Kevin Sack, Sheri Fink, Pam Belluck and Adam Nossiter; Photographs by Daniel Berehulak, How Ebola Roared Back. The New York Times, 29 December 2014. “For a fleeting moment last spring [2014], the epidemic sweeping West Africa might have been stopped. But the opportunity to control the virus, which has now caused more than 7,800 deaths, was lost.”
Archives for December 2014
December 8, 2014
The Echo Chamber: A small group of lawyers and its outsized influence at the U.S. Supreme Court
Joan Biskupic, Janet Roberts and John Shiffman, The Echo Chamber: A small group of lawyers and its outsized influence at the U.S. Supreme Court. Reuters Investigates, 8 December 2014. 3-Part series. Part 1, The Elites: “A cadre of well-connected attorneys has honed the art of getting the Supreme Court to take up cases–and business is capitalizing on their expertise.” Part 2, The Firms: “The corporate tilt of the court’s specialty bar leaves consumers and workers with a smaller pool of top attorneys.” Part 3, The Advocates: “The key role of arguing before the high court is concentrating in fewer and fewer hands. Many top orators once worked for justices–and some socialize with them, too.”
December 8, 2014
BOOM: North America’s Explosive Oil-by-Rail Problem
Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones, BOOM: North America’s Explosive Oil-by-Rail Problem. InsideClimate News and The Weather Channel, in partnership with the Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute, 8 December 2014. “U.S. regulators knew they had to act fast. A train hauling 2 million gallons of crude oil from North Dakota had exploded in the Canadian town of Lac-Megantic, killing 47 people. Now they had to assure Americans a similar disaster wouldn’t happen south of the border, where the U.S. oil boom is sending highly volatile crude oil every day over aging, often defective rails in vulnerable railcars.
On the surface, the response from Washington following the July 6, 2013 explosion seemed promising. Over the next several months, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued two emergency orders, two safety alerts and a safety advisory. It began drafting sweeping new oil train regulations to safeguard the sudden surge of oil being shipped on U.S. rails. The railroad industry heeded the call, too, agreeing to slow down trains, increase safety inspections and reroute oil trains away from populous areas.
But almost a year and a half later—and after three railcar explosions in the United States—those headline-grabbing measures have turned out to be less than they appeared.
December 7, 2014
Product of Mexico: Hardship on Mexico’s farms, a bounty for U.S. tables
Richard Marosi and Don Bartletti (Photography and Video), Product of Mexico. Los Angeles Times, 7-14 December 2014. Four-part series: “Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Marosi and photojournalist Don Bartletti traveled across nine Mexican states, observing conditions and interviewing workers at some of the mega-farms that have powered the country’s agricultural export boom.” Part 1, Harsh Harvest: Hardship on Mexico’s farms, a bounty for U.S. tables.A Times reporter and photographer find that thousands of laborers at Mexico’s mega-farms endure harsh conditions and exploitation while supplying produce for American consumers…. Farm exports to the U.S. from Mexico have tripled to $7.6 billion in the last decade, enriching agribusinesses, distributors and retailers. But for thousands of farm laborers south of the border, the boom is a story of exploitation and extreme hardship.” Part 2, No Way Out: Desperate workers on a Mexican mega-farm: ‘They treated us like slaves.’ “Scorpions and bedbugs. Constant hunger. No pay for months. Finally, a bold escape leads to a government raid, exposing deplorable conditions. But justice proves elusive…. A raid exposes brutal conditions at Bioparques, one of Mexico’s biggest tomato exporters, which was a Wal-Mart supplier. But the effort to hold the grower accountable is looking more like a tale of impunity.” Part 3, Company Stores: Company stores trap Mexican farmworkers in a cycle of debt. “The mom-and-pop monopolies sell to a captive clientele, post no prices and track purchases in dog-eared ledgers. At the end of the harvest, many workers head home owing money…. The company store is supposed to be a lifeline for migrant farm laborers. But inflated prices drive people deep into debt. Many go home penniless, obliged to work off their debts at the next harvest.” Part 4, Child Labor: Children harvest crops and sacrifice dreams in Mexico’s fields. “An estimated 100,000 Mexican children under 14 pick crops for pay. Alejandrina, 12, wanted to be a teacher. Instead, she became a nomadic laborer, following the pepper harvest from farm to farm…. [These] 100,000 children under 14 pick crops for pay at small- and mid-size farms across Mexico, where child labor is illegal. Some of the produce they harvest reaches American consumers, helping to power an export boom.”
December 6, 2014
Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General
Eric Lipton, Courting Favor: A Hidden Coalition: Energy Firms in Secretive Alliance With Attorneys General. The New York Times, 6 December 2014. “Attorneys general in at least a dozen states are working with energy companies and other corporate interests, which in turn are providing them with record amounts of money for their political campaigns, including at least $16 million this year…. The Times reported previously how individual attorneys general have shut down investigations, changed policies or agreed to more corporate-friendly settlement terms after intervention by lobbyists and lawyers, many of whom are also campaign benefactors. But the attorneys general are also working collectively. Democrats for more than a decade have teamed up with environmental groups such as the Sierra Club to use the court system to impose stricter regulation. But never before have attorneys general joined on this scale with corporate interests to challenge Washington and file lawsuits in federal court. Out of public view, corporate representatives and attorneys general are coordinating legal strategy and other efforts to fight federal regulations, according to a review of thousands of emails and court documents and dozens of interviews.”
“Courting Favor: Articles in this series examine the explosion in lobbying of state attorneys general by corporate interests and the millions in campaign donations they now provide.” Winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.
December 4, 2014
Operation Auroragold: How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide
Ryan Gallagher, Operation Auroragold: How the NSA Hacks Cellphone Networks Worldwide. The Intercept, 4 December 2014. “According to documents contained in the archive of material provided to The Intercept by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the NSA has spied on hundreds of companies and organizations internationally, including in countries closely allied to the United States, in an effort to find security weaknesses in cellphone technology that it can exploit for surveillance.”
December 1, 2014
The Great Paper Caper. Someone swiped Justice Frankfurter’s papers. What else has gone missing?
Jill Lepore, The Great Paper Caper. Someone swiped Justice Frankfurter’s papers. What else has gone missing? The New Yorker, 1 December 2014. “The papers of Supreme Court Justices are not public records; they’re private property. The decision whether to make these documents available is entirely at the discretion of the Justices and their heirs and executors. They can shred them; they can burn them; they can use them as placemats. Texts vanish; e-mails are deleted. The Court has no policies or guidelines for secretaries and clerks about what to keep and what to throw away. Some Justices have destroyed virtually their entire documentary trail; others have made a point of tossing their conference notes. “Operation Frustrate the Historians,” Hugo Black’s children called it, as the sky filled with ashes the day they made their bonfire.”