The Paper Trail: August 13, 2024

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The Paper Trail

Top stories for August 13, 2024

Delays hit 40% of Biden’s major IRA manufacturing projects: $84 billion of initiatives announced in the first year of the Inflation Reduction Act and Chips Act have experienced delays. (Amanda Chu, Alexandra White, and Rhea Basarkar, Financial Times)

Whistleblower legal sector welcomes DOJ pilot program, but concerns remain: The DOJ recently launched its first cash-for-tips program to combat fraud and white-collar crime, but critics see potential flaws in the program’s funding source and anonymity protections. (Mengqi Sun, Wall Street Journal)

Insurance lobbyists block federal crackdown on costly retirement advice: The financial services industry is blocking new regulations requiring financial advisers to place clients’ needs above lucrative commissions. (Tony Romm, Washington Post)

The government spends millions to open grocery stores in food deserts. The real test is their survival: Despite the expansion of a USDA program to help open grocery stores in low-income neighborhoods, the agency hasn’t studied how long the groceries actually stay in business or why so many of them fail. (Molly Parker, ProPublica)

Hot summer threatens efficacy of mail-order medications: Doctors and pharmacists warn the scorching temperatures could be endangering the health of millions of Americans by overheating their mail-order medications. (Emily Baumgaertner, New York Times)

Elections officials battle a deluge of disinformation: County clerks and secretaries of state are overwhelmed, facing a "perpetual moving target" of conspiracy theories, harassment, threats, and political pressure. (Tiffany Hsu, New York Times)

Dobbs Aftermath

After Dobbs decision, more women are managing their own abortions: The most common methods women reported using for self-managed abortions were herbs, emergency contraception, alcohol, abortion pills mifepristone and misoprostol, and even hitting themselves in the stomach. (Lauren Dunn, NBC News)

Dozens of pregnant women, some bleeding or in labor, are turned away from ERs despite federal law: More than 100 pregnant women in medical distress who sought help from emergency rooms were turned away or negligently treated since 2022. (Amanda Seitz, Associated Press)

🔎 See Also: Women claim Texas hospitals denied them abortions for ectopic pregnancies (Frances Vinall, Washington Post)

IVF threats in Alabama drive clinics to ship out embryos: An emerging movement against in vitro fertilization is driving some doctors and patients in red states to move or destroy frozen embryos. (Azeen Ghorayshi and Sarah Kliff, New York Times)

Defense and Veterans Affairs

Pentagon launches website to track military housing issues after years of relaxed oversight: The new feedback system comes after years of complaints of rodent and pest infestations, exposure to lead paint and mold, and a GAO report that found a lack of management of military housing. (Caitlyn Burchett, Stars and Stripes)

VA launches new platform to help veterans identify and report scams: Scammers have increasingly targeted veterans and their beneficiaries, particularly after the PACT Act expanded benefits and health services for retired service members. (Edward Graham, Nextgov/FCW)

🔎 See Also: More than 1 million veterans receiving benefits via PACT Act ahead of anniversary(Jennifer Shutt, Government Executive)

Tech

Push alerts from TikTok include fake news, expired tsunami warning: TikTok has been sending inaccurate and misleading news-style alerts to its more than 1 billion users, intensifying fears about the spread of misinformation on the platform. (Stephanie Stacy, Ars Technica)

Social-media firms are lowering defenses to foreign disinformation campaigns, researchers warn: Meta announced it will no longer support the disinformation-spotting tool CrowdTangle. Experts warn the move, coupled with other decisions by social media companies to roll back data monitoring and safety teams, will make it much harder to fight lies spread by hostile powers. (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)

ICYMI

Project 2025:

→ Watch 14 hours of never-before-published videos from Project 2025’s Presidential Administration Academy

→ Inside Project 2025’s secret training videos

→ The fifteen categories of immigration cut off by Project 2025

Immigration and Border Security:

→ Immigrants are becoming U.S. citizens at fastest clip in years

→ Growing backlog in immigration courts could slow Trump’s mass deportations

→ Abbott orders Texas public hospitals to report health care costs for undocumented immigrants

Other News:

→ FBI probing alleged Iran hack attempts targeting Trump, Biden camps

→ Why fewer women (and men) are running for Congress this year

→ Half of retirees will run out of money. That’s the good news.

→ Childhood immunizations lag worldwide, data suggests

→ NYC has spent $82 million on police misconduct lawsuits this year, advocacy group says

→ Uber, facing sexual-assault litigation, pushes plan that may curb suits

Upcoming Events

📌 Zoom Webinar: U.S. Supreme Court: Judicial Ethics & Recusal Forum. Ohio Fair Courts Alliance and Common Cause Ohio. Thursday, August 15, 7:00 p.m. ET