Plus: The nation’s most restrictive abortion ban
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** THE WEEKLY REVEAL
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Saturday, May 21, 2022
Hello! In this issue:
* On the latest Reveal, the story ([link removed]) of the teenager who turned in his dad as a Jan. 6 insurrectionist.
* Amazon’s workplace safety practices ([link removed]) continue to be scrutinized. This time by Washington safety officials and its own shareholders.
* Reveal’s legal team notches a big win to make corporate diversity stats public.
** THIS WEEK’S EPISODE
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** ‘Traitors Get Shot’
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On Jan. 6, 2021, Jackson Reffitt watched the Capitol riot play out on TV from his family home in Texas. His father, Guy, had a much closer view. He was in Washington, storming the building.
When Guy Reffitt returned home, there were news stories about people being turned in to authorities. Jackson says his dad warned him that if he turned him in, he’d be a traitor, and “traitors get shot.”
Jackson turned his dad in to the FBI anyway. Guy was the first person to stand trial for his role in the riot.
This week on Reveal ([link removed]) , Jackson tells his story.
Listen to the episode ([link removed])
This episode is part of the podcast Will Be Wild from Pineapple Street Studios, Wondery and Amazon Music. Hosted by Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz, Will Be Wild’s eight-part series investigates the forces that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection and what comes next.
🎧 Other places to listen: Apple Podcasts ([link removed]) , Spotify ([link removed]) , Google Podcasts ([link removed]) , Stitcher ([link removed]) or wherever you get your podcasts.
🖼️ Credit: A courtroom sketch depicts Guy Reffitt (left) in federal court in Washington on Feb. 28, 2022. Credit: Dana Verkouteren via Associated Press
** UPDATE
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** Amazon’s Warehouse Quotas Have Been Injuring Workers for Years. Now, Officials Are Taking Action.
By Will Evans
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Marie Steele works as a picker at Amazon's Shakopee, Minn., fulfillment center. Credit: Leila Navidi/Star Tribune via Associated Press
Amazon warehouse workers have long borne the brunt of the company’s obsession with speed. Each year, the company’s warehouse workers rack up thousands of serious injuries, as a series of Reveal investigations ([link removed]) has exposed. There’s a building pressure for the company to change its workplace practices – beyond the recent ([link removed]) union win.
Here are a few recent developments ([link removed]) :
* In March, safety officials in Washington fined Amazon again – this time for $60,000 for “knowingly putting workers at risk of injury,” citing the “unsafe pace” of work. Washington’s Department of Labor & Industries has now fined Amazon a total of $81,000 for this problem. Amazon is appealing the citations.
* Amazon’s May 25 shareholder meeting will include a vote on a resolution for an independent audit of warehouse working conditions, including how workers are affected by performance metrics. Amazon unsuccessfully tried to keep the proposal, which quotes Reveal’s reporting, off the ballot and is urging shareholders to vote it down.
* With a bill introduced in April, New York became the latest state to consider legislation aimed at Amazon work quotas. The bill is similar to a California law that prohibits warehouse companies from enforcing quotas that prevent workers from doing their jobs safely.
Read the full story ([link removed])
** In the News
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What’s happening in the news – with a Reveal context
Thousands of abortion rights protesters gather May 3 in New York, after the leak of a Supreme Court draft majority opinion preparing for the court to overturn the landmark abortion decision in Roe v. Wade. Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
🔹 Oklahoma Legislature passes the nation’s most restrictive abortion ban, mirrors Texas-style enforcement. The bill ([link removed]) , approved Thursday, prohibits nearly all abortions starting at fertilization and has few exceptions ([link removed]) . Like Texas’ six-week abortion ban, which gives private citizens the right to sue anyone who “aids or abets ([link removed]) ” an abortion, Oklahoma’s bill also relies on civilian enforcement ([link removed]) , making it difficult to challenge through the usual legal processes.
A Reveal investigation ([link removed]) that aired in February showed what happened as a result of Texas’ ban: Patients were forced to travel to more than a dozen other states, including Oklahoma, with some unable to get abortions at all. Policy experts note ([link removed]) that 45% of “Texans who traveled out of state between September and December 2021 obtained abortion care in Oklahoma.”
🔹 U.S. Department of Homeland Security memo warns threats of violence could “persist and may increase” leading up to and following the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v. Wade. The May 13 memo, first obtained by Axios ([link removed]) , notes that the court’s draft majority opinion that leaked May 2 ([link removed]) brought threats that targeted “Supreme Court Justices, lawmakers and other public officials, as well as clergy and health care providers.” The department’s memo also warned that the threats of violence could come from both anti-abortion and abortion rights extremists.
A recent Reveal investigation ([link removed]) found police calls for harassment and violence at abortion clinics in Florida have doubled since 2016. The state could be providing a glimpse of the future for places that keep abortion legal in a post-Roe world.
** From the Archives
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The Evolution of All-American Terrorism ([link removed])
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Domestic Terror in the Age of Trump ([link removed])
** Ending on a Good Note
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Reveal’s legal team wins in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Five years ago, senior reporter Will Evans began requesting government records showing the diversity numbers of federal contractors, as part of a multipart project ([link removed]) examining diversity in Silicon Valley. Many companies objected, with one company even saying ([link removed]) it must hide the number of women and people of color it employs so competitors won’t “steal” them. For years, the U.S. Department of Labor sided with the companies, blocking Freedom of Information Act requests for the diversity reports.
So we sued. And we won ([link removed]) . A federal judge ruled that the records are not confidential business information because they aren’t commercial in the first place. The ruling also had far-reaching significance, as it signaled that the diversity reports for all large federal contractors should be accessible through FOIA requests.
But Silicon Valley tech company Synopsys appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit to stop the disclosure. Our general counsel, Vickie Baranetsky, argued the case, and last week, we learned that Synopsys’ appeal was dismissed by the 9th Circuit on procedural grounds, leaving our win intact.
What does this mean in the big picture of things? It’s a win for transparency, as the Department of Labor must comply with our FOIA requests and disclose the diversity numbers of federal contractors. The next step is for Jenny R. Yang, director of the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, to release the records. Will she? We’ll be watching.
As for Synopsys, Evans asks ([link removed]) , why did it want to keep the diversity reports secret? Follow him ([link removed]) on Twitter for more.
The Weekly Reveal is written by Kassie Navarro, edited by Sarah Mirk and Andrew Donohue and copy edited by Nikki Frick. If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to a friend ([link removed]) . Have some thoughts? Drop us a line (mailto:
[email protected]) with feedback or ideas!
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