings appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation this week to fix the state’s controversial threats of mass violence law, which had resulted in children being charged with felonies over jokes and misunderstandings. Gov. Bill Lee is expected to sign the bill, which will require that school officials only report student threats to police if a threat is “credible,” meaning reasonably expected to be carried out. Previously, a school administrator who failed to report any threat of mass violence could be charged with a misdemeanor. The change comes after pressure from advocates and an investigation by ProPublica and WPLN. Many of the children charged had disabilities and were students of color. One of the youngest children charged with a felony last year was 6. In one case ProPublica and WPLN investigated, an autistic teenager with an intellectual disability told his teacher that his backpack would blow up if anyone touched it. Police only found a stuffed bunny inside, but they arrested and charged him with making a threat of mass violence. That child’s mother is now suing the school district; the case is ongoing. Another family ProPublica and WPLN wrote about later won a $100,000 settlement against a Chattanooga public charter school; family members argued in a federal lawsuit that the school wrongly reported their 11-year-old autistic child to the police. Multiple parents also filed a lawsuit against Williamson County Schools, outside of Nashville, claiming their children were wrongly suspended and arrested after being accused of making threats of mass violence at school. The school board disputed the claims in court records and moved to dismiss the lawsuit. In an initial ruling, the judge said the families had a “plausible claim” and allowed the case to move forward. Sen. Ferrell Haile, who co-authored this year’s bill, said during a late March committee hearing that he hoped it would prevent students with disabilities from being needlessly arrested for statements “they have no…

“A Slap in the Face”: Trump’s DOJ Plans to Settle Predatory Lending Case Without Compensating Victims
type: item
creator: Zach Despart
date: 2026-04-09T17:00:00Z
description: The post “A Slap in the Face”: Trump’s DOJ Plans to Settle Predatory Lending Case Without Compensating Victims appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: In December 2023, the U.S. Justice Department sued a Texas land developer it accused of duping tens of thousands of Hispanic residents into predatory mortgages, a landmark case for the Biden administration. Colony Ridge, which sold plots in massive subdivisions north of Houston, had become a “one-stop shop for discriminatory lending,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. The developer targeted Hispanic applicants through false advertising and persuaded them to take out high-interest loans that many could not afford, then benefited when it foreclosed on their properties, the lawsuit alleged. “Our goal at the end of the day is to ensure that victims are compensated for their loss,” Clarke declared. Three years later, the Trump administration and Colony Ridge are on the verge of resolving the case. But the $68 million proposed settlement provides no money for victims of the alleged scheme. Instead, it sets aside $20 million for policing and immigration enforcement — a provision that may be used to target the very people who were victimized by the developer, according to former government officials who worked on such cases. “I’ve never seen a settlement like this, with a complete misalignment between what you’re settling and what the resolution is,” said Elena Babinecz, who led fair lending investigations at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for 12 years under the Obama, Trump and Biden administrations, before leaving in October. “It’s a slap in the face to the individuals that were harmed; that the Justice Department acknowledges were harmed,” said Babinecz, who was at the bureau when it joined the Justice Department in filing suit against Colony Ridge. “It’s a complete misjustice, and it’s not at all why these civil rights laws were passed.” <img decoding="async" js-autosizes height="973" width="752" src="https://www.propublica.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/ColonyRidge-Settlement_preview…

They Needed Treatment for Drug Addiction. The Company They Turned to May Have Used Them to Commit Fraud.
type: item
creator: Alex Acquisto
date: 2026-04-09T09:30:00Z
description: The post They Needed Treatment for Drug Addiction. The Company They Turned to May Have Used Them to Commit Fraud. appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: Renault Shirley remembers the first time he was asked to falsify billing reports for Kentucky’s largest drug rehab center. He had just returned from a church service in 2023 where the company’s founder and owner, a charismatic Christian from Eastern Kentucky, preached about the value of getting sober to hundreds of clients and staff at Addiction Recovery Care. Shirley, 58, who led recovery group discussions at ARC, said one of his supervisors told him to submit an invoice for the day’s canceled treatment sessions. With it, Shirley said, he was told to fabricate the details of a group discussion, including quotations from clients, as if they had attended a meeting. “It was fraud,” Shirley told the Lexington Herald-Leader and ProPublica, adding that he refused. But he said he saw others do it often when they gathered to enter their reports into the billing system. Shirley and ARC were part of a new economy, a boom fueled by misery and addiction and easy money from government officials desperate to curtail the opioid crisis that was devastating rural America. Kentucky’s payouts for drug treatment became so lucrative that companies bused in clients from other states to fill their treatment centers. ARC reigned above them all, providing more than two-thirds of all treatment beds in Kentucky at its peak in 2024. Between 2019 and 2024 ARC billed the state $1.7 billion, of which it was paid more than $377 million in state Medicaid money for addiction treatment services. During those years ARC won praise for its programs. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services lauded ARC as a model, and Newsweek named the company one of the best addiction treatment providers in the country. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called its founder “an essential partner in our fight against addiction.” But ARC’s growth was fueled in part by billing practices that federal prosecutors and former employees now allege may have amounted to fraud. FBI investigators were alerted to the case through a …

For-Profit Hospital Chain Never Put Aside Money for Malpractice Insurance to Compensate Injured Patients
type: item
creator: Peter Elkind
date: 2026-04-09T09:00:00Z
description: The post For-Profit Hospital Chain Never Put Aside Money for Malpractice Insurance to Compensate Injured Patients appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: The collapse of Prospect Medical, a for-profit hospital chain plundered by private equity and the company’s management, has generated a painful litany of woes. Amid a debt-fueled acquisition spree that saw the small California company grow to 17 hospitals in six states, Prospect was repeatedly cited for dangerous medical care, poor infection control and unsanitary facilities. The company stiffed state and local governments on more than $135 million in taxes and didn’t pay vendors for equipment, services and supplies. It shuttered four safety-net hospitals in a Philadelphia suburb that it had promised to keep open, laying off thousands. Now, more than a year after the company filed for bankruptcy in January 2025, a new layer of harm has emerged: Prospect had promised to provide malpractice coverage for its hospitals and many of its doctors, but court filings show it set aside no money to pay those costs — or to compensate injured patients. As a result, hundreds of people with pending malpractice cases against the company may never have a shot at meaningful redress. One of them is Pamela Dorn. The lawsuit she filed against Prospect in 2024 has stalled, and it’s now doubtful she’ll ever be able to hold the company accountable for the negligent care she says it provided her husband. Bob Dorn, 75, suffered from such severe dementia that he couldn’t chew and was on a liquid diet. But when he became aggressive in March 2022 and was taken to Prospect’s emergency room in Waterbury, Connecticut, the medical staff sedated him, then left him unattended with a meal of macaroni and cheese and broccoli, according to Dorn’s lawsuit and an interview with her. Hospital staff later found her husband choking and struggling to breathe. He was intubated and taken to the intensive care unit but never regained consciousness. His death certificate said he died from asphyxia due to food blocking his airway. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" js-autosizes height="702" width="527" src="https…

“The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation
type: item
creator: Nicole Santa Cruz
date: 2026-04-08T09:00:00Z
description: The post “The Alarm Bell”: Arizona’s Drop in SNAP Participation Signals Potential Nationwide Impact of Trump Legislation appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: More than 400,000 Arizonans have lost their SNAP benefits since July — the largest decline in the nation by a wide margin — as an underfunded state agency administered changes called for in President Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The drop represents nearly 47% of the state’s participants in the program better known as food stamps and includes about 180,000 children, according to the Arizona Department of Economic Security, which administers the program. On Wednesday, the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released data through February showing that the reduction in Arizona has far outstripped other states. After Arizona, the largest loss of participants was in Florida, where less than 16% of recipients lost benefits since July, according to the center’s analysis. Arizona officials attribute the plunging caseload to swift implementation of policy changes forced by the bill, including new work requirements. But interviews suggest that Arizona’s efforts to comply, combined with cuts to the agency that runs the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, have contributed to the decline — making it more difficult to apply and causing people who are eligible to be denied. The state’s drop has exceeded previous projections. “Arizona is just the alarm bell,” said Joseph Palomino, executive director of the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, a nonpartisan advocacy organization. “This is likely going to happen in every state.” The bill, which places a larger share of the program’s costs onto states, expanded work requirements for some recipients and eliminated work exemptions for others, such as people who are homeless or aging out of foster care. In addition, the bill mandates that states reduce their payment error rates — which measure the accuracy of eligibility and payment determinations — or face millions in penalties. Although some changes don’t fully take effect until the fall, experts say Arizona’s experience suggests people are…

“Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability
type: item
creator: Abrahm Lustgarten
date: 2026-04-07T09:00:00Z
description: The post “Economic Civil War”: States Push Laws to Shield Oil and Gas Companies From Accountability appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: Across the country, Republican-led state legislatures are passing a slate of laws that effectively shield oil and gas companies from legal claims that they are responsible for the destruction and mounting toll caused by climate change. Fifteen laws have either been passed or are currently being debated in 11 states. Together, they threaten to remove long-standing tools for the public to hold corporations accountable. A ProPublica investigation has found that most of these bills are part of a coordinated effort, orchestrated by a constellation of groups that share staff or have funding ties to the prominent conservative activist Leonard Leo, who is credited with placing conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. These groups have drafted state legislation, planned its dissemination and engaged a well-connected lobbying firm to get them signed into law. The effort is unfolding as courts are weighing more than 30 significant lawsuits by states, counties and municipalities accusing fossil fuel companies of misrepresenting the risks their products posed to consumers and seeking to recoup the costs of disasters and other climate impacts like wildfire losses or coastal flooding that their products helped cause. A goal of the legislation is to block these cases from going forward and prevent new ones from being filed. The strategy to establish state laws that will make it all but impossible to sue oil and gas companies was laid out in detail by a group of lobbyists and political operatives in December, during a panel presentation at the annual States and Nation Policy Summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council — the influential organization that brings together state lawmakers, corporate leaders and conservative activists to draft and promote legislation. During the session, one of the panelists, Will Hild, the executive director of a nonprofit called Consumers’ Research, described the climate cases as a liberal effort to use the judicial system to exact a ne…

The Federal Government Is Rushing Toward AI. Our Reporting Offers Three Cautionary Tales.
type: item
creator: Renee Dudley
date: 2026-04-06T09:00:00Z
description: The post The Federal Government Is Rushing Toward AI. Our Reporting Offers Three Cautionary Tales. appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: As a cybersecurity reporter at ProPublica, much of my work over the past two years has focused on how the federal government and its IT contractors, like Microsoft, have navigated major technological transitions. The one now in the news every day is artificial intelligence. This emerging technology has its grip on everyone: Home users, corporations and the federal government are all rushing to use it. President Donald Trump and his Cabinet say AI will transform the nation, making us more prosperous, efficient and secure — if only we can adopt it fast enough. But this messaging isn’t new. President Barack Obama’s administration used nearly identical language a decade and a half ago as the U.S. barreled into the technological revolution of cloud computing. I’ve studied how the federal government has handled — and mishandled — this transition over the past two decades, and my reporting offers some cautionary tales and valuable lessons as policymakers encourage the use of AI and federal agencies adopt the technology. Lesson 1: There’s no such thing as a free lunch Then: In the early 2020s, a series of cyberattacks linked to Russia, China and Iran left the federal government reeling. The Biden administration called on major tech companies to help the U.S. bolster its defenses. In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to give the government $150 million in technical services to help upgrade its digital security. It also offered a “free” security upgrade for government customers. Now: Last year, the Trump administration announced a raft of agreements with tech companies that were meant to help federal agencies “purchase enterprise AI tools at government-friendly pricing.” Agencies could use OpenAI’s ChatGPT for $1. Google’s Gemini for 47 cents. Grok by xAI for 42 cents. The administration hoped that the low-cost pricing would make it “easier for federal teams to acquire powerful AI capabilities … to enhance mission delivery and operational efficiency.” The takeaway…

RFK Jr. May Reverse a Peptide Ban He Calls “Illegal.” Former FDA Officials Say He Mischaracterized Their Work.
type: item
creator: Anjeanette Damon
date: 2026-04-03T09:00:00Z
description: The post RFK Jr. May Reverse a Peptide Ban He Calls “Illegal.” Former FDA Officials Say He Mischaracterized Their Work. appeared first on ProPublica.
encoded: Just under three years ago, the Food and Drug Administration deemed 19 peptide drugs too unsafe to be dispensed by compounding pharmacies, which mix components of approved drugs to create bespoke medication for people who have trouble taking commonly available products. Now, under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the agency is poised to reverse itself. That’s despite few clinical studies supporting the effectiveness or safety of these peptides, which are amino acid chains meant to help regulate functions in the body and have become popular among fitness and longevity enthusiasts. In February, Kennedy said the FDA acted illegally in 2023 when it categorized 19 peptides as too unsafe for compounders, whose final products aren’t tested or approved by the FDA. Kennedy, who described himself as a “big fan” of peptides, has used the therapies himself. “It was illegal because they’re not supposed to do that unless there’s a safety signal,” Kennedy said on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, referring to adverse events related to medications. “And they didn’t have a safety signal. They’re not allowed to look at efficacy. They’re not allowed to say, ‘Well, we don’t believe these are efficacious,’ or whatever. They can only look at safety.” But three former FDA officials closely familiar with how the agency created the criteria to assess the peptides in the first place say Kennedy has mischaracterized their work. The agency’s 2023 decision to ban certain peptides was supported by numerous documented safety concerns, they said. FDA regulations also require the agency to assess both safety and effectiveness before approving a substance for compounding. “It would be a disruption of the societal pact we have had since 1962 that drugs will be studied to see if they work before they are marketed in the U.S.,” said Janet Woodcock, a former FDA acting commissioner. If Kennedy justifies reversal of the previous work by suggesting there were no safety concerns…