In 2024 the former CEO of a defense contractor made a stunning confession to two FBI agents. He alleged that was the ringleader of a massive pay-to-play operation, bribing senators with campaign contributions in exchange for govt contracts. www.propublica.org/article/fbi-...

The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way

After the FBI caught a defense contractor’s CEO making illegal campaign contributions, it sought to launch a sweeping political bribery probe involving Collins and others. Then the second Trump admini...

propublica.org

NEW: Congress appropriated $1 trillion for defense this year, more than twice as much as the combined budget for agencies overseeing health, veterans affairs, education, housing, agriculture and justice. We’re setting out to report on how this public money is being spent.

The $1 Trillion Black Box

The U.S. military budget is vast and opaque. Projects touted as engineering marvels end up facing years of delays and ballooning costs. ProPublica has launched a series to report on the Pentagon’s spe...

propublica.org

Good morning to this beautiful #longchart showing DoD funding versus a bunch of other agencies. We're investigating the Pentagon's $1 trillion "black box" budget: www.propublica.org/article/mili...

ProPublica is undertaking a project examining U.S. military spending, budgeting and contracting. Help us report this story: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Do You Know About U.S. Military Spending? Help ProPublica Understand Where the Money Goes.

Many Pentagon projects face delays, budget increases and performance issues. The causes of these problems are often opaque to the taxpayers who foot the bill. Help point us to the most important stori...

propublica.org

“There’s no way that you can follow the money, because it keeps getting twisted like a Rubik’s Cube. ... None of it is set up to be transparent." www.propublica.org/article/mili...

The $1 Trillion Black Box

The U.S. military budget is vast and opaque. Projects touted as engineering marvels end up facing years of delays and ballooning costs. ProPublica has launched a series to report on the Pentagon’s spe...

propublica.org

You and I — all of us taxpayers — funded this $533 million artillery plant outside of Dallas. It hasn’t produced a single usable shell. Yet the defense contractor, General Dynamics, has never been held publicly accountable. Nor has it had to pay a penny back… 1/

NEW: Flaming robots. Haywire Turkish machines. An actual dumpster fire. General Dynamics received $533 million from the Army to produce artillery but hasn’t made a single usable shell. ProPublica got the inside story of what went wrong. It’s a wild ride: www.propublica.org/article/gene...

Fiasco in the Factory: Taxpayers Funded a $533 Million Artillery Plant That Made Nothing

General Dynamics opened a Texas factory to churn out artillery shells for Ukraine, but the machines kept breaking. Robot arms smashed into things. Hunks of metal crashed to the floor. There was even a...

propublica.org

In 2023, I reported on a network of people exploiting weak rules in New Jersey and Georgia to illegally sell temporary license plates through sham car dealerships. Yesterday, DOJ announced federal charges against eleven people involved in some of those dealerships: www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr...

NEW: The Trump administration is planning to use AI to write federal regulations despite the risk of hallucinations. “We don't even need a very good rule,” the Transportation Department’s top lawyer said of the plan, per meeting notes reviewed by ProPublica. “We want good enough.”🧵

NEW: After reporting by ProPublica revealed industry connections among Transportation Department regulators and showed how they are seeking to loosen oil and gas pipeline safety regulations, Sen. Maria Cantwell is demanding answers. By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Amid Trump’s Proposed Pipeline Safety Rollbacks, Senator Questions Regulators’ Industry Ties

After reporting by ProPublica revealed industry connections among Transportation Department regulators and showed how they are seeking to loosen oil and gas pipeline safety regulations, Sen. Maria Can...

propublica.org

NEW: Sean Duffy frequently calls safety his “top priority” as transportation secretary. But I spent months wading through regulatory notices and found something far different: that USDOT has been delaying, weakening and killing dozens of safety rules, many opposed by the transportation industry.🧵

New: four million people could be forced to leave public housing and other federally assisted housing under new plans from the Trump administration, according to experts who reviewed drafts of two unpublished rules obtained by @propublica.org.

New: the Trump administration is preparing to shut down seven major housing discrimination and segregation cases — including high-profile investigations in Chicago, Houston and Flint — despite findings in some that civil rights violations occurred. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump Administration Prepares to Drop Seven Major Housing Discrimination Cases

Federal housing officials spent years investigating cities from Chicago to Memphis to Corpus Christi for putting industrial plants and unwanted facilities in poor, nonwhite neighborhoods. Now, under T...

propublica.org

Investigations frozen. Charges withheld. Defendants emboldened not to cooperate. The Trump administration is mounting a major retreat in the government's fight against housing discrimination and segregation, according to ten federal officials. Story here: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

How the Trump Administration Is Weakening the Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws

Starting with cases involving sexual orientation and identity, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is hobbling enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. Said one HUD attorney: “People are reall...

propublica.org

NEW: Following reporting by ProPublica, three Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee have warned HUD against using crypto, which they said could be “dangerous, speculative, and harmful to working families.” By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Representatives Demand Housing Agency Halt Any Cryptocurrency Experiments

Following reporting by ProPublica, three Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee have warned HUD against using crypto, which they said could be “dangerous, speculative, and harmful to work...

propub.li

Federal investigators spent years on two major housing discrimination cases in Texas, finding what they believed were stark civil rights violations. Then the Trump Admin assumed office and quietly took steps that officials think will likely kill both cases. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Federal Investigators Were Preparing Two Texas Housing Discrimination Cases — Until Trump Took Over

The government spent years probing allegations that a Dallas HOA created rules to kick poor Black people out and that Texas discriminated against minority residents in Houston after Hurricane Harvey, ...

propublica.org

New: HUD officials recently discussed using the blockchain and maybe cryptocurrency at a division that oversees billions in grants for affordable housing, homeless shelters, disaster recovery etc. A staffer said it'd be like paying grantees in "monopoly money." www.propublica.org/article/hud-...

U.S. Housing Agency Considers Launching Crypto Experiment

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees billions in aid and insures more than a trillion dollars in mortgages, is pondering using the blockchain and a stablecoin. One HUD offic...

propublica.org

New: DOGE has gained access to a Department of Housing and Urban Development system containing confidential personal information about hundreds of thousands of alleged victims of housing discrimination. www.propublica.org/article/doge...

DOGE Gains Access to Confidential Records on Housing Discrimination, Medical Details — Even Domestic Violence

While some agencies have resisted efforts by Elon Musk’s team to access confidential records, HUD has opened the door. The potential harm to privacy could be significant.

propublica.org

The Housing Loophole That Lets Wealthy Investors Raise Rents on Poor Tenants www.propublica.org/article/affo...

The Housing Loophole That Lets Wealthy Investors Raise Rents on Poor Tenants

As the U.S. struggles with a housing shortage, investors continue to exploit a gap in an affordable housing law to raise rents on 115,000 apartments. Congress has repeatedly failed to act.

propublica.org

9/ @jessecoburn.bsky.social is concerned about how shifting HUD and DOT policies — such as restrictive zoning laws or highway expansions — will affect those who depend on affordable housing and public transit. Reach out to him if you work for or are impacted by these agencies.

“When Musk makes rockets, he himself does not need to read all the details about how a rocket would be made" a fascinating @nyc.streetsblog.org investigation www.streetsblogprojects.org/fly-electric...

THE MOPED KING: Meet the Ex-Delivery Worker who Upended NYC Streets

A Streetsblog investigation into a key player behind the city's wild, sometimes dangerous e-bike and moped boom.

streetsblogprojects.org

Behind New York City's e-bike and moped boom is a little-known ex-delivery worker who has quietly built a micromobility empire. I spent a year looking into him and the freewheeling industry through which he rose. My last story for @nyc.streetsblog.org www.streetsblogprojects.org/fly-electric...

THE MOPED KING: Meet the Ex-Delivery Worker who Upended NYC Streets

A Streetsblog investigation into a key player behind the city's wild, sometimes dangerous e-bike and moped boom.

streetsblogprojects.org

I’m going to be covering housing and transportation for @propublica.org, with a focus on federal policy changes under the new administration. Tips + story ideas welcome, especially from anyone who works for HUD or DOT — jesse.coburn@propublica.org www.propublica.org/article/seco...

What ProPublica’s Reporters Will Be Covering During Donald Trump’s Second Presidency — and How to Contact Them

From Trump’s relationships with billionaires to immigration, here are some of the issues and topics our reporters will be keeping an eye on as his second presidency begins.

propublica.org

THREAD: In 2023, I received an envelope with no return address. Inside was a flash drive containing tens of 1000s of secret files. It came from a vigilante with a tumultuous past, who'd conducted a years-long undercover operation. He didn’t tell the FBI or his family. He only told me.

Scott Turner voted to ensure landlords could refuse to rent to people on government assistance. He agreed with an interviewer that welfare is worse than slavery. He may soon lead the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. w/ @andykroll.bsky.social www.propublica.org/article/scot...

Trump’s Pick to Lead Federal Housing Agency Has Opposed Efforts to Aid the Poor

As HUD secretary, Scott Turner would oversee billions in housing aid, but as a Texas state legislator he voted against protections for poor tenants and has called government assistance “one of the mos...

propublica.org

Let me tell you a story – one of the more haunting I’ve seen in 20 years of journalism. It’s about greed, death and denial. It took two years to unravel one doctor’s myth, a hospital’s complicity in creating it, and a documented trail of suspicious deaths…🧵