Author: Michael Biesecker
-
Trump signs order to speed infrastructure construction
FILE – In this May 7, 2014 file photo, Rene Lima-Marin sits for an interview with The Associated Press about the circumstances of his sentencing and incarceration, in a meeting room inside Kit Carson Correctional Center, a privately operated prison in Burlington, Colo. Lima-Marin was sent back to prison after being mistakenly released 90 years…
-
U.S. scientists contradict Trump’s climate claims
WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump touts new oil pipelines and pledges to revive the nation’s struggling coal mines, federal scientists are warning that burning fossil fuels is already driving a steep increase in the United States of heat waves, droughts and floods. It is the latest example of collisions between Trump’s environmental policies and…
-
Trump administration hollows out EPA science integrity board
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration will not reappoint half the expert members of a board that advises the Environmental Protection Agency on the integrity of its science. The decision is the latest in a series of moves that could benefit industries whose pollution is regulated by the agency. Board of Scientific Counselors Chairwoman Deborah Swackhamer…
-
AP Exclusive: Pesticide maker Dow Chemical tries to kill risk study
WASHINGTON — Dow Chemical is pushing a Trump administration open to scrapping regulations to ignore the findings of federal scientists who point to a family of widely used pesticides as harmful to about 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species. Lawyers representing Dow, whose CEO is a close adviser to Trump, and two other manufacturers of…
-
Trump administration orders EPA contract freeze and media blackout
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has instituted a media blackout at the Environmental Protection Agency and barred staff from awarding any new contracts or grants, part of a broader communications clampdown within the executive branch. The prohibitions came to light Tuesday as the agency moved to delay implementation of at least 30 environmental rules finalized…
-
FBI records: Effort to reduce Clinton email classification
WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior State Department official asked the FBI last year to help reduce the classification of an email from Hillary Clinton’s private server, according to FBI investigative files made public Monday. It was to be part of a bargain that would have allowed the FBI to deploy more agents in foreign countries,…
-
Colin Powell told Clinton he used private email at State
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Friday he once sent Hillary Clinton a memo touting his use of a personal email account for work-related messages after she took over as the nation’s top diplomat in 2009. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Powell said he emailed Clinton describing his use of a personal AOL account for…
-
Criminal investigation into Gold King Mine spill confirmed, probe ongoing
WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog says there is an ongoing criminal investigation into last year’s massive wastewater spill from an abandoned Colorado gold mine. The EPA’s Office of Inspector General sent letters to members of Congress saying it couldn’t answer some questions about its review of the Gold King Mine spill without…
-
Clinton faulted on emails by State Department audit
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton disregarded State Department cybersecurity guidelines by using a private email account and server, an internal audit found Wednesday. Her staff twice brushed aside specific concerns that she wasn’t following federal rules. The inspector general’s review also revealed that hacking attempts forced then-Secretary of State Clinton off email at one point in…
-
Experts: Clinton unlikely to face felony charges over emails
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton said “It’s not going to happen” when asked earlier this month whether she’d be indicted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state. Several former prosecutors and legal experts interviewed by The Associated Press agree with the Democratic presidential front-runner. The relatively few laws that govern the…