Freddy Brewster is a freelance reporter and has been published in the Los Angeles Times, NBC News, CalMatters, the Lost Coast Outpost, and other outlets across California.
Boeing is facing scrutiny from the Justice Department that could lead to criminal charges. But a department official involved in the case formerly consulted on behalf of the company — just one among many such officials with close corporate connections.
Since the 2023 East Palestine derailment disaster, the railroad industry has continued to lobby against federal safety regulations, even as new data suggests that recent increases in train length have made derailments more likely.
On the rise in the banking sector, “banking-as-a-service” companies operate outside purview of banking regulators. With lax oversight and heavy industry lobbying, these firms are misleading consumers about the safety of their savings.
A historic congestion pricing plan for New York City was slated to go into effect this month. NY governor Kathy Hochul suddenly blocked it this week — and has taken tens of thousand of dollars in campaign funding from auto groups opposed to the plan.
After receiving millions in campaign donations from the defense industry, members of the House committee overseeing Pentagon spending added provisions to an upcoming bill that would allow contractors more leeway in charging the Defense Department.
Airlines have made considerable money holding on to consumer refunds for canceled or delayed flights. New language including a refund guarantee in a must-pass Federal Aviation Administration funding bill could change that.
Taking cues from airline industry lobbyists, US lawmakers are keeping an aviation bill free from clauses that would require free water for flight passengers and set minimum dimensions for seats. Why do our representatives want airline travel to be torture?
Days after the Biden administration announced a rule mandating flight cancelation automatic refunds, four lawmakers overseeing aviation policy in Congress began pushing legislation to reverse it. All of them take substantial airline industry donations.
A Pentagon program sends military officers to work for top defense, tech, and finance corporations for one year. These fellows then report back to the Defense Department — helping place corporate interests at the very heart of US military strategy.
In 2023, Pfizer made more than $27 billion in revenue and paid zero federal income tax. Like many other large US companies, it took advantage of Donald Trump’s 2017 tax law, which widened existing loopholes and set off a tax-avoidance bonanza.
The company responsible for the Baltimore bridge collapse blocked its employees from reporting safety concerns to the US Coast Guard. It is now being sanctioned by federal regulators for violating a whistleblower protection law.
Use of the US’s unprecedented weapons supply to Ukraine has not been properly tracked by the Department of Defense — and the country has a history of alleged misuse, loss, or selling of munitions.
Funded by corporations seeking to suppress antitrust scrutiny, Democratic senator Jeanne Shaheen has put forth new legislation that would cut the budget of federal antitrust enforcers.
In the wake of last year’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, new legislation was proposed with the aim of making railways safer. But thanks to incessant lobbying from the Koch network and its web of conservative operatives, the bill has been all but killed.
A government report found that a year’s worth of records that could include war-crime allegations is missing from the US military’s Middle East operations command center — a period that coincides with an independent watchdog group’s claims of war crimes.
A new Pentagon policy bars the US Defense Department from working on films that cooperate with Chinese censorship demands. It’s a new front in the economic battle with China — and it ignores the Defense Department’s own influence over film content at home.
The Federal Aviation Administration has long allowed Boeing to conduct its own aircraft safety inspections. A new government investigation suggests that the self-inspection program could have played a role in multiple plane crashes.
In contracts ranging from credit cards to employment terms, arbitration agreements force consumers and workers to pursue corporate accountability via private arbitration rather than the court system. That arbitration process just got way more expensive.
Since 2020, airlines have filed more than 1,800 safety concerns over the Boeing 737 Max to federal regulators. Safety advocates assert that understaffed airline regulators have failed to acknowledge or address the problems.
Earlier this month, a gaping hole opened in the side of a Boeing airplane with hundreds of passengers on board. If Boeing had prioritized safety upgrades over lavish executive salaries and stock buybacks, this disaster might not have happened.