#Auto Fraud Attorney Washington

[newstfionline]

Sunday, February 18, 2024

The Case for Spending Way More on Babies (The Atlantic) There’s a strong case that Congress should be spending way more money on kids. As a general point, the United States, despite being the richest society Earth has ever known, tolerates astonishingly high rates of child poverty. Kids are two or three times as likely to grow up in poverty in the United States as they are in most of our rich-country peers. That is a direct consequence of the United States spending such a small share of its GDP on family benefits such as public child care, home visits, and payments to new parents—a smaller share than all other OECD countries except Turkey, Costa Rica, and Mexico. The country is also an outlier in lacking a comprehensive paid-family-leave program and child care for kids 5 and under.

Hefty fines, penalties will rock Trump family’s business and fortune (Washington Post) For more than 100 years, since Donald Trump’s grandfather started buying land in New York City, the Trump family has run a real estate business in New York. Barring a successful legal appeal of Friday’s decision by a New York Supreme Court judge, that could change. In his ruling on a months-long civil trial brought against Trump and his business by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), Justice Arthur F. Engoron prohibited Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York firm for three years. He barred Trump’s elder sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, from doing so for two years. “There is no one at the financial helm. There’s no CFO, no controller, and now you don’t have Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. or Donald Sr. running it,” said Boston College law professor Brian Quinn. After finding that Trump Organization executives had engaged in years of fraud by inflating their property values to get better insurance and tax rates, Engoron ordered that the company operate under the close eye of two overseers to ensure compliance with financial reporting obligations. In other words, Trump can remain the owner, but he has lost control.

To fight dengue epidemic, health agents in Brazil scour junkyards and roofs for mosquitos (AP) The small team of state public health workers slalomed between auto parts strewn across a Rio de Janeiro junkyard, looking for standing water where mosquitoes might have laid their eggs. They were part of nationwide efforts to curtail a surge in Brazil of the mosquito-borne illness of dengue fever during the country’s key tourist season that runs through the end of February. Earlier in the month, just days before Rio kicked of its world-famous Carnival festivities, the city joined several states and the country’s capital in declaring a public health epidemic over this year’s greater-than-normal number of cases of dengue. So far this year, Brazil has recorded 512,000 cases nationwide, including both confirmed and likely cases—nearly four times more than those registered in the same period a year ago.

Avdiivka, Longtime Stronghold for Ukraine, Falls to Russians (NYT) Ukraine ordered the complete withdrawal from the ruined city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine before dawn on Saturday, surrendering a city that had been a military stronghold for the better part of a decade, in the face of withering Russian bombardment and relentless assault. The fall of Avdiivka, a city that used to be home to some 30,000 people but is now a smoking ruin, is the first major gain Russian forces have achieved since May of last year. In recent weeks, Russian forces have been pressing the attack across nearly the entire length of the 600-mile long front. Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the head of Ukraine’s forces in the south, said there had been no choice but to withdraw, given the Russian advantage in firepower and the number of soldiers they were willing to throw into the battle.

Israel Was Behind Attacks on Major Gas Pipelines in Iran, Officials Say (NYT) Israel carried out covert attacks on two major gas pipelines inside Iran this week, disrupting the flow of heat and cooking gas to provinces with millions of people, according to two Western officials and a military strategist affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. The strikes represent a notable shift in the shadow war that Israel and Iran have been waging by air, land, sea and cyberattack for years. Israel has long targeted military and nuclear sites inside Iran—and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists and commanders—both inside and outside of the country. Israel has also waged cyberattacks to disable servers belonging to the oil ministry, causing turmoil at gas stations nationwide. But blowing up part of the country’s energy infrastructure, relied on by industries, factories and millions of civilians, marked an escalation in the covert war and appeared to open a new frontier, officials and analysts said.

ICJ declines new protections for Rafah despite ‘perilous situation’ in city (Washington Post) The International Court of Justice on Friday declined South Africa’s request to introduce additional safeguards for Palestinians ahead of Israel’s planned offensive in the southern city of Rafah, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are seeking refuge from Israeli bombardment. In its response to a Feb. 12 request from South Africa, the ICJ said the “perilous situation” in Rafah required Israel to abide by its previous ruling last month, which included taking “all measures within its power” to prevent the crime of genocide and to allow more aid into Gaza. South Africa is pursuing a case against Israel in the ICJ, alleging it is committing and failing to prevent genocide in Gaza, accusations that Israel denies. A verdict on the question of genocide could take years. The situation in Rafah is becoming increasingly dire, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its most recent update, with people “desperate, hungry, and terrified” ahead of the expected attack. OCHA said that the number of aid trucks allowed to enter the Gaza Strip had declined over the past week, with only 20 entering on Thursday.

US diplomats warn of lasting anti-American sentiment in Middle East (ABC News) The State Department has received multiple warnings from its posts in the Middle East during recent weeks about the lasting impact from U.S. messaging on the conflict in Gaza, triggering a meeting in Washington with intelligence agencies to evaluate the fallout, according to internal communications reviewed by ABC News and officials familiar with the matter. One cable from the American mission in Morocco said that former collaborators in the country asserted that the U.S. had become “toxic” because the administration’s support for Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack had been widely perceived as a “blank check for the Israeli response.” An enduring hit to U.S. popularity in the Middle East could have extensive implications for American diplomacy. Some State Department officials say it may take a generation to rebuild U.S. standing in some countries.

Thousands homeless after DR Congo's worst floods in sixty years (Reuters) In a makeshift camp for people displaced by floods in Democratic Republic of Congo, father-of-three Cyprien Seka anxiously watched his baby nap on the floor of a crowded tent and wondered if it would ever be safe to return home. Torrential rains swelled the Congo river to its highest level in over 60 years in late December and forced around 500,000 people to flee the rising waters. "It's been almost a month since we left our homes because of the flooding... We are suffering," Seka said at the camp on the grounds of a Catholic church on the outskirts of capital Kinshasa. Like many others, Seka's family lost almost all their possessions in the rush to escape. Sixteen of Congo's 26 provinces are grappling with the fallout from the floods, which killed at least 221 people, damaged tens of thousands of homes, and exposed already vulnerable communities to increased risk of malaria and typhoid

Nigeria’s Capital Blames Rickshaws for Crime (Bloomberg) In Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja, rickshaws are essential for getting around absent a working public transit system. But officials are planning to ban the three-wheelers, citing their role as getaway vehicles in a crime and kidnapping crisis that’s engulfed Nigeria’s second-richest city. The rickety vehicles struggle to climb the city’s hills at a maximum speed of just 43 miles per hour. And rickshaw drivers who have come to the capital to escape poverty say the government is making them scapegoats for its own inability to protect residents.

[bobbynolanios88]

Bitcoin is too risky for the customers of ‘corrupt’ Wells Fargo bank? Really?

Bitcoin is too risky for the customers of ‘corrupt’ Wells Fargo bank? Really?

According to CNBC, the third-largest US bank Wells Fargo will have to pay $575 million in a settlement with the attorneys general from New Jersey and other states that were investigating the bank for opening fake accounts without the knowledge of customers, and for systematically scamming its own customers for 15 years.

Wells Fargo admitted that it opened more than 3.5 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts in customers’ names between 2002 and 2017.

The bank then illegally charged its clients for various financial services products they never signed up for, such as life-insurance policies and collateral protection insurance on millions of auto loans.

State Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in a statement that Wells Fargo’s corporate culture led to repeated breaches of its customers’ trust.

‘This settlement should send a message to all financial institutions that they need to take steps to avoid similar consumer protection violations, because we stand ready to hold the financial industry accountable.’

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra called the bank’s behavior disgraceful.

‘Wells Fargo customers entrusted their bank with their livelihood, their dreams, and their savings for the future’, Becerra said.

‘Instead of safeguarding its customers, Wells Fargo exploited them, signing them up for products – from bank accounts to insurance – that they never wanted. This is an incredible breach of trust that threatens not only the customers who depended on Wells Fargo, but confidence in our banking system.’

Wells Fargo to Pay States About $575 Million to Settle Customer Harm Claims; Latest settlement covers retail sales practices and auto-loan, mortgage charges https://t.co/xrY4jaAXy5 pic.twitter.com/xKveGD6eKD

— Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) December 28, 2018

As Chepicap previously reported, the Wells Fargo bank banned its customers from using their credits cards to buy cryptocurrencies in June 2018.

The American multinational financial services company cited the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.

‘Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency. We are doing this in order to be consistent across the Wells Fargo enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.’

Bitcoin too risky for clients, says Wells Fargo

“Customers can no longer use their Wells Fargo credit cards to purchase cryptocurrency, “We’re doing this in order to be consistent across the enterprise due to the multiple risks associated with this volatile investment.”

— 2019 (@Benwaterz) December 30, 2018

The irony is painful.

As Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano states on Twitter ‘Long Bitcoin. Short the Bankers’.

Wells Fargo is paying over $500 million to stop all 50 states from questioning their nefarious activities.

Small penalty given the bank made $88 Billion in revenue last year.

Long Bitcoin, Short the Bankers!

— Pomp

(@APompliano) December 28, 2018

One Twitter user hits the nail on the head: Crypto might not yet be perfect, but banks have been corrupt since the middle ages.

Today: Wells Fargo pays $575m

Tomorrow: Wells Fargo figures out how to extract $575m from existing customers.#crypto and #blockchain may not be perfect (yet), but banks have sucked since the Middle Ages. https://t.co/hZe8ooyofY

— Faris Oweis (@faris_says) December 30, 2018

Wells Fargo MO: If you don’t invest with us, we will just use you your name, and open an account without your consent. Corporate fraud at a whole new level.

— Strongertogether (@2Trumplethinski) December 31, 2018

The WSJ reports that Wells Fargo is doing the final settlement for opening fake bank accounts for thousands of customers. That’s fine, but why isn’t anyone going to prison?

— onedollar juana (@onedollarjuana) December 31, 2018

Elizabeth Warren: John Stumpf eventually lost his job as Wells Fargo’s CEO. But far too often, politicians run our government for the rich and powerful instead of holding them accountable. It’s time to end Washington corruption and start building a gover… https://t.co/bMrw9jMopV

— OurRevSpain (@OurRevSpain) December 31, 2018

Wells Fargo to Pay States About $575 Million to Settle Customer Harm Claims; Latest settlement covers retail sales practices and auto-loan, mortgage charges https://t.co/xrY4jaAXy5 pic.twitter.com/xKveGD6eKD

— Barry Ritholtz (@ritholtz) December 28, 2018

This latest banking scandal is yet another example spotlighting the widespread failures of centralized financial institutions. Time to change this!

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Original Source http://bit.ly/2EYoXJh

[acrirealty-blog]

Trimont Condominiums Mt. Washington Theft Alert

New Post has been published on https://blog.hoa-websiteservices.com/condo-property-management-services/trimont-condominiums-mt-washington-theft-clarification/

Trimont Condominiums Mt. Washington Theft Alert

See what happens to HOA funds when you use an outdated accounting system. 

Arnhiem and Neely was the property management company for the Trimont Condominium complex in Mt. Washington during the period of time the alleged thefts by their employee, Donna Gritzam. 

We are enclosing the following report from KDKA for  further clarification on his matter.

MT. WASHINGTON (KDKA)- A 73-year-old woman has been charged with stealing more than $75,000 from her former employer.

Donna Gritzan, of Carnegie, worked as the property manager for the Trimont Condominiums on Mount Washington from 1990 until 2014. She was employed by Arnheim and Neely, a property management firm.

Gritzan was in charge of coding credit card expenses and providing supporting documentation and detail to Arnheim & Neely. She was issued a credit card to be used for general office supplies and emergency situations at the Trimont.

The current property manager for the Trimont Condominiums discovered charges on Gritzan’s credit card statements that were believed to be for personal benefit, not the Trimont.

The investigation revealed that Gritzan used the credit card for personal purchases including gas, groceries, restaurants, building supplies and gardening supplies. Investigators also say she used the credit card for things like shoes, clothing, auto repairs and even plumbing services at her home.

The total amount of money spent on personal things was $75,440.33.

KDKA’s Heather Abraham went to Gritzan’s home Wednesday morning, but no one answered the door. Her lawyer and the attorney for the Trimont complex refused comment.

Gritzan was charged with theft by unlawful taking, access device fraud and receiving stolen property. She turned herself into police on Tuesday and was released on bond. She will have a hearing on the charges on Dec. 17.

For this reason and many more make sure your Property Management Company has a dedicated accounting staff with the ability to monitor and provide loss protection.

[kimkimberhelen]

A lone fingerprint and a set of misspellings helped point FBI agents to a Florida man with a long criminal record now charged with mailing homemade bombs to prominent critics of President Trump — a politically charged case that has roiled the run-up to next month’s congressional elections.

Cesar Sayoc, 56, a former pizza deliveryman, strip-club worker and virulently partisan supporter of the president, was arrested Friday and charged with a string of crimes in connection with the homemade pipe bombs sent this week to former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and others.

He was formally charged with sending 13 such devices, and a law enforcement official said he is likely to be charged with sending a 14th device to Tom Steyer, a major Democratic donor. That package was intercepted in California, officials said.

The manhunt began Monday afternoon, when a pipe bomb was found inside a package delivered to billionaire activist George Soros, and ended less than 96 hours later with Sayoc’s arrest outside an auto supply store in Plantation, Fla. Sayoc, who lives in nearby Aventura, was arrested near his vehicle: a white van festooned with political declarations echoing Trump rhetoric.

Agents tried to question him immediately, according to one law enforcement official, under what’s called the “public safety exception,” which says police can interview a subject without first reading them their rights if authorities are seeking information about ongoing security threats. Sayoc did not want to talk and quickly demanded a lawyer, the official said.

Trump told reporters later that he did not think he bears blame for the alleged crimes.

“No, not at all,” Trump said as he left the White House for a political rally in North Carolina. “There’s no blame, there’s no anything,” Trump said, adding that the gunman who shot and badly wounded Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) last year “was a supporter of a different party.” That attack occurred in Alexandria, Va., as Republican lawmakers practiced for an annual Congressional Baseball Game.

The nation’s top law enforcement officials gathered at Justice Department headquarters in Washington on Friday afternoon to announce that the case that had put government officials and their agencies on high alert was solved.

“We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially not political violence,’’ Attorney General Jeff Sessions said. “Let this be a lesson to anyone, regardless of their political beliefs, that we will bring the full force of law against anyone who attempts to use threats, intimidation and outright violence to further an agenda.”

Even as Sayoc was taken into custody, investigators across the country continued to chase potential bombs. Three such devices were discovered Friday — in Florida, New York and California — and officials warned there may be other, undiscovered packages in the mail system or a mailbox somewhere in the United States.

“We need all hands on deck, we need to stay vigilant,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. He characterized the 13 explosive devices recovered so far as “IEDs,” an abbreviation for improvised explosive devices.

Wray said that investigators were able to pinpoint Sayoc after finding a fingerprint on an envelope containing a bomb sent to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and that DNA found on two of the devices was a possible match to a sample previously taken from Sayoc during an earlier arrest in Florida.

One law enforcement official said the fingerprint discovery was a major breakthrough. With that, authorities began zeroing in on Sayoc on Thursday, gathering cellphone records to track his past movements and conducting real-time surveillance of his location and activities, the official said.

Wray declined to say whether the pipe-bomb devices could have detonated, noting that investigators are “still trying to determine whether or not they were functional.” But he said they did contain potentially explosive material, adding: “These are not hoax devices.”

Sayoc, whose long criminal history includes a past arrest for making a bomb threat, was charged with five crimes that could send him to prison for decades: transporting explosives across state lines, illegally mailing explosives, threatening former presidents and others, threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officials.

Sayoc’s lawyer Sarah Jane Baumgartel declined to comment on the case.

Inside each of the packages sent to four of the targets — Obama, former CIA director John Brennan, Soros and Waters — was a picture of the individual with a red “X” mark, according to the 11-page complaint signed by FBI Special Agent David Brown.

The complaint also included details suggesting Sayoc’s antipathy toward the people and organizations targeted, including the news network CNN, where two of the packages were addressed.

“The windows of Sayoc’s van were covered with images including images critical of CNN,” the complaint said. The complaint also identifies a Twitter account that law enforcement officials believe Sayoc used.

Some of those postings included the same misspellings contained on some of the addresses on the pipe-bomb packages, including the last name of one of the recipients, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a prominent Florida Democrat and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. On both the packages and the social media posts, her name was spelled “Shultz,” according to the complaint.

The complaint also said one Twitter post made Wednesday criticized Soros, who has contributed to liberal causes and two days earlier had received an explosive device.

Wray declined to say whether Sayoc is cooperating with investigators. When asked why Sayoc allegedly targeted Democrats, Sessions said he “appears to be a partisan, but that would be determined by the facts as the case goes forward.”

Sayoc’s previous run-ins with law enforcement date back at least to an arrest for larceny when Sayoc was 29 years old, according to state records. Other charges of larceny, grand theft and fraud followed across the southern part of the state. In 2002, he was arrested for a bomb threat called in to Florida Power & Light, a power company. Sayoc pleaded guilty without trial and was sentenced to probation, the records show.

Speaking Friday at the White House, Trump praised law enforcement’s quick work and pledged to prosecute the individual “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Asked about pro-Trump stickers or signs on the van allegedly driven by the suspect, Trump said, “I did not see my face on the van. I don’t know, I heard he was a person who preferred me over others.”

Photos of the van published Friday by The Washington Post and other news outlets show multiple images of Trump on the vehicle.

Trump also said that coverage of the mail bombs had interfered with Republican “momentum” ahead of the Nov. 6 midterm elections.

One of the bomber’s potential targets, Wasserman Schultz, said the case had been “gut-wrenching” for her, and served as a warning to the entire nation against the kind of heated rhetoric used by the president.

“We’re all responsible for making sure that we act and speak civilly,” she said. “When you raise the temperature, when you whip people into a frenzy, when you carelessly do not think about the impact of your words — particularly at the highest level of office in the country — then you are acting grossly irresponsible, and each of us has to make sure that we hold ourselves accountable.”

News of the arrest came as investigators continued to respond Friday to discoveries of explosive devices sent to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former director of national intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. and Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.). Booker and Harris are potential 2020 presidential candidates.

The FBI said a package, “similar in appearance to the others” found this week, was addressed to Booker and located in Florida. A spokesman for Booker declined to comment and referred questions to law enforcement.

A package recovered Friday at a Manhattan postal facility was addressed to Clapper, a CNN contributor. Just two days earlier, CNN’s offices in New York were evacuated when the package for Brennan, addressed to him at the network, was found in the mailroom.

Clapper appeared on CNN shortly after news broke a package was addressed to him, saying he felt relief no one was harmed by that device.

“This is definitely domestic terrorism, no doubt about it in my mind,” Clapper said on CNN, adding: “This is not going to silence the administration’s critics.”

A package addressed to Harris found Friday at a Sacramento mail facility was the 13th such device officials said they had linked to Sayoc.

Separately on Friday, Steyer, an outspoken Trump critic, said that a suspicious package mailed to him was intercepted in California, but this was not among the 13 listed in the federal complaint. Law enforcement officials, however, said they believed it was sent by Sayoc and it would likely be added to the charges against him.

The only common thread between the people who were sent devices is that they are prominent figures — many current or former Democratic elected officials — who have publicly clashed with Trump.

The list of possible targets began with Soros, then grew to include Obama, Clinton and former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. Then came the packages sent to Brennan and CNN, Waters, former vice president Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro.

According to the complaint, one of the Biden packages was addressed to an assisted-living facility, for reasons that were not immediately clear.

The package addressed to Holder was recovered at a South Florida office of Wasserman Schultz because her name was listed as the return address on all of them.

[sueyour]

Sue Your Dealer - Best Auto Fraud Attorney Washington

Hire the best auto fraud attorney Washington who has the skills to navigate the legal and ethical standards effectively to help you get the justice you deserve.

[sueyour]

Looking for an Auto Fraud Attorney in New York? Hire the one having experience fighting car dealers and knowledge to examine the most complicated car frauds.

[techcrunchappcom]

New Post has been published on https://techcrunchapp.com/jobless-claims-at-870000-as-fraud-and-backlogs-cloud-data-national-news/

Jobless claims at 870,000 as fraud and backlogs cloud data | National News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000, a historically high figure that shows that the viral pandemic is still squeezing restaurants, airlines, hotels and many other businesses six months after it first erupted.

The figure coincides with evidence that some newly laid-off Americans are facing delays in receiving unemployment benefits as state agencies intensify efforts to combat fraudulent applications and clear their pipelines of a backlog of jobless claims.

California has said it will stop processing new applications for two weeks as it seeks to reduce backlogs and prevent fraudulent claims. Pennsylvania has found that up to 10,000 inmates are improperly receiving aid.

The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits declined to 12.6 million. The steady decline in that figure over the past several months reflects that some of the unemployed are being re-hired. Yet it also indicates that others have exhausted their regular jobless aid, which last six months in most states.

In addition to those receiving aid on state programs, about 105,000 others were added to an extended jobless-benefits program that provides 13 additional weeks of aid. This program, established in the economic relief package that Congress passed earlier this year, is now paying benefits to 1.6 million people.

Applications for jobless aid soared in the spring after the viral outbreak suddenly shut down businesses across the country, slashed tens of millions of jobs and triggered a deep recession. Since then, as states have slowly reopened their economies, about half the jobs that were initially lost have been recovered.

Yet job growth has been slowing. In most sectors of the economy, employers appear reluctant to hire new workers in the face of deep uncertainty about the course of the virus.

The growing concerns about fraudulent applications for unemployment benefits have focused mainly on a new program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance. This program made self-employed people, gig workers and contractors eligible for jobless aid for the first time.

Though roughly 14 million people are classified as receiving aid under that program, economists increasingly regard that figure as unreliable and likely inflated by both fraudulent applications and inaccurate counts. The number of people receiving benefits under the PUA program is probably overstated by several million, economists say.

Thursday’s report from the government comes against the backdrop of an economy that has been recovering fitfully from a catastrophic recession. Some economic barometers, like housing, retail purchases and auto sales, have managed to produce solid gains. But with unemployment elevated at 8.4% and a key federal jobless benefit having expired, the economy’s gains are believed to be slowing.

Most economists say it will be hard for the job market or the economy to sustain any recovery unless Congress enacts another rescue aid package for struggling individuals, businesses and states. Ultimately, an effective vaccine will likely be needed for the economy to fully regain its health.

In the meantime, California and other states are trying to manage their beleaguered jobless benefits programs.

Sharon Hilliard, director of California’s Employment Development Department, said her agency would stop accepting applications for aid for two weeks while it adopts reforms recommended by a state task force. The department will try to clear a backlog of nearly 600,000 first-time applications and review about 1 million people who have received unemployment benefits but whose cases have come under scrutiny.

These people include gig workers and contractors who have more difficulty verifying their income than do traditional employees whose tax forms are on file with the state.

Kimberly Maldonado, a 31-year-old out-of-work music instructor, is among the thousands of Californians whose unemployment aid is tied up by bureaucratic snags and the state’s decision to suspend the processing of new applications.

Maldonado applied for benefits four weeks ago. She said she calls daily to check on the status yet reaches only a recording that says the department is overwhelmed. For her, the wait is growing critical.

“It’s literally the difference between food on my table or not,” says Maldonado, who lives in Placentia. “I’ve got a 2-year-old, and I’m not really sure how I pay for anything in the coming weeks.”

Other state unemployment agencies, too, suspect that they have been bedeviled by fraud since the pandemic intensified in March. As tens of millions were laid off, applications for aid overwhelmed the agencies, which just weeks earlier had been operating with the lowest unemployment rates in 50 years. A $600-a-week federal unemployment benefit, on top of regular state benefits, provided an added incentive to apply for aid.

Washington was the first state to be hit as an international fraud ring based in Nigeria managed to steal up to $650 million in benefit payments, although at least half that money has been recovered. Texas, Florida and Oklahoma have been hit, too.

In Pennsylvania, investigators are detecting rising evidence of fraud. On Wednesday, state officials announced that 18 state prison inmates and two girlfriends of inmates on the outside had been charged in what officials described as a scheme to fraudulently obtain jobless benefits for ineligible prisoners.

After cross-checking unemployment applications with state prison rolls, they found 10,000 people on both lists — more than one-fifth of the state’s prison population. The 20 people who were charged Wednesday had sought a combined $300,000 in money from the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

State Rep. Sheryl Delozier was the victim of a more sophisticated scheme. This summer, she got word from tenants that she had important-looking mail at a property she rents out: Envelopes containing two checks totaling $7,100 for retroactive pandemic unemployment payments. She had never applied for the money.

The plot was thwarted, Delozier believes, by the state’s decision to send applicants’ first payments by mail before allowing them to switch to online payments. Delozier alerted officials and returned the checks.

———

Dale reported from Philadelphia. AP Writer Jake Coyle in New York contributed to this report.

[eznews]

Here’s what you need to know:

Image

An empty classroom at Hollywood High School last week.Credit…Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images

The U.S.’s second-largest school district has a broad testing program for the virus.

Amid alarm over the inadequacy of coronavirus testing across the nation, Los Angeles schools on Monday will begin a sweeping program to test hundreds of thousands of students and teachers, as the nation’s second-largest school district goes back to school — online.

The program, which will be rolled out over the next few months by the Los Angeles Unified School District, will test nearly 700,000 students and 75,000 employees as the district awaits permission from public health authorities to resume in-person instruction, said Austin Beutner, the district’s superintendent.

It appears to be the most ambitious testing initiative among major public school districts, most of which are also starting school remotely but have yet to announce detailed testing plans.

New York City, where the virus has been under control, is the only major school district in the country planning to welcome students back into classrooms part time this fall. The city is asking all staff members to be tested before school starts on Sept. 10 and has said it will provide expedited results.

The school district in Los Angeles, which announced in July that it would begin the year with only online instruction, was among the first in the nation to abandon plans for even a partial in-person return.

Since then, though reports of new infections appear to be slowly declining, public schools across the country have pulled back from more ambitious plans to reopen as case numbers have remained persistently high.

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What if ‘herd immunity’ is closer than originally thought?

Scientists are hopeful that there is already substantial immunity to the coronavirus in communities around the world.Credit…Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

To achieve so-called herd immunity — the point at which the virus can no longer spread because there are not enough vulnerable humans — scientists have suggested that perhaps 70 percent of a given population must be immune, through vaccination or because they survived the infection.

Now some researchers are wrestling with a hopeful possibility. In interviews with The New York Times, more than a dozen scientists said that the threshold is likely to be much lower: just 50 percent, perhaps even less.

The new estimates result from complicated statistical modeling of the pandemic, and the models have all taken divergent approaches, yielding inconsistent estimates. It is not certain that any community in the world has enough residents now immune to the virus to resist a second wave.

But in parts of New York, London and Mumbai, for example, it is not inconceivable that there is already substantial immunity to the coronavirus, scientists said.

“I’m quite prepared to believe that there are pockets in New York City and London which have substantial immunity,” said Bill Hanage, an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “What happens this winter will reflect that.”

The initial calculations for the herd immunity threshold assumed that each community member had the same susceptibility to the virus and mixed randomly with everyone else in the community.

“That doesn’t happen in real life,” said Dr. Saad Omer, the director of the Yale Institute for Global Health. “Herd immunity could vary from group to group, and subpopulation to subpopulation,” and even by postal codes, he said.

U.S. ROUNDUP

The House to debate whether to block changes at the Postal Service that critics say undermine voting by mail.

Mail delivery trucks near the post office in Darby, Pa.Credit…Michelle Gustafson for The New York Times

Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced on Sunday that she would call the House back from its annual summer recess for a vote this week on legislation to block changes at the Postal Service that voting advocates warn could disenfranchise Americans casting ballots by mail during the pandemic.

The announcement came after the White House chief of staff on Sunday signaled openness to providing emergency funding to help the agency handle a surge in mail-in ballots, and as Democratic state attorneys general said that they were exploring legal action against cutbacks and changes at the Postal Service.

The moves underscored rising concern across the country over the integrity of the November election and how the Postal Service will handle as many as 80 million ballots cast by Americans worried about venturing to polling stations because of the coronavirus. President Trump has repeatedly derided voting by mail as vulnerable to fraud, without evidence, and the issue had become a prominent sticking point in negotiations over the next round of coronavirus relief.

The House was not scheduled to return for votes until Sept. 14, but is now expected to consider a Postal Service bill as soon as Saturday, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the plans. Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, is expected to announce the final schedule on Monday.

The abrupt return to Washington was announced just hours after Democrats called on top Postal Service officials to testify on Capitol Hill this month about recent policies that they warned pose “a grave threat to the integrity of the election.”

In other developments around the United States:

With the pandemic still raging, the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Monday, will be conducted almost entirely online. Michelle Obama, the former first lady, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the runner-up in the Democratic primary, will headline the first night. Here’s how to watch.

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The Political Conventions Are Starting. Here’s What to Expect.

The coronavirus pandemic has changed nearly every facet of life in 2020, and the political conventions are no exception. Our reporters catch you up on what you need to know.

“I accept —” “— your nomination —” “— for president —” “— of the United States.” [cheers and applause] The conventions. “It’s when a lot of people start taking the race seriously.” “I’ve been to pretty much every convention since 1988.” “Read my lips.” “Normally, a convention is wild.” But in 2020, things are a little different. “The pandemic has changed virtually every aspect of the 2020 campaign.” “I think it’s defining the election. And I think you’re seeing that in the way they’re approaching the conventions.” “You could say that it has caused a reckoning about, do political conventions even matter at all? Can’t we just do this whole process without them?” So, how did the conventions grow to the spectacles they are today? “What do you mean, ‘shut up’?” And what will this year hold? “Conventions have been around for about a century in various forms.” “1944: The Democratic Convention in Chicago, Illinois, lifted the roof.” “I mean, it used to be, like, you’d have these really dramatic nomination fights.” “I feel absolutely confident that, in this convention, I’m going to be the winner.” “And floor fights.” “I don’t care!” “Keep your hands off of me!” “And things about platform and who should be allowed. The networks used to give these things around-the-clock attention, gavel to gavel. And most of that stuff is gone.” Over time, the process evolved. And now candidates are chosen based on the results of primaries and caucuses, so there aren’t many surprises. “And what has happened to the conventions is they have become this sort of four-night advertisement for the candidates —” “Thank you.” “— and their parties.” “If you believe that we must be fierce and relentless and terminate terrorism, then you are a Republican.” [cheers] But generally, that format hasn’t really changed. “The critique of conventions is that they’re just kind of like a dinosaur.” [music, Los Del Rio, “Macarena”] “They’re a relic of a past age of politics.” The challenge for campaigns this year — “Good afternoon, everybody.” — is how to pack in substance and excitement virtually. “How do you do a convention in the midst of a pandemic?” “The campaigns have really struggled to carry on since the pandemic.” “Good morning.” “Joe Biden is a helpless puppet —” “In contrast to Trump’s desire to keep campaigning, Biden has been at home, for the most part.” “The Democratic Party has approached the convention and Covid —” “Hey, good evening, Tampa.” “— much more conservatively, small C, than the Republican Party.” “We saved millions of lives. And now, it’s time to open up, get back to work, OK?” So what is actually going to happen? Well, the plan has changed — a lot. “The Democrats had hoped to have a big, splashy convention in Milwaukee. Then the virus intervened.” So the Democrats went to an almost entirely virtual convention. “And we ultimately received the call that even Joe Biden would not actually be traveling to Milwaukee to give his speech in person.” Instead, now all speakers, including Biden, will deliver their addresses from around the country. And the R.N.C.? “The Republicans had hoped to hold the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.” But after North Carolina required masks and social distancing rules, the R.N.C. moved the main events to Jacksonville. Then cases spiked in Florida. “I looked at my team, and I said, ‘The timing for this event is not right.’” So now, they’ll be mostly virtual as well. And Trump will give his speech accepting the party nomination from Washington, D.C. “The challenge for both of these conventions is, what can you do to engage the American electorate that is already very tired of sitting on Zooms all day? What can you do to ensure that they tune in anyway and get energized?” “— is Jimmy Carter and I’m running for president.” “In terms of presenting the candidate to the nation, there are two moments to watch. One’s the roll call.” “We’re now prepared to call the roll of the state.” “Roll call vote!” This is where the delegates formally nominate the candidate. “California casts 33-and- one-half votes for Kennedy.” “And it’s kind of corny, but it’s kind of cool. But it’s kind of corny.” “75 votes for President George W. Bush!” “This year, I guess, it’ll be a Zoom call. And the other is the speech.” “Extremism in the defense of liberty —” “Let us build a peace.” “Let me be the bridge to an America that only the unknowing call myth.” “This is the biggest audience they will have for their pitch to Americans.” “The crime and violence that today afflicts our nation —” “This is their chance to lay out their vision for the future of the country.” “— I alone can fix it.” This year, Biden and Trump will give these speeches to, well, primarily a TV camera. “Giving a speech without an audience and without having a constant loop of audience feedback does look poised to present a challenge for both of the presidential contenders.” So are there any potential benefits to this? “One of the sort of benefits of the pandemic is that people in, well, a lot of the country are still locked at home. The question is, Are you going to watch reruns of ‘The Sopranos,’ or are you going to watch the convention?” “I think there’s a lot of fear and a lot of interest. And people really want to know how these different leaders are going to lead us through this pandemic and through the economic crisis that accompanied it.” But there’s also potentially a whole lot of downside. “You lose the energy that, presumably, you send delegates out into the world with to begin the fall campaign.” “For the president, what he’s missing out on is showing off this contrast from four years ago, when there was a lot of dissent against him.” “Stand and speak and vote your conscience.” “He would be able to show that, four years later, the party is in lockstep with him.” “They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing!” “Joe Biden is missing these big moments that would show someone who has struggled to look like a real candidate with a lot of enthusiasm behind him.” “Just this morning we heard we won Maine as well.” “Yeah, right!” So is it time to rethink conventions altogether? “I think the conventions matter less this year than ever — partly because neither one of them is happening in a normal way, but also because this election seems more than anything to be a referendum about Donald Trump. It’s really Donald Trump against Donald Trump.” “You’re fired! Get out!” “We’re just getting started.” And don’t expect the rest of the campaign to resume any sort of normalcy soon. “Historically, the conventions do mark the beginning of a really intense general election campaign cycle. But the subsequent activities after the convention — door-to-door engaging of those voters, how those voters actually cast their ballots — all of that is set to look extraordinarily different this year.” “So, we are in my tiny, postage stamp-sized backyard in Washington.” “We’re in my backyard in Hollywood, California.” “And I am currently at home in New York City, about to head to Delaware.” “It’s very hot. It’s very buggy. But we’re making the best of it.” “Hi. I’m Sarah Kerr, the producer of this video. We spent weeks looking back through footage of old conventions and learning how they might be different this year. Now, they’re finally here. And they’re definitely going to be unconventional. Check out nytimes.com every night for live video and analysis. We’ll see you there.”

The coronavirus pandemic has changed nearly every facet of life in 2020, and the political conventions are no exception. Our reporters catch you up on what you need to know.CreditCredit…Photo Illustration by The New York Times

Listen to ‘The Daily’: Inside Operation Warp Speed

The goal of the initiative is admirable: getting a coronavirus vaccine out to Americans and saving lives as soon as possible. It is not, however, without its problems.

A South Korean pastor whose church is at the center of a new outbreak has tested positive for the virus.

The Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon leaves his house in Seoul in an ambulance on Monday.Credit…Hong Hae-In/Yonhap, via Associated Press

The Christian pastor accused by South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, of impeding the government’s effort to fight the coronavirus epidemic tested positive for the virus on Monday, officials said.

The pastor, the Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, leads Sarang Jeil Church in Seoul, which has become the epicenter of the latest outbreak in South Korea, with more than 300 cases reported among its members and contacts in the past six days.

Even before his church grabbed headlines with the outbreak, Mr. Jun has been known widely in South Korea for organizing large anti-government rallies against Mr. Moon. During these rallies, the conservative pastor called for Mr. Moon’s ouster, calling the liberal president a “North Korean spy” and accusing him of trying to “communize” South Korea.

Mr. Jun’s infection was confirmed on Monday by Lee Seung-ro, mayor of Seongbuk-gu, a district of Seoul, where Mr. Jun’s church is located. Mr. Jun was hospitalized on Monday after he tested positive, Mr. Lee said in a Facebook post.

Mr. Jun and some of his church followers attended a large anti-government rally in downtown Seoul on Saturday, ignoring government orders to isolate themselves at home amid a surge in infections among their congregation, officials said. Mr. Moon called their behavior “an unpardonable act against the safety of the people.”

Mass infections in Mr. Jun’s church and another church in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds the capital city, have helped push the daily caseload in South Korea to three-digit figures in the past four days. South Korea reported 197 new cases on Monday.

“What we see now is believed to be an early stage of what could become a big wave of infections,” said Jung Eun-kyeong, director of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on Monday. “If we fail to control the spread now, the number of cases could explode exponentially.”

Health officials said on Monday that they have so far counted 319 patients linked to Mr. Jun’s Sarang Jeil Church. The outbreak is the second largest cluster reported in South Korea, following the mass infections in the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in the central city of Daegu in February and March claimed 5,200 patients.

It was not immediately clear where and how Mr. Jun contracted the virus. But his infection prompted the authorities to repeat their call on all the thousands of participants in the Saturday rally, as well as all members of Mr. Jun’s church, to report for testing.

GLOBAL ROUNDUP

New Zealand delays its election after a cluster of virus cases.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said elections would now be held on Oct. 17.Credit…Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand said on Monday that it would postpone its national election by four weeks as a cluster of new virus cases continues to spread in Auckland, its largest city.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has the sole authority to determine when people cast ballots, said she had consulted with all the major parties before deciding to move the election from Sept. 19 to Oct. 17. The latest possible date she could have chosen was Nov. 21.

Ms. Ardern called the new date a compromise that “provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we could be campaigning under, for the electoral commission to prepare, and for voters to feel assured of a safe, accessible and critical election.”

But she ruled out further change. Even if the outbreak worsens, she said, “we will be sticking with the date we have.”

The election delay came as the mysterious cluster of new cases grew to 58 on Monday.

Health officials are still scrambling to test thousands of workers at airports and other points of entry, along with quarantine facilities and a frozen food warehouse, as they try to determine how the virus re-emerged last week after 102 days without known community transmission in the country.

In other developments around the world:

Australia recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic, reporting 25 deaths in the previous 24 hours on Monday, all in the state of Victoria. The country has had more than 23,000 cases and more than 400 deaths, according to a New York Times database.

India reported 941 deaths on Monday, taking the country’s death toll past 50,000. Last week, India overtook Britain as the country with the world’s fourth-highest number of deaths, after the United States, Brazil and Mexico.

South Africa loosened some virus-related restrictions on Monday, including lifting a ban on the sale of tobacco and alcohol and permitting travel between provinces. Restaurants and taverns were allowed to return to normal business, subject to strict hygiene regulations, and gatherings of up to 50 people were again allowed. South Africa has the world’s fifth-highest caseload, with at least 587,000 cases, according to a New York Times database.

It’s lights out for discos and clubs in Italy. As infections in the country creep back up — especially among young people — the authorities are clamping down. In addition to ordering dancing establishments closed, they are requiring the outdoor use of masks from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. in popular gathering spots. “We cannot nullify the sacrifices made in past months,” Italy’s health minister, Roberto Speranza, said on Facebook.

Japan’s economy shrank by 7.8 percent in the second quarter of the year, posting its worst performance on record as the country reeled from the effects of the pandemic.

Thailand’s economy, which depends heavily on tourism and exports, shrank by 12.2 percent in the second quarter, its biggest contraction since 1998, the state planning council said on Monday. Thailand barred visitors from abroad starting in early April to prevent new cases of the virus. The strategy seems to be working: The country has gone 83 days without recording a new case of community transmission. It had 6.7 million tourist arrivals from January to March, but none between April 3 and June 30. It had a record 39.8 million foreign tourists in 2019.

The sustained low rate of infection has surprised New York’s health officials, but a resurgence may be inevitable.

New Yorkers are dining outside, but even in the suburbs, where indoor dining is permitted, many people prefer outdoor tables.Credit…Brittainy Newman for The New York Times

Health experts in New York City thought that virus cases would be rising again by now.

But New York State has managed not only to control its outbreak since the devastation of the early spring, but also to contain it for far longer than top officials expected.

The current levels of infection are so remarkable that they have surprised state and city officials: About 1 percent of the roughly 30,000 tests each day in the city are positive for the virus. In Los Angeles, it is 7 percent, while it is 13 percent in Miami-Dade County and around 15 percent in Houston.

“New York is like our South Korea now,” said Dr. Thomas Tsai of the Harvard Global Health Institute.

The question now is whether the state, where at least 32,000 people have died from the virus, can keep from being overwhelmed by another wave, as threats loom from arriving travelers, struggles with contact tracing and rising cases just over the Hudson River in New Jersey.

In more than a dozen interviews, epidemiologists, public health officials and infectious disease specialists said New York owed its current success in large part to how New Yorkers reacted to the viciousness with which the virus attacked the state in April.

“People in New York have taken matters much more seriously than in other places,” said Dr. Howard Markel, a historian of epidemics at the University of Michigan. “And all they’re doing is reducing the risk. They’re not extinguishing the virus.”

Still a resurgence is all but inevitable, public health experts said.

Most unemployed Americans doubt they will return to their jobs.

As the pandemic-induced economic crisis drags on, jobless Americans are becoming more pessimistic about their prospects for getting back to work.

Nearly six in 10 Americans who are out of work because of the pandemic say they do not expect to return to their old jobs, according to a survey this month for The New York Times by the online research platform SurveyMonkey. That’s up from half who said the same a month ago.

Of those who are still out of work, 13 percent anticipate returning to their old jobs in the next month, down from 22 percent a month earlier.

The growing pessimism comes as hiring has slowed and other measures of economic activity have lost momentum. The Times survey adds to the evidence of a stall: The share of those surveyed who reported that they had returned to work fell slightly in August, perhaps reflecting the new wave of business closures in response to the virus. And overall consumer confidence dipped. Only 24 percent of Americans now say they are better off than a year ago, the lowest share in the survey’s three and a half years.

Economists say that if a large share of Americans are unable to return to their old jobs, the recovery will be slower. The longer the crisis lasts, the more likely that becomes: More than half of job seekers in the Times survey report having been out of work for five months or longer, consistent with other data showing rising levels of long-term unemployment.

Private bus companies in the New York area struggle as commuters vanish.

A Coach USA bus entering the Lincoln Tunnel toward Manhattan in Weehawken, N.J., on Wednesday.Credit…Bryan Anselm for The New York Times

No other city in America is as reliant on mass transit as New York, with millions of daily riders usually cramming into subway cars, trains and buses run by sprawling public agencies.

But, before the pandemic, more than 100,000 commuters also depended on private bus companies to get them to their jobs in the city.

Now, however, with fear of infection keeping most workers away from their offices even as New York slowly reopens, that herd of buses has thinned and the companies that operate them are struggling.

Already, one of the oldest commuter-bus companies in the New York region has suspended all of its operations. Others, with ridership down 90 percent or more from pre-pandemic levels, have drastically reduced service and are pleading for financial help from the federal government.

“This is by far the largest challenge we’ve faced,” said Jonathan DeCamp, the sixth generation of his family to run DeCamp Bus Lines, which chose to halt operations this month for the first time in its 150-year history.

“Through World War I, World War II, 9/11, the housing crisis, Hurricane Sandy, people were still going to work,” Mr. DeCamp said from his company’s headquarters in suburban Montclair, N.J. “Right now, you’re just seeing nobody going to work.”

DeCamp’s daily ridership had fallen from more than 6,500 passengers to less than 400, Mr. DeCamp said. With no pickup in sight, he felt he had no choice but to park his fleet of about 50 buses and furlough his work force, which included about 110 unionized drivers and mechanics.

Laying off the workers, some of whom had worked for DeCamp for more than 30 years, was “soul crushing,” he said.

Transportation companies often have to adjust schedules to account for fluctuations in demand, but they are loath to suspend service altogether because loyal customers may have no alternative. That is one reason so many private operators are still running buses despite the slim ridership.

“We need help,” said Mark Leo, an owner of Lakeland Bus Lines, based in Dover, N.J. “If we don’t get some help soon, we’re going to be doing the same thing DeCamp’s doing.”

Before the pandemic, Lakeland carried about 6,000 passengers a day between suburbs in northern New Jersey and Manhattan. In recent weeks, ridership has 400 to 500 riders, with some buses carrying as few as three passengers, Mr. Leo said.

For party hosts, rapid testing is the new velvet rope.

A private doctor administering a rapid test to Raya O’Neal, director of communications at the Surf Lodge in Montauk, N.Y., last week.Credit…Joe Carrotta for The New York Times

Dr. Asma Rashid, who runs a members-only medical concierge service in the Hamptons, has received some of the most sought-after party invitations this summer.

“We’ve gone to these private, private, private events, where they have me sign a ‘nothing you see in this house can be leaked’ document,” she said. “This is still a party town.”

Dr. Rashid is there to administer rapid or real-time tests for coronavirus. She performs the procedure — either a finger prick or a nose swab — in the car, and then lets guests into the house only if their tests come back negative. The entire procedure takes less than 30 minutes.

While most people in the U.S. wait seven to 14 days for results, a privileged few have access to rapid tests. There are a few types — some detect antibodies, others antigens or viral genetic material — but they all provide an answer in under 30 minutes.

Hosts are hiring doctors to screen guests before they attend gatherings, or children coming in from out of town for sleepovers. Other people are getting tests to provide peace of mind after a particularly wild night. Event companies are offering rapid testing as a service to clients alongside catering and music. Instagram influencers are even touting the service.

Still, these rapid tests aren’t totally reliable, said Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, New York City’s deputy commissioner of disease control. “Negatives are not definitive,” he said. (And there certainly have been false positives.)

“No test is 100 percent,” Dr. Rashid said. “A negative test does not preclude one to not be carrying the virus.”

Reporting was contributed by Maggie Astor, Ben Casselman, Damien Cave, Choe Sang-Hun, Emily Cochrane, Caitlin Dickerson, Ben Dooley, Catie Edmondson, Reid J. Epstein, J. David Goodman, Astead W. Herndon, Jan Hoffman, Shawn Hubler, Alyson Krueger, Apoorva Mandavilli, Patrick McGeehan and Richard C. Paddock.

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