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ICP has published a (double) book about
a variety of inner city-relevant topics, including racism,
environmental and otherwise - click here for
sample chapters, here for
an interactive map,
here
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delivery, and here for
other ordering
information. CBS
MarketWatch of April 23, 2004, says the
the novel has "some very funny moments," and that the
non-fiction mixes "global statistics and first-person
accounts." The Washington
Post
of March 15, 2004, calls Predatory Bender: America in
the Aughts "the first novel about predatory lending;" the
London
Times of April 15, 2004, "A Novel Approach," said it "has
a cast of colorful characters." See
also, "City
Lit: Roman a Klepto [Review of ‘Predatory Bender’]," by
Matt Pacenza, City Limits, Sept.-Oct. 2004. The Pittsburgh
City Paper says the 100-page afterword makes the
"indispensable point that predatory lending is now being
aggressively exported to the rest of the globe," and opines that
that the "novel Predatory Bender: A Story of Subprime
Finance may, in fact, be the first great American lending
malfeasance novel" including "low-level loan sharks,
class-action lawyers, corporate bigwigs, hired muscle, corrupt
politicians, Iraq War veterans, Wall Street analysts, reporters
and one watchdog with a Web site." And environmental
justice too! Click here
for that
review; for or with more information, contact us.
May
16, 2022
In
a study
published this
week by the
National
Oceanic and
Atmospheric
Administration
in the journal
"Science
Advances,"
scientists
said they
found that a
reduction in
particulate
air pollution
over the past
40 years led
to an increase
in tropical
cyclone
activity in
the Atlantic
Ocean
May
9, 2022
A
U.S. District
Court Judge in
Delaware has
sentenced the
owner and
operator of a
foreign-flag
tanker to pay
a $3 million
criminal fine
for
obstructing
justice and
concealing
deliberate
pollution from
the
vessel.
U.S. District
Court Judge
Richard G.
Andrews for
the District
of Delaware
sentenced
Liquimar
Tankers
Management
Services Inc.
and Evridiki
Navigation
Inc. after
they were
convicted at
trial on all
charges,
including
violating the
Act to Prevent
Pollution from
Ships,
falsifying
ships’
documents,
obstructing a
U.S. Coast
Guard
inspection and
making false
statements to
U.S. Coast
Guard
inspectors
May
2, 2022
A
new study
finds
thousands of
older oil and
gas wells that
contribute
just a
fraction of
the nation’s
energy are
responsible
for a large
portion of the
country’s
climate-warming
methane
pollution
April
25, 2022
See,
ESSENTIAL
UTILITIES,
INC. et al v.
SWISS RE GROUP
et al,
22-cv-01559,
Pennsylvania
Eastern Two
water
utilities says
Swiss Re
insurer
improperly
denied excess
insurance
coverage for
an underlying
suit accusing
one of the
utilities of
allowing lead
in...
April
18, 2022
Groups
have sued the
Environmental
Protection
Agency saying
it hasn’t
lived up to
its obligation
to force
states to
reduce air
pollution abd
hasn’t
enforced
Regional Haze
rules under
the Clean Air
Act. Those
rules require
states to
submit plans
to curb
harmful
emissions that
create haze.
But 34 states
including
Arizona,
California and
Nevada haven’t
yet done so,
despite a
deadline last
summer.
The coal-fired
Coronado and
Springerville
generating
stations in
eastern
Arizona are
among the
state’s
biggest
polluters and
emit harmful
sulfur dioxide
and nitrogen
oxides.
Environmentalists
say coal
plants are a
major source
of haze on
public lands.
April
11, 2022
Hooper Pleads To Carbon Credits Fraud and Wright to Cyprus Wires So June 16 Sentencings
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell Book
BBC - Guardian
UK - Honduras - ESPN
SDNY
Courtroom Exclusive, April 8 – Roger
Ralston, Christopher Wright and Steven Hooper
all faced a joint wire fraud conspiracy trial
on May 12, 2022.
On February 18, U.S. District Court for the
Southern District of New York Judge Jed S.
Rakoff held a lengthy in-person oral argument.
Inner City Press went and covered
it.
Among
the issues raised is whether the trials should
be severed. Hooper proffered to the US
Attorney's Office for some 18 hours and almost
got a cooperator's deal. Now, counsel for
Ralston argues, Hooper's information could
never be effectively "Bruton-ized" at
trial.
[See, Bruton
v. US, 391 U.S. 123 (1968)]
Hooper's counsel countered, why not a bench
trial for him, with stipulated facts? Judge
Rakoff said it would not be a problem for him,
but asked the government. Assistant US
Attorney Jessica K. Feinstein said they will
"take it under advisement."
On
March 15, severance was granted -- but not on
the Brutonization grounds, but due to a
serious health problem for Ralston due to a
recent accident.
Hooper and
Wright would be put on trial on April 25;
Ralston to follow on September 12.
On
April 5, a change of plea (to guilty) was set
for two of the defendants: "held on 4/5/2022
without transcription or recording. Melissa
Kelley of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP for
Defendant Wright and Shaelyn Gambino-Morrison
of ChaudhryLaw PLLC for Defendant Hooper were
present. A change of plea hearing concerning
both defendants is set for 4/8/22 at 3:00
p.m."
Inner City
Press went and covered the in-person guilty
pleas, the only media in the courtroom. Both
Wright and Hooper got sentencing ranges of 70
to 87 months, but 60 months is the cap. After
Wright pled (allocuting to Cyprus to Saint
Vincent wires) and left, it was said Hooper
had been offered a cooperator's deal, and that
the government at this sentencing on June 16
at noon will say he told the truth.
His
allocuation described fraudulent carbon
credit, a scheme he withdrew from on this own.
But
when Hooper's counsel asked that he be allowed
to travel back to the UK before sentencing,
the AUSA opposed it and Judge Rakoff agreed,
keeping the conditions of release including
GPS bracelet, the same.
The case
is US v. Ralston, et al., 19-cr-774
(Rakoff)
April
4, 2022
Despite
a noticeable
drop in air
pollution from
road transport
in 2020 due to
COVID-19
lockdown
measures,
breaches of
European air
quality
standards
remain a
common
occurrence
across the
European Union
(EU),
according to
the EEA
briefing
‘Europe’s air
quality status
2022.’
March
28, 2022
The
Environmental
Protection
Agency on
Friday
objected to
the state’s
proposed
operating
permit renewal
for the Suncor
oil refinery
in Commerce
City and
expressed
concerns about
how pollution
from the
facility
impacts its
low-income and
mostly
minority
neighbors.
The Colorado
Department of
Public Health
and
Environment,
which
submitted the
373-page
permit for
Suncor, has 90
days to
respond to the
EPA’s
objections and
then resubmit
March
21, 2022
more:
"The
scientists
spent two
years
analyzing 2010
census
demographics
(the most
recent data
available at
the time of
the study) and
air pollution
levels for 202
cities across
the United
States. Per a
statement,
they looked at
two
pollutants:
nitrogen
dioxide and
PM2.5, or tiny
airborne
particles
found in
smoke, dust
and other
substances.
The team then
compared this
data with
1930s maps
created by the
federally
backed Home
Owners' Loan
Corporation
(HOLC) in the
wake of the
Great
Depression.
The HOLC’s
surveyors
awarded an “A”
grade to
neighborhoods
they
considered the
most desirable
for mortgage
lending—in
other words,
areas
inhabited
mostly by
white
residents.
They gave a
“D” grade to
neighborhoods
deemed the
riskiest for
home loans,
denoting these
areas (made up
primarily by
residents of
color) by
shading them
red on maps"
March
14, 2022
.
Atlanta
neighborhoods
that were
subject to
racist housing
policies
decades ago
have higher
levels of air
pollution than
other
neighborhoods,
according to a
recent study
that looked at
the legacy of
redlining in
hundreds of
American
cities.
Experts say
the study,
published in
the journal
Environmental
Science &
Technology
Letters, shows
that decisions
made nearly 90
years ago
still affect
people’s lives
unequally.
In the
late-1930s,
the federal
government’s
Home Owners’
Loan
Corporation
graded
American
neighborhoods
for how risky
it considered
loans to be in
those areas.
Areas graded
“A” were
considered
safer
investments,
and the scale
went down to
“D” grades,
considered
“hazardous.”
Those “D”
neighborhoods
were shaded
red on maps.
March
7, 2022
Oregon:
Precision
Castparts
Corp. has
agreed to pay
$22.5 million
to settle a
class action
lawsuit over
air pollution
coming from
its metal
parts
manufacturing
facility in
Southeast
Portland
February
28, 2022
The
Supreme Court
will hear
arguments in a
group of cases
that could
have an
immediate
impact on the
American
government’s
ability to
respond to the
climate
emergency.
The
consequences
could be even
more
substantial,
however,
reaching deep
into the Biden
administration’s
authority to
govern.
The court will
be considering
the 2015 Clean
Power Plan
February
21, 2022
The
administration
is calling on
residents to
use a “beta
version” of
its Climate
and Economic
Justice
Screening Tool over
the next 60
days to upload
data that will
reveal
communities
with multiple
pollution
sources and
health threats
such as
tainted water,
poor air
quality, dirty
roadways and
nearby
Superfund
sites.
February
14, 2022
Several
conservation
and tribal
groups plan to
sue the
Environmental
Protection
Agency. They
say the EPA
hasn’t lived
up to its
obligation to
require states
to reduce air
pollution.
The groups say
the EPA hasn’t
enforced the
latest round
of regional
haze rules
under the
Clean Air Act.
It requires
states to
submit a draft
plan to reduce
air pollution.
But the
organizations
say 39 US
states didn’t
do so by last
summer’s
deadline
February
7, 2022
A
federal judge
has approved a
$65 million
settlement in
a class action
lawsuit with
three
companies over
chemical
contamination
of the water
supply in an
upstate New
York
village.
The ruling
Friday by U.S.
District
Senior Judge
Lawrence E.
Kahn sets off
a 30-day
period for an
appeal to be
filed
challenging
the
settlement.
Kahn had
previously
ruled the
settlement was
“fair,
reasonable and
adequate.”
Under the
settlement,
Saint-Gobain
Performance
Plastics,
Honeywell
International
and 3M will
compensate
plaintiffs who
are current or
former
residents of
Hoosick Falls,
northwest of
Albany, for
their exposure
to PFOA, a
chemical once
used in
certain
industrial
processes
January
31, 2022
Louisiana:
Denka
installed
fenceline
monitors to
identify
sources of
emissions at
its facility
in St. John
the Baptist
Parish
following an
EPA order.
Regan sent
them a letter
pressing them
to continue to
cooperate with
EPA efforts to
monitor and
lower
pollution in
the area.
January
22, 2022
Most
of the people
who
participated
in the San
Diego County
Air Pollution
Control
District’s
virtual public
meeting last
week approved
of its plans
to create an
after-hours
complaint
system for air
quality.
William
Jacques, chief
of compliance
for the
district, said
State Assembly
Bill 423
requires the
district to
evaluate and
propose
enhancements
to its current
process for
receiving and
responding to
air pollution
complaints.
January
17, 2022
A
second Permian
Basin company
is facing an
SEC lawsuit
for defrauding
its investors,
Earther
reports. Just
a week after
the Securities
and Exchange
Commission
sued Heartland
Group Ventures
LLC, a Permian
fracking
company, for
defrauding its
investors and
running a
Ponzi scheme,
it filed a
suit against
Marco “Sully”
Perez and his
“company” for
defrauding
more than 265
investors out
of more than
$9 million.
Perez
allegedly used
the Ponzi
scheme to fund
his
“extravagant
lifestyle,”
spending cash
on “luxury
cars, a
helicopter,
private jet
travel,
Bahamian real
estate, and
jewelry” along
with his
wedding on the
Queen
Mary.
Federal
regulators say
the company
crossed the
line when it
allegedly
generated less
than $500,000
in revenue
after raising
$122 million
from more than
700 investors
January
10, 2022
Iowa
is suing Sioux
City over what
it says was
the city’s
manipulation
of wastewater
testing
results and
dangerous
pollution of
the Missouri
River in a
scheme that
saw the
wastewater
plant’s former
supervisor
sentenced to
jail.
January
3, 2022
From
Chicago-land:
One year ago,
residents of
French Island
learned they
were drinking
water
contaminated
with high
levels of
PFAS, a
man-made
chemical that
is toxic to
the human
body.
“It’s one of
the scariest
things that’s
happened to me
in my life,”
said Jim
Walker.
The fear of
harming your
loved ones,
unknowingly.
“My friends,
my relatives,
my kids,
everyone’s
been drinking
my
contaminated
water. How
would you
feel?” said
Jim.
Their future
unknown.
“Frustration
is probably
the first word
I’d use and
the second
word is
helplessness.
That you can’t
do anything
about it,”
said
Jim. Jim
and Margie
Walker live on
French Island
and they have
been using
bottled water
to do everyday
tasks. Every
few weeks, the
Walkers get
water
delivered to
their front
door.
“Give us four
or five big
jugs that we
put in our
cooler,” said
Margie.
The Walkers
have no
choice. Their
well is
contaminated
with PFAS,
WISC-TV
reported.
“This is
probably one
of the worst
things that’s
happened to us
in so many
ways,” said
Jim.
PFAS is what’s
called a
forever
chemical. It
does not break
down and can’t
be removed
using
traditional
water
filtration
methods.
December
27 2021
From
East Oregon
(or would that
be, soon,
Idaho?)
Portland
General
Electric’s
request to
increase
pollution at
its Boardman
fracked gas
power plant
drew fierce
opposition
from public
health and
environmental
advocates.
PGE’s proposal
to
significantly
increase toxic
emissions at
Carty
Generating
Station had
its final
public hearing
Dec. 17.
If the Oregon
Department of
Environmental
Quality grants
the request to
modify
emissions at
the
440-megawatt,
fracked-gas
power facility
in Boardman,
carbon
monoxide and
volatile
organic
compound
output will
increase
significantly
December
20, 2021
A
new report
says that
Amazon
generated an
estimated 271
million
kilograms of
plastic
packaging
waste last
year. This is
a 29 per cent
increase over
Oceana’s 2019
estimates,
with much of
this plastic
waste stemming
from the
billions of
packages
Amazon
delivered
during the
COVID-19
pandemic.
December
13, 2021
Curb
kicked: The
port — which
is actually
two adjacent
facilities,
the Port of
Los Angeles
and the Port
of Long Beach
— is the
largest of its
kind in the
Western
Hemisphere, a
complex
through which
four out of
ten shipping
containers
full of
imported goods
will pass on
their way to
U.S.
households.
It’s the
reason that
Los Angeles is
shaped the way
it is, with a
narrow ribbon
of trucking
corridors
dangling
directly south
from L.A.’s
downtown to
San Pedro Bay.
In addition to
being at a
higher risk of
cancer,
residents near
the port have
some of the
highest rates
of asthma and
related
emergency-room
visits in the
state, making
them
particularly
vulnerable
when the air
turns worse;
for Golden,
this means
experiencing
symptoms of
persistent
allergies and,
on the worst
days,
nosebleeds.
But during the
pandemic, the
public-health
impacts of
living
adjacent to
the port have
become even
more alarming.
Golden points
to a study by
UCLA that
broke down the
neighborhood
death rate for
COVID-19,
known to be
exacerbated by
exposure to
particulate
pollution. “In
most
communities in
and around the
port, it was
60 percent
higher than
the rest of
Los Angeles
County,” he
says. “So
who’s bearing
the burden?”