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For Immediate Release
December, 03 2018, 11:00pm EDT
Contact:
Margie Kelly, mkelly@nrdc.org, 541-222-9699
City Misleads Flint Residents: Thousands of Lead Pipes Likely Remain in Flint
Today's statements from Flint's Mayor Karen Weaver announcing that the City has excavated more than 18,000 service lines were an improper characterization of the legal settlement on lead service line replacements in Flint.
Flint, MI
Today's statements from Flint's Mayor Karen Weaver announcing that the City has excavated more than 18,000 service lines were an improper characterization of the legal settlement on lead service line replacements in Flint. That settlement requires the City to target excavations at homes most likely to have hazardous lead and steel pipes, but the City has not done so; more than 80% of the City's excavations this year were of homes with copper pipes.
To date, the City has replaced only 7,700 lead and steel service lines, leaving University of Michigan experts to conclude that thousands of hazardous pipes likely remain in the ground. Under the settlement, the City must seek out and remove Flint's lead and galvanized steel pipes by 2020.
Following are reactions from groups associated with the lawsuit governing the replacement of lead service lines in Flint:
"It's the number of lead pipes removed that matters, not the number of holes dug. The City needs to finish the job of finding and replacing the lead pipes in Flint, as our agreement demands that they do." says Pastor Allen C. Overton of Concerned Pastors for Social Action, a plaintiff in the Concerned Pastors case.
"The Mayor's press conference today was misleading and inaccurate. The City is well aware that it has not fulfilled its obligations under the Concerned Pastors settlement. We fought for an agreement that requires the City to get the lead pipes out, not just dig holes," said Dimple Chaudhary, senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
"Why should we congratulate the Mayor for digging up 18,000 holes, when she's not even trying to find the dangerous lead pipes? The City is wasting time and money by digging up thousands of copper pipes while many lead pipes go unexcavated," said Melissa Mays, plaintiff in the Concerned Pastors case.
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Dems Demand Probe of Companies Using Trump Tariffs as 'Excuse to Price Gouge'
"The new tariffs have created a cloud of uncertainty that gives companies cover to raise prices on all goods," the lawmakers wrote.
May 20, 2025
Dozens of congressional Democrats are urging the country's top antitrust enforcer to probe the extent to which big companies are taking advantage of Trump administration tariffs, or confusion around the tariffs, to boost prices, and to take action against any that are inappropriately raising prices in excess of cost increases, also known as price gouging.
In a letter sent last week, 36 Democrats asked Republican Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Andrew Ferguson to answer questions about his decision to effectively shut down an inquiry into so-called "surveillance pricing" practices—a move that, according to the outlet The Lever, has emboldened consultants who peddle surveillance pricing tools to advise companies on how to hike prices in response to tariffs, or even just the threat of tariffs.
Surveillance pricing refers to a practice when companies collect personal information like location or browsing history to set different prices for specific consumers for the same goods with the aim of generating more profit.
In January, the FTC released the initial findings of a surveillance pricing market study, and then opened up a public comment period for consumers and businesses around surveillance pricing. But the FTC under Ferguson, who replaced former Chair Lina Khan in January, shut down the comment period, which was supposed to run through mid-April.
"The message that is coming out of this administration… is that the watchdog is gone and companies feel emboldened to rip people off," a former FTC official told The Lever.
"President [Donald] Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs build an especially fertile environment for price gouging," the letter states. "The new tariffs have created a cloud of uncertainty that gives companies cover to raise prices on all goods, regardless of whether they are subject to new tariffs or whether their costs have meaningfully increased, above and beyond what is necessary to cover any cost increases."
Sens. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) led their colleagues on the letter. A statement from Gallego's office last week framed the letter as a demand to "prevent corporations from using Trump's reckless tariffs as an excuse to price gouge hardworking Americans."
The Trump administration has imposed 10% baseline tariffs and imposed higher duties on goods coming from China. Last week, the Trump administration and China agreed to lower the tariffs they had imposed on one another. China will now be subject to a 30% tariff, whereas before many goods coming to the U.S. from China previously had at least a 145% tariff. Negotiations with other countries are ongoing.
Citing The Lever's reporting, the Democratic lawmakers are urging Ferguson to use his authority under Section 6(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act to compel big companies to report their costs and retail and wholesale prices dating back to the day after Trump was elected in November, and also to report how much tariffs have increased their costs. The group is urging the FTC to use its power to investigate and prosecute companies who are engaging in "unfair or deceptive acts" regarding commerce.
The Democrats are also demanding answers, by May 30, to a number of questions around the end of the inquiry into surveillance pricing practices, such as why Ferguson chose to close the forum for public comments early, and whether he met with any of the businesses subject to the inquiry in advance of the termination of the public comment.
The Lever reported that some large companies who were subject to the inquiry gave money to Trump's inauguration fund.
Common Dreams as reached out to the FTC and Gallego's office for comment.
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"You arrested us!" graduates shouted at one point in acting president Claire Shipman's address.
May 20, 2025
Columbia University administrators seemed intent on proceeding with an undergraduate commencement ceremony Tuesday as though the Ivy League school hasn't been at the center of student-led anti-genocide protests and government efforts to crack down on free speech for more than a year—but graduating students ensured the school's treatment of student organizers was front-and-center.
As acting president Claire Shipman approached the podium to address students at Columbia College's graduation, she was immediately met with loud booing.
She addressed the response, saying she knows many students feel "some amount of frustration" with her and the administration—but many of the graduates appeared uninterested in hearing from the university leader less than two weeks after she authorized the New York Police Department to enter the campus and arrest dozens of student protesters for occupying the university library in solidarity with Palestinians.
The Trump administration announced shortly after the arrests that they were reviewing the visa status of the student protesters—their latest escalation against pro-Palestinian organizers at the school.
"You arrested us!" graduates shouted at one point in Shipman's address, as she congratulated the Class of 2025 for making it "through one of the most rigorous schools in the world."
Mahmoud Khalil, the 2024 graduate who helped lead negotiations with administrators last year regarding divestment from Israel's military operation in Gaza, was also top-of-mind for many students who started chanting, "Free Mahmoud!" early in Shipman's speech.
"The work of your generation will be to shape these interesting times," Shipman said as the chants rang out.
More than two months after immigration agents arrested Khalil outside his on-campus apartment, he remains in detention in a Louisiana Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility. University trustees allegedly gave Khalil's name to the Trump administration ahead of his detention and the Trump administration's revocation of his green card, and administrators did not provide him with protection earlier this year when he told them he feared being swept up in the White House's plans to crack down on free speech.
The Trump administration is pushing to deport Khalil, claiming the pro-Palestinian views he expressed at student protests are detrimental to U.S. foreign policy interests. Khalil was one of thousands of U.S. college students who took part in protests calling for schools to divest from companies that benefit from Israel's assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians in 19 months and has included a blockade on humanitarian aid, pushing the civilian population toward famine.
Since stepping in as acting president in March, Shipman has met with faculty that object to Columbia's capitulation to the Trump administration; mentioned the names of Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, another student who was marked for deportation but subsequently freed; and started a website for students who fear deportation.
But students' response on Tuesday suggested they've taken more notice of Shipman's summoning of the NYPD earlier this month and the school's agreement to the Trump administration's demands aimed at rooting out what the White House claims is "antisemitism"—including imposing a ban on masks, appointing an administrator to oversee Middle Eastern and Palestinian studies, and hiring dozens of "special officers" authorized to swiftly remove students from campus.
Students erupted in jeers and laughs when Shipman praised the Class of 2025 for being "curious, determined, and open-minded," and again chanted, "Free Mahmoud!" at another point in the speech.
A larger commencement ceremony is scheduled for Wednesday. Columbia University Apartheid Divest called on members of the school community to attend a protest action coinciding with the graduation.
"No commencement as usual under genocide," read a social media post announcing the protest.
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Trump Tells Republicans: 'Don't Fuck Around With Medicaid.' He Should Read Their Bill
"With a floor vote on the horizon, will House Republicans fuck around with Medicaid to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies?" asked one progressive campaigner. "Or will they finally listen?"
May 20, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly used a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday to instruct them not to "fuck around with Medicaid" as the party rushes ahead with legislation that proposes the largest Medicaid cuts in American history.
Trump's remarks indicate he's either unaware of the specifics of the "big, beautiful bill" that he has championed or doesn't mind the unprecedented Medicaid cuts that are currently in the text—but doesn't want them to go any further.
Republican hardliners are actively pushing to cut the key healthcare program even more aggressively, including by moving up the start date for work requirements and slashing federal payments to states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
"Don't fuck around with Medicaid," Trump said during the private meeting with House Republicans, Politico reported, citing two unnamed GOP lawmakers.
"Working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
In its current form, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates, the House GOP reconciliation bill would slash Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade and remove at least 10 million people from the program—likely with deadly consequences. (KFF, a health policy research group, provides a detailed summary of the bill's Medicaid provisions here.)
The legislation also includes nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the Unrig Our Economy coalition, said in response to Trump's private comments that "working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
"With a floor vote on the horizon, will House Republicans fuck around with Medicaid to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies?" Or will they finally listen?" Christian asked. "All eyes are on them this week."
Trump's meeting with House Republicans came hours before the chamber's GOP-controlled rules panel is set to convene for a dead-of-night hearing on the reconciliation package.
The 1 am ET meeting was scheduled shortly after Republicans on the House Budget Committee cut a deal to deepen the legislation's cuts to Medicaid and other programs.
According to a new CBO analysis, the House Republican measure would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by more than a third by 2034.
"This would rip food assistance away from millions of people, including households with children as young as 7 years old," said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress.
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