13 February 23
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It’s not that Steve Bannon doesn’t have the money. But for some reason, he hasn’t been willing to pay his lawyers.
With massive legal bills still outstanding, Bannon is now scrambling to find new attorneys, as he faces a looming trial over the way he scammed the MAGA crowd with a dubious plan to build a privately funded U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Bannon’s refusal to fully pay his bills has stunned some of his close advisers who’ve stuck around for years.
“I don’t have any reason to believe he doesn’t have money,” one associate said.
After all, Bannon is a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, co-founded the right-wing news website Breitbart, made tens of millions off the iconic sitcom Seinfeld, and hangs out with Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui. In fact, he was relaxing, reading a book on Wengui’s yacht just off the coast of Westbrook, Connecticut when he was arrested by FBI special agents in August 2020.
Then again, Bannon is also a known grifter and liar with a long history of peddling disinformation.
According to sources, Bannon owes “significant” sums of money to attorneys M. Evan Corcoran of Baltimore and Robert Costello of New York City. They—along with David Schoen of Montgomery, Alabama—spent months battling the Department of Justice in 2021 and 2022, and they represented him at a trial in Washington, D.C., last summer when he was eventually convicted of contempt of Congress.
At one point late last summer, Bannon owed Costello alone more than $100,000, according to a source directly familiar with Bannon’s unpaid bills. And Bannon still owes Costello a ton of money, according to two other sources familiar with the situation.
Bannon did not respond to a request for comment over the weekend.
By contrast, Bannon’s miserly attitude toward Costello carries a particularly sharp sting for that lawyer; the former federal prosecutor has represented Bannon in different cases for years and even took some heat himself—ending up on the wrong side of the FBI.
When, in 2020, the feds charged Bannon with money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for secretly enriching himself with donations to a GoFundMe campaign called “We Build the Wall,” it was Costello who defended him against the DOJ. Later, Costello helped secure Bannon a pardon from former President Donald Trump, a rarely received “get out of jail free” card that upended the federal investigation. And when the prosecutors at the Southern District of New York wouldn’t just dismiss the case, Costello had to sink time into filing additional paperwork to make the case officially go away.
But Costello’s history with Bannon goes even further. The attorney stood by Bannon’s side when the right-wing blowhard flatly refused to testify or hand over documents to the House Jan. 6 Committee that would explain how he engaged in the so-called “Green Bay Sweep”—a plan to overturn the 2020 election and keep Trump in office. When the committee threatened to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress, it was Costello who ran interference and told the committee that his client simply wouldn’t comply absent a laundry list of demands.
Things took an odd turn in that case when, unbeknownst to Costello, federal prosecutors zeroed in on him by secretly seizing logs of his communications, as The Daily Beast revealed at the time. That controversial decision to seek his emails and phone logs potentially crossed an ethical line by expanding the scope of an investigation to include a suspect’s lawyer. Costello was put in an even more precarious position when he hopped on a call with prosecutors to try to convince them not to criminally charge Bannon—a standard legal defense procedure—only to have FBI special agents quietly listen in and consider it an official investigative interview without his knowledge.
Bannon was indicted in November 2021, and in the subsequent months Costello regularly traveled from his home on Long Island down to federal court in Washington, where he joined two others on the Bannon defense team. Corcoran and Schoen took charge at the July 2022 trial and presented before the jury, which ultimately convicted him. Bannon didn’t even testify, although it’s unclear if that was his call or his lawyers’ strategy.
Bannon’s legal team immediately appealed, and U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols made the generous decision to not imprison him while the case makes its way through the higher courts. At sentencing last November, the judge made a curious statement that undermines the entire case, saying that the appeal “raises a substantial question of law that is likely to result in a reversal or an order for a new trial,” heightening the importance of having Bannon’s lawyers doggedly fight through the appeal to the very end.
That situation—dangling such an obvious gift to the contemptuous media personality—makes it all the more confounding that Bannon hasn’t paid his lawyers fully for the work they’ve done.
“The tragedy here is the judge said he expects it to be reversed on appeal. Highly unusual,” one source said.
The legal team’s reluctance to pour any more time or effort into the fight is evident by the lack of activity on their part in the appellate case in the District of Columbia. Schoen appears to be proceeding alone with the appeal, which was filed on Nov. 12 but has yet to move forward.
Notably, his co-counsel Corcoran hasn’t been filing documents.
Bannon’s drama with his lawyers has spilled over to his latest legal troubles, now in New York City. As with many other Trump-related criminal matters, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has picked up where federal prosecutors left off and revived the “We Build the Wall” investigation as a local case with state-level charges. The not-quite-double-jeopardy case is making its way forward, but now without Schoen or the other New York lawyer on the case, John W. Mitchell.
Last month, Schoen and Mitchell surprised the local judge when they cited a total “communication breakdown” and said that they can’t keep working with him at all, seeking to withdraw from the case entirely. Justice Juan Merchan ordered them to stay put—essentially just to keep their names on paper—until Bannon can find new attorneys by mid-February. But a little over a week ago, the judge pushed back the deadline until the end of the month.
Corcoran and Costello declined to comment for this story. Late Sunday night, Schoen clarified that at least he had been paid in full for the work he’s done.
“I can tell you unequivocally that I have been paid and the withdrawal motion has nothing to do with that, nor is it a delay tactic,” he said.
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A woman searches through medical at a clinic in Colorado in 2009. Beginning this year, states will have to search their own records to determine who is eligible for Medicaid — a process that could result in millions losing coverage. (photo: John Moore/Getty Images)
The number of people without health insurance just hit a new low — but the expiration of a pandemic policy could erase those gains.
That’s thanks in part to the pandemic — or, more precisely, the slew of emergency provisions that the government enacted in response to the Covid crisis.
One policy was likely the single largest factor. Over the past three years, under an emergency pandemic measure, states have stopped double-checking if people who are enrolled in Medicaid are still eligible for its coverage. If you were enrolled in Medicaid in March 2020, or if you became eligible at any point during the pandemic, you have remained eligible the entire time no matter what, even if your income later went up.
But in April, that will end — states will be re-checking every Medicaid enrollee’s eligibility, an enormous administrative undertaking that will put health insurance coverage for millions of Americans at risk.
The Biden administration estimates upward of 15 million people — one-sixth of the roughly 90 million Americans currently receiving Medicaid benefits — could lose coverage, a finding that independent analysts pretty much agree with. Those are coverage losses tantamount to a major economic downturn: By comparison, from 2007 to 2009, amid the worst economic downturn of most Americans’ lifetimes, an estimated 9 million Americans lost their insurance.
Some will lose coverage because they are no longer eligible due to a change in income or circumstance, such as a child turning 18. States are supposed to direct these people toward other insurance options, such as the Affordable Care Act marketplaces.
But many of the people who end up losing their benefits — even most, according to some projections — could be people who are actually still eligible for Medicaid but slip between the cracks of the system. People who have recently moved are one particular concern, as are children and people with disabilities.
For people who watch health policy closely, the coming “redetermination” process is one of the biggest stories of the year, with major ramifications for Americans’ health.
A lot of people are going to lose coverage no matter what. That is inevitable. The emergency “continuous coverage” provision, which cost nearly $150 billion over the past three years, was never going to be indefinite. The US health system is not set up to provide that many people, some of whom are no longer eligible for the program, with indefinite health benefits, unless they are old enough to qualify for Medicare.
But the goal, according to people who advise and advocate for people on Medicaid in states across the country, should be to minimize the number of Americans who lose their Medicaid benefits even if they are still eligible for them, and to make sure that the people who no longer qualify for Medicaid get other coverage.
Don’t let too many people fall through the cracks. Otherwise, the coverage gains of the past few years could be quickly eroded.
“If people lose Medicaid, whether they’re ineligible or remain eligible for Medicaid, and they’re not connected with another form of insurance, that’s potentially devastating for individuals,” Emma Morris, a policy analyst at the Oklahoma Policy Institute, told me. “This is a really pivotal point.”
This year’s coverage losses could be particularly dramatic. But they’re also a symptom of a bigger, more persistent problem that predated the pandemic: People cycle on and off Medicaid coverage all the time, including for reasons as mundane as paperwork. It’s a problem that, historically, many states have shown little interest in solving, and one that is now reemerging with a vengeance.
The end of Medicaid emergency continuous coverage, explained
The task in front of public officials is enormous: check the eligibility of every single one of the 90 million people currently on Medicaid to confirm they still meet the criteria for their benefits. And if they don’t happen to reach someone because that person moved, or they think a notice from the state is junk mail? That person will find themselves out of luck — and out of Medicaid.
Preventing that worst-case scenario will depend on states getting the word out early and often and using all of the tools available to them to reach people. Whether they will actually do that is already creating some concern. Congress has given states up to 12 months to complete the redetermination process. But in Texas, where as many as 1 million people may lose coverage, state officials have said they want to finish it in eight months, for reasons that are not clear.
“That raises a concern of trying to do this fairly complex job in a shortened timeline and the risk that might lead to adverse redetermination outcomes for people that that still are entitled to being in Medicaid,” Jason Terk, a physician and chair of the Texas Public Health Coalition, said.
In an ideal scenario, many beneficiaries won’t have to do anything to affirm their Medicaid eligibility. States can check existing data sources to verify a person’s income. If they are still eligible, they will keep their benefits. If they are not, the state should let them know what their insurance options are. (We’ll come back to that.)
The problem is these automatic checks are something a lot of states were terrible at doing prior to the pandemic. Almost all states say they conduct what are known as ex parte renewals, meaning they use existing public data to verify people’s eligibility without the person having to do anything. Ex parte renewals were supposed to be mandatory under the Affordable Care Act. But, according to Jen Wagner at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, enforcement has been lax: A few states don’t do them at all, and 20 of them said they completed less than half of their renewals this way. Some states, including Texas, have decided not to adopt policies that make ex parte renewals easier, such as assuming people who are eligible for SNAP, or food stamps, are also eligible for Medicaid.
Now states’ ability to perform those tasks is crucial. Most states say their redetermination plans start with ex parte renewals, which will test the effectiveness of their databases and IT systems. And many Medicaid offices are beginning this process understaffed: One in five jobs posted at state Medicaid offices were unfilled, according to the National Association of Medicaid Directors. In some states, nearly half of the jobs, more than 40 percent, were unfilled.
“We’re seeing states struggling right now to keep up now, when you’re not doing renewals,” Wagner said.
The first way states are trying to minimize risk is by starting the process with certain groups of people who may be at less risk if they lose coverage, such as those who have never filed a claim while enrolled in Medicaid; for those recipients, the possibility of disrupting medical care seems lower. In states like Oklahoma, Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida, where I interviewed patient advocates and state Medicaid officials to get a better sense of states’ preparation, the plan was usually to save more vulnerable populations — older people, people with disabilities, and children — for the later phases.
For people whose eligibility cannot be confirmed via a public database, states will have to do it manually. That will mean sending out mail and other forms of communication to ask beneficiaries to send in information so their eligibility can be verified.
That can be a difficult task. People move, some frequently. They ignore mail. They may not know this is happening in the first place. Most states allow people to report eligibility details or change their contact info on their websites or over the phone, but not all do — and those services, such as a call center, have to be adequately staffed. Otherwise, problems can arise and people may give up rather than put up with a hassle.
In Florida and Texas, two states worth watching closely given their large size and right-leaning politics, Republican leaders have not appeared very engaged on the issue, even as doctors and activists in those states credit the state health agencies with taking it seriously.
“The political leadership is not particularly enamored with or concerned about necessarily enhancing Medicaid policy here in the state of Texas,” Terk said. “I would hope, and I would try to be optimistic, that the governor’s office would be more forceful in his messaging. ... It would be helpful if that were to happen. But I’m not sure that it’s reasonable to expect that.”
There are myriad ways administrative friction leads to people losing benefits when they shouldn’t. States have to be invested in preventing it. In states like Missouri and Oklahoma, top elected officials have been actively fighting against the implementation of Medicaid expansion, which made many low-income adults newly eligible for the program; now many of the people who became eligible through the expansion in the past few years will have their eligibility checked for the first time. Policy analysts worry some of those people could lose coverage simply because they aren’t familiar with the process.
Another way people could lose coverage in the coming months is if they are legitimately no longer eligible for Medicaid but fail to get enrolled in a different insurance plan.
States could make a big difference in preventing that, by directing people to the ACA marketplaces (where they may qualify for government assistance) and the navigators who receive federal funding to help people sort their marketplace options and sign up.
Medicaid offices across the country have been planning for this for months. But it’s not clear some states are doing everything they can on to make sure people who are no longer eligible are enrolled in a new health plan In Florida’s redetermination plan, for example, the actual mechanisms for directing people to their other coverage options are left vague and navigators are not mentioned at all.
“A lot of these plans sound excellent. The question is, what do they look like in implementation?” Alison Yager, executive director of Florida Health Justice, told me. “There are invariably going to be challenges. This is too huge for there not to be challenges.”
According to the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, nine states have not even posted their public plan for this Medicaid unwinding. A similar number have not shared any kind of communications toolkit, which could be useful to the advocates and providers who will be on the front lines of educating people about the situation. (Here is an example from the state of Texas.)
Some people may have no viable option for coverage at all, if they’ve had a change in circumstance that renders them ineligible (such as a child turning 18) but they live in a state that hasn’t expanded Medicaid under the ACA nor do they have a high enough income to qualify for subsidies to purchase private insurance.
Florida is one of those non-expansion states. One family there, who shared their story with Florida Health Justice, has three members who all need regular monitoring and check-ups because of complex medical conditions. They were supposed to lose their Medicaid coverage in 2020, when their son turned 18, but that was postponed through the continuous coverage provision. When that policy ends, they may become uninsured because Florida has not expanded Medicaid under the ACA.
It all adds up to a dramatic and sudden US health policy problem that has laid dormant for the past three years: churn.
The problem of Medicaid churn remains
It is an absurdity of the American health system, compared to those of other developed countries, that millions of vulnerable people could end up becoming uninsured in a matter of months. But even in normal times, because of how our health system is set up, people with low incomes shift frequently between different insurance coverage, going from Medicaid to ACA insurance subsidized by the federal government or not having any insurance at all.
It’s called “churn,” and it has long been recognized as a problem. In 2018, about 10 percent of Medicaid enrollees cycled on and off the program within a year.
Sometimes, people can simply have a few months where they pick up extra work hours, boosting their income to the point they are no longer eligible, and they lose coverage. (Eligibility checks vary across states in normal times.) The next month, their earnings may drop back down, making them eligible once again — but then they have to sign back up.
It adds to the workload for those understaffed Medicaid offices and it can disrupt health care for the patients too. People don’t fill prescriptions when they have to pay more money out of pocket. They skip doctor’s appointments and other vital services.
Now, after the three-year pause on redeterminations eliminated that problem, the end of the emergency coverage will bring it back.
States could be doing more to prevent Medicaid churn — but, at least so far, they’re not. The low rate of ex parte renewals that automatically confirm eligibility was one way the US was coming up short pre-pandemic.
States are also not taking advantage of other optional policies that the federal government has made available. A state can, for example, extend coverage for a woman who becomes eligible during pregnancy through their first year after her child is born. Only three states have actually done so, according to the Georgetown Center for Children and Families.
A year of continuous coverage for kids is more common, and states such as Oregon and Washington have even approved multi-year continuous eligibility for children. On the other hand, more than a dozen states have not adopted that policy either and a number of others have conditions that limit their effectiveness.
Congress has recently added some new requirements to address the problem for the longer term, including that all states provide children with 12 months of continuous coverage starting next year. That should help. But it won’t eliminate the problem entirely. It will come back again to how well states perform in checking and re-checking people’s eligibility, now and in the future, and whether they are being held accountable when they fall short.
There has been more sustained interest in the problem of Medicaid churn with the end of the emergency coverage provision approaching. But it remains to be seen how long it will last. A reversion to the pre-pandemic normal would put beneficiaries at a higher risk going forward of losing their coverage than they should. Research has routinely shown people have more access to health care, use more health care, and self-report better health when they are enrolled in Medicaid. That is what people are losing when they lose their benefits.
Churn is inevitable in the multi-payer structure that the US has set up to finance its health care. But we could be handling it better. The massive redetermination process will be an immense test, forcing states to re-check the eligibility of every single beneficiary. But even once it’s over, individual patients will still face the risk of losing coverage when they perhaps should not. The problems churn creates are not going away.
“Churn doesn’t have to be what it is. Unwinding doesn’t have to be a disaster,” Wagner told me.
The stakes for the rest of 2023 are enormous, and Medicaid agencies have not always performed well in the past in making sure everybody who is eligible for Medicaid gets on it. Now, health coverage for millions of Americans hinges on their being able to get it right.
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Signage advertising hiring for 16- and 17-year-olds is displayed on a cash register inside a store in Las Vegas, Nevada. (photo: Patrick T Fallon/AFP/Getty Images)
Changes lawmakers are seeking, such as expanding types of approved work, will potentially ‘put kids in dangerous situations’
The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers.
Child labor law violations have increased in the US, with a 37% increase in fiscal year 2022, including 688 children working in hazardous conditions, with the number likely much higher as the recorded violations stem from what was found during labor inspections.
The Department of Labor issued a press release in July 2022 noting child labor violations and investigations have increased since 2015.
Several high-profile investigations involving child labor have been exposed over the past year, including the use of child labor in Hyundai and Kia supply chains in Alabama, at JBS meatpacking plants in Nebraska and Minnesota, and at fast-food chains including McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts and Chipotle.
Amid these increases in child labor violations, legislative efforts have been introduced in several states to roll back child labor protections.
In Iowa, Republican legislators introduced a bill in January to expand the types of work 14- and 15-year-olds would be permitted to do as part of approved training programs, extend allowable work hours, and exempt employers from liability if these young workers are sickened, injured or killed on the job.
“It’s just crazy to me that we are re-litigating a lot of things that seem to have been settled 100, 120 or 140 years ago,” said Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa AFL-CIO, which is opposing the bill.
Wishman added: “All of these protections have been put in place for a reason. Child labor law is there to make sure that kids are working in age-appropriate work activities or occupations that are appropriate for their age. We think this is a rewrite of our child labor laws in Iowa that are going way, way, way too far and has the potential to put kids in dangerous situations.”
The bill would permit the director of Iowa workforce development or the Iowa department of education to grant exceptions from any provision that restricts the types of jobs 14- and 15-year-olds can do if the work is classified as part of a work-based learning program and also strips workers’ compensation rights for these workers.
The protections being sought for companies are of particular concern to labor activists.
“In the Iowa legislation, one of the provisions is to exempt employers from civil liability due to the company’s negligence. It is astounding that they would have the gall to knowingly acknowledge that more young people will be harmed, but focus on exempting businesses,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.
Goldstein-Gelb explained that throughout her career she has worked with families and co-workers of young workers who have died on the job, oftentimes in violation of child labor laws that industry groups have fought to repeal, such as in a case where a 16-year-old in Massachusetts was killed in 2000 while operating a golf cart on the job.
Young workers have much higher rates of non-fatal injuries on the job and the highest rates of injuries that require emergency department attention, Goldstein-Gelb noted. She argued that due to the vulnerability and inexperience of young workers, data on these workers is likely an undercount due to fears or barriers in being able to speak up and report dangerous situations or child labor law violations.
“I think there is this myth that you need to put young people in any possible job because there are openings. I think we are moving into a new age where we need to recognize that workers of all ages are seeking to earn a sustainable living and not put themselves in harm’s way,” added Goldstein-Gelb. “That’s why there are workers taking actions around the country and that needs to be supported rather than just saying we’re going to find people who have no alternative, the most vulnerable, and put them in jobs that are completely inappropriate.”
Other states are currently or have pushed similar legislation to roll back child labor protections.
In Ohio, legislators reintroduced a bipartisan bill this year to extend working hours for 14- and 15-year-olds with permission from a parent or legal guardian, and called on Congress to adopt the same rollbacks at the federal level.
Legislators in Minnesota introduced a bill in January 2023 to extend work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds.
Republicans in Wisconsin passed a bill that was vetoed by Governor Tony Evers in this month that would have expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds. The New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, signed a similar law in 2022 that expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds to work longer hours during summer months and on holidays and expanded allowable work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds.
At the federal level, Republican congressman Dave Joyce of Ohio drafted a bill in 2022 to expand working hours for 14- and 15-year-olds during periods when school is in session.
Advocates for legislative efforts to roll back child labor regulations have cited labor shortages, particularly in industries that rely on young workers, and have been strongly backed by the National Federation of Independent Business.
“We think these laws are really ill advised and just asking kids to have negative educational impacts,” said Reid Maki, director of child labor issues and coordinator at the Child Labor Coalition, who argued it took significant efforts to enact child labor laws over 100 years ago, when there were thousands of children working long hours in unsafe jobs such as factories and mines.
Maki added: “Now there are states that want to go back toward that direction to deal with labor shortages by using teens, even to the extent of placing them in dangerous work environments – [it] doesn’t make sense. It’s disregarding their welfare.”
He argued that child labor laws in the US need to be strengthened and updated, including closing existing loopholes that permit young workers, some as young as 12 years old, to work unlimited hours in many jobs in the agriculture industry with parental permission when school is not in session.
An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 minors work in the US agriculture industry annually, with 48% of all young worker fatalities between 2001 to 2015 occurring in the agriculture industry.
“In my office, we can’t bring in a 12-year-old to make copies, 12 is too young, but we will take that same 12-year-old and put them in a field. The actual law allows them to work unlimited hours as long as school is not in session,” added Maki. “There is basically no protection.”
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A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, after a controlled release of chemicals from a Norfolk Southern train Monday. The train had derailed on Feb. 3. (photo: Gene J. Puskar/AP)
More than a week after the derailment, Maura Todd is not convinced.
The headaches and nausea her family experienced at their house last weekend and the pungent odor that reminds her of a mixture of nail polish remover and burning tires told her otherwise, Todd said.
On Saturday, she was making plans to pack her bags and move away from East Palestine, Ohio, to Kentucky with her family and her three miniature Schnauzers — at least temporarily, Todd said.
“I’ve watched every news conference and I haven’t heard anything that makes me think that this is a data-driven decision,” Todd, 44, told The Washington Post. “We don’t feel like we have a whole lot of information.”
After the derailment, federal and local officials repeatedly told residents that the air quality was safe and that the water supply was untainted.
But more than a week after the Norfolk Southern train derailed — causing an explosion that sent flames into the air and a cloud of smoke across parts of the village, and leading authorities to release a toxic plume — residents told The Post that they had yet to see a full list of the chemicals that were aboard the train when it lost its course.
Without much information, residents and experts told The Post that they question whether it’s safe to return to their homes a week after contaminants flowed into local streams and spewed into the air. In some waterways, dead fish had been spotted, a state official confirmed at a news briefing, and residents returning to homes in a neighboring Pennsylvania town were advised by state officials to open their windows, turn on fans and wipe down all surfaces with diluted bleach.
“The biggest question remaining is what, if anything, is still being released from the site, first and foremost,” said Peter DeCarlo, an environmental health professor at Johns Hopkins University. “If there are still residual chemical emissions, then that still presents a danger for people in the area.”
It was 9 p.m. on Feb. 3 when 50 cars of a 141-car Norfolk Southern train derailed, igniting a large blaze near the hazardous chemicals that kept firefighters away for days. The derailment, which caused no injuries, probably was caused by mechanical issues on one of the rail car axles, the National Transportation Safety Board has said.
The incident caused further alarm nearly 48 hours after the crash, when changing conditions in a rail car caused authorities to warn of a possible “major explosion.” Officials on Monday conducted a “controlled release” of vinyl chloride to prevent a blast, and on Wednesday they allowed residents to return.
Some nights, resident Eric Whitining told The Post, the air smells like an “over-chlorinated swimming pool” and his eyes burn. He returned to his house the day authorities lifted the evacuation order. He can’t move his family of five out of their home, so he says he has no choice but to stay put and follow authorities’ instructions.
“For a small town, we have to trust them, because what else do we have to do?” Whitining said. “We have to trust that they are not lying to us.”
More than 1,000 people — residents, business owners and anyone who may have been harmed by exposure — have been affected, estimated one of four lawsuits that Ohio and Pennsylvania residents have filed against Norfolk Southern.
That lawsuit, filed Wednesday by East Palestine residents Ray and Judith Hall, alleges that negligence by Norfolk Southern led to the derailment. Their lawsuit, which seeks money, medical monitoring and more, alleges that residents were exposed to toxic substances and fumes, incurred costs due to the evacuation, and suffered “severe emotional distress” and anxiety.
Norfolk Southern spokesman Michael L. Pucci said the railroad was unable to comment on litigation.
Norfolk Southern set up a “family assistance center” and is reimbursing residents who’ve fled their homes, though Pucci declined to say how many people that has included or how long the help will continue.
The Environmental Protection Agency has said the main chemicals involved were vinyl chloride, its byproducts phosgene and hydrogen chloride, butyl acrylate, and others. But neither the EPA nor the NTSB has published a complete list of what the train was carrying.
Asked whether Norfolk Southern would release the list, Pucci referred The Post to the NTSB, which is investigating the derailment.
An NTSB spokesperson said the list would be part of the agency’s docket on the derailment, which is usually published months after an incident. EPA spokesperson Rachel Bassler said the agency had listed the chemicals that “represented the most acute impacts to the community.”
Some experts said that the EPA’s air monitoring should have been done with more sophisticated devices and that it was unclear whether the agency had enough data when it told residents the air was safe.
“In any of these situations, EPA is going to monitor with what tools they have available to them, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the best way to monitor,” said DeCarlo, the Johns Hopkins professor. “The handheld monitors that were being used are convenient to use, but they often do not have the necessary sensitivity or the chemical specificity to really assess whether there’s a risk.”
Judith Enck, a former EPA regional administrator, agreed. She said it was “unconscionable” that the EPA hadn’t publicly listed all the chemicals that were in the trains. The agency, she said, should launch a website that shows test results “in a way that is easy for the public to understand.”
“At a bare minimum, people should know what was on every train car,” Enck said. “This is a moment where you need maximum transparency.”
The EPA gave its air-monitoring data to health agencies before allowing residents to come back, said Bassler, the agency’s spokesperson. Since the fire was put out, air monitoring has not detected concerning levels of hazardous chemicals, she said.
Nearly 450 homeowners have signed up to have the air in their homes screened, an option Norfolk Southern offered and the EPA is helping with. As of Friday night, 105 homes had been screened and no vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride was detected in any of them, Bassler said.
Though vinyl chloride is a carcinogen, its worst effects have generally been documented after long-term or high-volume exposure, according to federal reports.
“Short-term exposure to low levels of substances associated with the derailment does not present a long-term health risk to residents,” Norfolk Southern said in an FAQ sheet for residents.
The question is whether enough contaminants were released to cause longer-term effects.
Nate Velez, 31, whose house and business sit near the train tracks, said his family isn’t planning on returning to their home. The house still smells of chemicals, and Velez said his wife, a nurse, “isn’t taking any chances” with the amount of toxic chemicals that were dispersed.
“The amount of … chemicals that were spilled and burned don’t simply just go away,” he said. “I don’t believe there is any way to know the full effect until enough time passes. And that just isn’t worth the risk.”
Todd and her family drove from East Palestine to Lexington, Ky., on Feb. 5 to shelter with family until authorities deemed the town safe enough for residents to return.
But when that happened, Todd said she would go check it out before considering moving back to the town.
So on Sunday, Todd and her husband, who spent the night at a hotel in Salem, Ohio, after returning from Kentucky, drove to her home in East Palestine, masks on their faces, to make an assessment. Her son and her three dogs stayed in Lexington, Todd said.
“We are counting on our senses because [officials] are not telling us much,” Todd told The Post.
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Rep Maxwell Frost. (photo: AP)
Rep Maxwell Frost is on a mission to use some of his “crazy ideas” to affect nationwide change. Audra Heinrichs followed him as he embarked on his first State of the Union as a sitting member of Congress
The 26-year-old freshman congressman from Orlando is certainly basking in the kind of glow one would expect from being “the new AOC.” And given he’s also the youngest lawmaker on The Hill, loneliness is inevitable. But on the day I followed Mr Frost, there was a longtime ally at his side: artist and activist Manuel Oliver.
In a matter of hours, President Biden will deliver the State of the Union address. Mr Frost’s office is a furor of preparation. There are interviews to give, meetings to take, and a schedule to keep, but Mr Oliver – Frost’s guest for the event – sits unperturbed on a couch. He rests his palm against another piece of art; a mural that nearly spans the length of an entire wall. Oliver knows it well, and not because it’s already made an appearance in innumerable profiles of Frost. He created it in memory of his son, Joaquin, who at just 17-years-old, was killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Spray-painted on the sheet are two portraits, one of Joaquin and the other of Mr Frost. They’re flanked by a warning: “It’s time to save some lives, so get on board or get out of our way.”
A cynical person might say that sentiment seems impossible. During his speech later that night, President Biden would tout his passage of the Safer Communities Act as the most sweeping gun safety law in three decades. Yet, less than two months into 2023, more than 60 mass shootings have occurred in the United States, according to the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive. The pain in communities like Parkland, Uvalde, Colorado Springs, and Monterey Park remains. And, somehow, Mr Frost is not a cynical person.
“Now, Joaquin is inside the building,” Oliver remarks, eyes trained on his son’s likeness. Mr Frost enthusiastically confirms, looking on.
I was introduced to Mr Frost , quite simply, as Max, a sort of wunderkind organizer back in 2020. We were members of Senator Bernie Sanders’ advance team, charged with coordinating events during his second campaign for president. Though we didn’t often cross paths given the breadth of the operation, I remember calm-in-chaos as being part of a Frost production. That much remains.
Following Mr Frost for back-to-back interviews in the Capitol rotunda, he appears at ease referring to the “uniquely American” issue of gun violence in all of its manifestations–from school shooting to police misconduct. He calls his Republican colleagues, “out of touch,” and “disgraceful.” At every opportunity, he introduces Mr Oliver, who hasn’t exactly been a stranger to these halls since losing his son.
“I made a promise to Manny that when I got elected he’d be my guest tonight,” Frost repeats, milling from camera setup to camera setup like one of the species of hummingbirds that call Florida home. If it’s a tedious process for Frost, it doesn’t seem like it. To The Independent’s Eric Garcia, he remarked that he’s trying to nab an aisle seat so he can slip away to the bathroom unnoticed during the State of the Union. Then, it’s off to a Science, Space and Technology committee meeting where I’m not permitted.
“I told Bill Nelson [a NASA administrator and former U.S. Senator] I want to go on a space shuttle,” he confides on the brisk walk there. Really? “No, really.” He’s late, but that doesn’t stop him from posing for a few photos and giving a quick comment to a local television station.
When he returns to his office, we discuss what he thinks of the State of the Union, a second term for President Biden, and his own ambitions. I’m distracted by more items of note strewn about his private office. Leaning against an aging armoire, rests a calendar of photos of his beloved grandmother eating and a print of a resplendent Stevie Wonder, one of his musical heroes. Hanging on the adjacent wall is a second landscape by The Highwaymen. This one depicts a bird amongst lush foliage. Again, it stands alone. Records–J. Cole, Logic, and the 1975–are scattered on a coffee table, while a turntable spins in the corner.
Typically, I’d wonder if these displays are for my benefit–if you’ve ever stepped foot in any lawmaker’s office on Capitol Hill, you know such flourishes are deftly-curated reflections of their humanity. But Mr Frost’s resume -- from festival production to political organizing -- reflects a demonstrable affinity for the ways in which art is inherently political dating back almost a decade.
He wants to reinvigorate the relationship between “cool and conscious,” he tells me. How so? A concert series on The Hill. Demystifying the disconnect between the political system and young people disenfranchised by it is a priority, and what better way to do so than invite them into government spaces for events they’d actually want to attend headlined by outspoken artists.
Hypothetically, I ask who he wants to be the first? “Phoebe Bridgers,” he said. If it sounds unlikely, a similar event is already in production for this October in Mr Frost’s district, though he doesn’t disclose further details. And besides, he’s already received onstage shout-outs from the likes of the 1975 and Paramore–two of his favorites.
Listening to Mr Frost, it’s tough to imagine someone like him as a participant in political traditions like the State of the Union. I’d imagine it might feel like sitting through something akin to a high school assembly or midweek meeting.
He begs to differ: “I think it’s a really good opportunity for people to hear directly from our country’s leader about his hopes and dreams, and what he believes the country’s hopes and dreams are as he’s setting out his agenda.”
“And it makes for some great drinking games,” he adds. In previous years, having a tipple in someone’s apartment to watch the speech is precisely what he did. Does he miss it?
“I’m sure there’s a small part of me that does, but I love what I do,” he insists. “I’ve always had a ton of crazy ideas, and now I’m in a position where I can actually do a lot of them.”
One of those “crazy ideas” is working with President Biden’s administration on banning assault weapons, a matter he said he hoped the president would address at-length that night. The following day, Mr Frost noted that President Biden’s comments on gun control were heartening, yet left much to be desired. Mr Oliver, too, was unsatisfied.
“We didn’t hear the specifics that we wanted for the plan,” he told me via phone call. “Manny told me afterwards, ‘That’s great, but like, I’ve heard that.’”
“I know the president cares about this issue, but we need action,” Mr Frost continued. “Now we have to push for action and the executive action that we want the president–and need–the president to take so we can save lives, because putting it to Congress is a futile effort for these next two years. I mean, you can just go to any House Oversight hearing and have that confirmed for yourself.”
It’s this reality that’s shown to leave many young voters disillusioned not only with Democrats, but the political system in its entirety. Mr Frost empathizes.
“As a progressive, there are policies that I want my president to try with executive action, and if it gets struck down, you try something else,” he says. “With every issue, whether it’s protecting bodily autonomy and abortion rights, or gun violence…you just keep trying. Part of the reason I wanted to bring Manny is that he’s not afraid to call out the president and the administration, and say, ‘there are things you can do right now to end gun violence and I want to see that done,’ and I say the same things that he does.’”
Mr Frost has spoken about his own experience with gun violence in the past — describing an incident in which he ran away from gunfire in downtown Orlando.
When the anniversary of his son’s death arrived last year, Mr Oliver was arrested after scaling a crane outside of the White House with a banner that read: “45K People Died On Your Watch!”
“It’s true, there’s many young folks who are disillusioned with the system, and I think the way we pull them along for the ride is by passing legislation that actually impacts your life,” Mr Frost continued. When asked whether he’d like to see a second term for President Biden: “I always say, that’s up to him.”
As it turns out, Mr Frost didn’t get his aisle seat, but as a series of selfies would show, he scored a place amongst whom he calls, “his friends.” Among them are fellow progressives like Reps Ilhan Omar, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and our former boss, Sen Sanders. Such allies are to be expected, Mr Frost says he has more in common with less-suspecting colleagues than he might’ve thought.
“I feel like when you’re on the outside and you’re looking in, you’re like, ‘they’re all corporate hacks’ and there’s a small group of really good people. Then you get in here and like…I’ve been so pleasantly surprised by how many of my colleagues are actually progressive in their values, but their goals are a little smaller than maybe my goals are,” he said.
Considering that Mr Frost faces tough territory in a Ron DeSantis-backed Florida, substantive goals are crucial. Right now, a measure that would allow people to carry guns sans state permits and gun-safety training is moving through the statehouse. More and more school districts and libraries are being forced to take “controversial” books out of their curriculum and off the shelves under the Stop Woke Act, legislation that bans in-school discussions about racism, oppression, LBGTQ+ issues and economic inequity. Institutions like the Orlando Philharmonic and the New College of Florida, too, have fallen to the predation of the governor’s culture-wars.
“I’ll be honest, there’s a void of a centralized movement against the fascism we’re seeing in Florida,” Mr Frost says, recalling his most recent stay in the state. “I got really deep in thought this past Saturday, and I just started calling everyone across the state, like, ‘what’s going on? what’s an effort I could join?’ And there wasn’t a lot, to be honest. People are pretty beat down, there’s no money…there’s just a ton of different things at play. So, something that my team and I are working on is trying to figure out how we can help fill that void and be a voice of leadership in the state.”
He continues: “We want to ring the alarm bell for the country because I feel like the problem is, most people think about Florida and they go, ‘it’s f**ked up, but it’s DeSantis. And because of that, it’s hard for any one thing to cut through. He’s in a position where he can make the battlefield, he can use executive action to do what he wants, and if it gets struck down as unconstitutional, he’ll try something else. And it’s really, really bad.”
Before he’s swept to another meeting, I ask a question I’ve yet to see him answer: Whether he’d donated the money he received from 30-year-old cryptocurrency billionaire and con artist, Sam Bankman-Fried during his campaign. He’d promised to do so on Twitter after Mr Bankman-Fried’s arrest, citing the Orlando-based Zebra Coalition, a network of organisations that provide a range of social services to LGTBTQ+ youth.
“Yeah, we did.”
The Zebra Coalition confirmed to The Independent that the donation was made.
While we await his return, I walk with Mr Oliver through the Longworth building. In the back pockets of his jeans, are bundles of what appears to be yellow handkerchiefs. They’re penalty flags he intends to hand out to lawmakers who voted “no” on the Safer Communities Act, he explains. Mr Oliver wants to give one to Rep George Santos, one of many Republicans who’ve been donning AR-15 pins on their lapels. As we approached the door to his office, a handful of downcast reporters camped in the hallway outside perked up.
Mr Oliver then got denied by an exasperated aid; the door shut in his face. He’s used to that. Miraculously, though, a few moments pass and the aid reappears to invite him to speak with Mr Santos himself. He’s ushered in, sans press.
A little over a minute later, Mr Oliver re-enters the hallway: “Well, that was weird.”
Mr Santos, he said, accepted the flag, and expressed apologies for the loss of his son. He did not, however, tell Mr Oliver he’d stop wearing the pin.
We make our way back to Mr Frost’s office where staffers are now determining dinner orders.
“Anyone ever had Buca di Beppo?” one aid asks aloud. After several minutes of discussion, they decide pasta is probably best for the long night ahead. Orders are taken, and Mr Oliver asks about the notes I’ve been taking.
I express my surprise at how someone like him–one of countless parents who’ve lost their children to gun violence and willingly subject themselves to spaces wherein they’re faced with the lawmakers buttressed by the NRA and, who many would argue, have their loved ones’ blood on their hands–can still do what he does.
“How do you not feel like a pawn?” I ask.
“I do,” he answers plainly. “I don’t trust them,” referring to most lawmakers–Republican, and Democrat. His feelings don’t matter though, he explains. He keeps going for his son and for others who’ve lost someone. Does he trust Mr Frost?
“100%,” Mr Oliver said.
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A man reacts next to rescuers in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake in Hatay, Turkey, February 11, 2023. (photo: Kemal Aslan/Reuters)
UN Rapporteur: Lift Sanctions on Syria to Help People Rebuild After War and Devastating Earthquakes
Democracy Now!
Excerpt: "Alena Douhan, a United Nations special rapporteur, is one of several U.N. experts calling for the lifting of economic and financial sanctions against Syria in order to aid recovery efforts following last week’s devastating earthquakes."
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Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, as we continue to look at the devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that have killed at least 36,000 people, but the estimates are expected to far surpass 50,000. The earthquakes left millions homeless, including many Syrian refugees who had already fled their homes due to 12 years of war in Syria.
We’re joined now by Alena Douhan, United Nations special rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights. In November, she urged nations to lift unilateral sanctions against Syria, saying they, quote, “severely harm human rights and prevent any efforts for early recovery, rebuilding and reconstruction.” Joining us now from Minsk, Belarus, where she’s a professor of international law at the Belarusian State University.
Welcome to Democracy Now!, Professor Douhan. If you can start off by talking about what you’re calling for?
ALENA DOUHAN: Good morning.
It’s a pleasure to be able to share, because, basically, I would refer not only to my end-of-mission statement but to the latest press release, which has just been released on Friday by 10 special rapporteurs calling to lift sanctions and provide for the free delivery of humanitarian assistance to Syria to provide human needs without any discrimination.
I call to lift unilateral sanctions because people of Syria are currently deprived of any possibility to rebuild their country, and their country needed reconstruction before the earthquake, because of the 12 years of military hostility. And naturally, the need for reconstruction of all sorts of critical infrastructure, starting from electricity, water and up to shelter, education, as well as other needs, is even more urgent now.
Secondly, I call for all sanctioning states on the first help to provide for the possibility to deliver humanitarian assistance to Syria in a free way. I need to say that I very positively know the U.S. steps, which was taken on the 8th of February, about issuing the General License number 23, but, unfortunately, I believe it’s not sufficient so far, because many private businesses, many banks are very scared to provide for the possibility of bank transfers, and therefore, people can’t get basic needs.
I have co-listened to the statement of the Norwegian Refugee Council, and I can say that I have been the eyewitness of all the elements she has mentioned and more. That’s why I am joining her call to all donors to help Syrian people with donations, but they need not only money. They need a long list of goods, starting from food, medicine, medical equipment, blankets, clothes, up to the recovery machinery, fuel, vehicles and many other elements. So, I am also calling to all the donors to help people on the ground, and I hope will call on sanctioning states to lift sanctions and to do all their best to make sure that no one overcomplies and people can get their life-saving goods.
AMY GOODMAN: This is United Nations humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths speaking along — at the border Bab al-Hawa border crossing between Turkey and northwest Syria.
MARTIN GRIFFITHS: We’re going to be doing an appeal for a three-month humanitarian phase for the earthquake response. We’re going to push it out in the next day or two. It’s going to require the kind of generosity from member states and individuals in the private sector that we have already seen in the international response to the earthquake in Türkiye and elsewhere.
AMY GOODMAN: Your response to what — your final comments on what you feel people aren’t understanding about this catastrophe?
ALENA DOUHAN: In the situation of the use of unilateral sanctions, people probably do not understand that Syria has already been much destroyed and people be in need. They already lived with 90% poverty and not much food and health insecurity. Now the need is even more urgent. We are speaking about hundreds and thousands, and even millions, of people’s lives to be at risk.
AMY GOODMAN: Alena Douhan, we want to thank you for being with us, United Nations special rapporteur on the negative impact of the unilateral coercive measures on the enjoyment of human rights, professor of international law at the Belarusian State University in Minsk.
Next up, it’s the 25th anniversary of V-Day, the 10th anniversary of One Billion Rising, and the release of V’s book, formally known as Eve Ensler. It’s called Reckoning. Stay with us.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: Taína Asili, singing the anthem for One Billion Rising, “We Are Rising.”
The only access to the destroyed Matlacha neighborhood of Fort Myers, Fla., on Sept. 30 after Hurricane Ian. (photo: AFP/Getty Images)
New data from the Census Bureau has surprised some experts who warn the situation could get worse: “These numbers are what one would expect to find in a developing country."
The overwhelming majority of these people were uprooted by hurricanes, followed by floods, then fires and tornados. Nearly 40% returned to their homes within a week. Nearly 16% have not returned home (and may never do so), and 12% were evacuated for more than six months.
The Census Bureau count is based on 68,504 responses it received as part of the Household Pulse Survey conducted Jan. 4-Jan. 16. The data collection is one of the few federal efforts to track displaced people, starting only in 2020. The bureau does note that the data is “experimental,” and is extrapolated based on its sample data.
“These numbers are very distressing,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, who was not involved in the data collection. “These numbers are what one would expect to find in a developing country. It’s appalling to see them in the United States. … They’re only going to get worse in the years to come because climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and more severe.”
Some states experienced far more of an impact than others. Florida had more than 888,000 people displaced. Louisiana had more than 368,000 displaced.
The U.S. was hit by a series of major disasters in 2022. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that 18 extreme weather events had each caused at least $1 billion in damage. Climate experts have warned for years to expect more intense weather disasters as global temperatures rise.
The Census Bureau estimate, almost 1.4% of the U.S. adult population, is higher than other estimates. Data from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, part of the humanitarian organization The Norwegian Refugee Council, previously estimated that disasters displaced an average of 800,000 U.S. residents a year from 2008 through 2021.
“The United States is not in the least prepared for this,” Garrard said. “Our settlement patterns have not reflected the emerging risks of climate change to the habitability of some parts of the country.”
The data showed that the more than half a million people who never returned home experienced multiple hardships, including lack of housing, food, water, sanitation and child care.
“These are all things that we take for granted in a modern society,” Gerrard added. “Its absence is deeply disruptive to physical and emotional health as well as to child development.”
The data also showed disparities between people of different economic status, race and identities. Those earning less than $25,000 a year had the highest evacuation rate of any economic group, and Black and Hispanic residents had slightly higher evacuation rates than white residents.
According to the data, adults who identify as LGBTQ were disproportionately affected — 4% of LGBTQIA+ adults had to leave their homes compared with 1.2% of straight, cisgender people.
“It’s important to note that a lot of these individuals that are LGBTQ are often also considered to be socially vulnerable, and really putting a strong intersectional lens to disaster response preparedness and recovery,” said Michael Méndez, a professor of environmental policy and planning at the University of California, Irvine.
“Much of the LGBT community that’s vulnerable, and most socially vulnerable to disasters, are those that are African American, transgender and low income,” he said. “Oftentimes, that’s why they’re rendered invisible in the context of disaster policy and planning and preparedness. People write them off as not needing to provide extra resources for this community.”
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