Can’t-miss local investigative journalism: Deadly armored cars and unaccountable charter schools

This is our weekly newsletter, Hard Reset. Sign up here.

Over seven years, Wells Fargo recommended clients invest for months or years in funds that may become worthless if held longer than one day, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Some clients who invested, including seniors with limited incomes and little investing experience, didn’t understand the risks involved. Wells Fargo will settle SEC’s claims with a $35 million fine. Wells Fargo is also paying $3 billion – 15 percent of its 2019 profits – to settle separate allegations that the bank opened millions of fake accounts.
Florida resident Osmel Martinez Azcue had recently taken a trip to China when he started to develop flu-like symptoms. He visited the hospital to learn he had the flu, not coronavirus, but he received a $3,270 bill for the experience. Azcue’s insurance company is also requiring him to provide three years of medical records to prove his flu wasn’t connected to a pre-existing condition.
Seattle credit card processing company Gravity Payments has a minimum salary of $70,000. The company’s CEO took a $1 million pay cut to make it happen.
Amazon plans to lay off more than 3,200 delivery drivers while the company shifts to smaller, cheaper contractors.

Since 2008, at least 19 people died in crashes involving armored cars operated by international security contractor GardaWorld. A Tampa Bay Times investigation found that a dozen of those deaths were Garda’s fault – either due to driver error or a mechanical problem. The Times waded through thousands of pages of public and internal Garda records and spoke with 90 current and former Garda employees, who described a work culture where their safety concerns were ignored.
An Oklahoma Watch investigation revealed that graduates from Epic Charter Schools were less likely to attend a public college or university than their peers from the state’s 10 largest school districts. According to the Tulsa World, Epic has funneled more than $50 million in taxpayer money into a fund that’s never been audited. Epic, which is under investigation in Oklahoma for embezzlement, claims the funds are private because they’re delivered to its for-profit management company. Two bills in the Oklahoma legislature could increase accountability for Epic and other charter schools in the state.
In central Kentucky, four community papers owned by Boone Newspapers laid off all their sports journalists.

I’m happy to share that our podcast, Hard Reset, has joined the programming lineup for KXRW 99.9 FM in Vancouver, Washington. Our first episode to air on the station was this deep-dive fact check on the legacy of “junk bond king” Michael Milken. Trump pardoned Milken last month along with five others convicted of white-collar crimes.
Fact check: This viral graphic involving beards and face masks isn’t about the coronavirus. It’s from 2017 and was taken out of context. Medical experts have said that face masks don’t actually prevent the virus from spreading in the general public.
Fact check: The Food and Drug Administration doesn’t know how many active drug ingredients come from China – or how dependent the United States is on pharmaceutical products from other countries.
Factchecking Trump’s coronavirus comments: Last week, Trump directly contradicted federal health experts on the likelihood that COVID-19 will spread to communities in the United States. During a press conference, Trump said multiple times that this might not happen. But he knew at the time that the CDC had identified the first infection in the country involving someone who hadn’t traveled outside the United States.
This week’s episode of Hard Reset breaks down our coronavirus fact checks.

Thank you for reading Hard Reset. If you like what we do, consider supporting Big If True.

Send me feedback, questions and tips: bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.

– Mollie Bryant