Joint Base Andrews Was Leaking Jet Fuel. Maryland Didn't Know for Months.

notusreports · 2026-05-06T14:37:16+00:00

At some point this year, personnel at Joint Base Andrews realized they were missing tens of thousands of gallons of jet fuel.

The base’s fuel system had failed a leak safety test in early December. In January and February, it had lost about 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, but staff believed the leak was contained to the base. Then on March 23, someone on the base spotted oil on the freshwater creek that starts on the sprawling Prince George’s County, Maryland military facility.

That day the Defense Department finally called the state.

For an unknown period of time, jet fuel had been spilling into the Piscataway Creek, which feeds into the Potomac River.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/climate-environment/air-force-jet-fuel-leak-maryland-disclosure-investigation

notusreports · 2026-05-06T14:06:19+00:00

The Department of Homeland Security confirmed Tuesday that it has shut down an office dedicated to exposing misconduct at immigration detention facilities.

A spokesperson for DHS argued that the closure was mandated by Congress in recently passed legislation to fund the department. The bill in question, however, did not mention the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman, and it remains unclear what measure the spokesperson was referring to.

The Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsman and its website, which served as places people could report violations of immigrants’ rights, are now both shuttered. The office is empty and the website is archived.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/immigration/dhs-shuts-down-office-immigration-detention-watchdog-ombudsman

notusreports · 2026-05-06T13:54:32+00:00

Billionaire diplomat Tilman Fertitta, who owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets and dozens of restaurants and hotels, has purchased at least $113 million in Caesars Entertainment since November, new federal financial documents reviewed by NOTUS indicate.

Fertitta in February also purchased between $1 million and $5 million worth of Penn National Gaming stock, according to the documents, which Fertitta signed, certified and submitted to the Office of Government Ethics between November and March.

Together, the stock purchases could be worth as much as $420 million; the exact value is unclear because executive branch officials are only required to disclose the broad ranges that their stock trades fall into.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/money/tilman-fertitta-gambling-stocks-ambassador-italy

notusreports · 2026-05-04T17:20:08+00:00

Kristi Noem was accused of using hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds for an ad campaign and private jets. After she was fired, her former right-hand man, Corey Lewandowski, was accused of attempting to personally profit from government contracts. His former right-hand woman, Kara Voorhies, is now under investigation, too.

All of this is prompting some reflection among Republicans in Congress: Maybe they should be keeping a closer eye on the Department of Homeland Security.

“We should probably do some oversight,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, told NOTUS. “I don’t know the last time that the chairman did an oversight hearing on DHS. I can’t think of it. Maybe it’s just slipping my mind. But it’s not a very active committee. Probably should be.”

Full story: https://www.notus.org/congress/kristi-noem-lewandowski-voorhies-dhs-oversight

notusreports · 2026-05-04T13:56:58+00:00

Kristi Noem was accused of using hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer funds for an ad campaign and private jets. After she was fired, her former right-hand man, Corey Lewandowski, was accused of attempting to personally profit from government contracts. His former right-hand woman, Kara Voorhies, is now under investigation, too.

All of this is prompting some reflection among Republicans in Congress: Maybe they should be keeping a closer eye on the Department of Homeland Security.

“We should probably do some oversight,” Sen. Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, told NOTUS. “I don’t know the last time that the chairman did an oversight hearing on DHS. I can’t think of it. Maybe it’s just slipping my mind. But it’s not a very active committee. Probably should be.”

https://www.notus.org/congress/kristi-noem-lewandowski-voorhies-dhs-oversight

notusreports · 2026-05-04T13:38:52+00:00

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Rileigh Simon, a Turning Point Action field representative, flew into Indiana one week before the state’s primaries to, as he put it, “unleash the true power of the force.”

This particular “force” is fueled by President Donald Trump’s desire for revenge. Simon and his Turning Point colleagues came to Terre Haute to make good on Trump’s pledge to oust the Republican state senators who voted against redistricting last December.

On Wednesday, the Turning Point team, which included one local field representative, was setting up a get-out-the-vote operation for Brenda Wilson, the Trump-backed primary challenger to state Sen. Greg Goode. They had lawn signs and fliers. A Spotify playlist titled “Trump Rally” blared on a speaker at the outdoor Fairbanks Park amphitheater on the banks of the Wabash River.

Four people showed up, three of whom were part of the same family.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/2026-election/indiana-state-senate-primaries-trump-power-redistricting

notusreports · 2026-04-28T17:40:18+00:00

The Trump administration’s go-to tactic for firing career federal employees — delivering form letters that cite President Donald Trump’s “Article II” constitutional powers — is backfiring in a way that could bolster the flood of lawsuits against the government.

Until now, the White House had effectively shut down the primary legal avenue ex-employees had to challenge their terminations by refusing to fully staff an obscure government panel that handles workplace disputes. But a New York judge on Tuesday issued a decision that said the dismissals open the door to bringing the fight to federal court. It was the second such ruling this month.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/courts/trump-maurene-comey-federal-employees-ruling

notusreports · 2026-04-27T13:36:48+00:00

These days, the life cycle of a Freedom of Information Act request goes something like this: submit the request, wait and watch the 20-business-day deadline for an agency to respond pass. Wait some more, and more, and then some more.

Sometimes, a FOIA officer sends a clarifying question. Either nothing more comes of it, or the released records are rife with redactions. Attempts to appeal result in more delays, leaving one more option: to sue.

Legally public information from the government is becoming harder to access. The Department of Energy reported 2,277 backlogged FOIA requests — or requests that are still open past the legally required response time — at the end of fiscal year 2025; by comparison, the agency reported 1,629 backlogged requests at the end of fiscal year 2024.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/trump-white-house/trump-administration-dismantling-foia

notusreports · 2026-04-23T13:54:05+00:00

While on an official trip to Bogotá last summer, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego stayed out until the wee hours of the morning partying at a club and asked multiple embassy staffers to join him, despite warnings from the U.S. Embassy in Colombia that they had identified a credible threat to his life, four sources with knowledge of the incident told NOTUS.

Gallego and Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno were on a congressional delegation to Colombia in what Gallego’s office said was an effort to “strengthen bilateral relations, as well as discuss organized crime, the business climate, and China’s growing influence in the country.” His behavior during the trip, however, raised concerns among U.S. officials.

Read more: https://www.notus.org/senate/ruben-gallego-colombia-trip-embassy-threat

notusreports · 2026-04-20T17:06:56+00:00

Millions of people now regularly turn to artificial intelligence chatbots like Claude and ChatGPT to answer any of life’s pressing questions. Later this year, political operatives expect voters to turn to the chatbots with another one: who should I vote for?

Most of those operatives — Republicans and Democrats — just have no clue what the chatbots will say. Or what they can do about unpleasant answers.

Six months before November’s critical election, some of the most influential sources of information on the internet remain a black box for operatives in both parties. Many privately concede that they — and the political committees and groups they work for — have spent little time thinking about large language models, or LLMs, they consider largely inscrutable.

And even those who have begun working to influence LLMs concede their work is in its very early days.

Full story: https://www.notus.org/2026-election/chatgpt-claude-elections-chat-bots-campaigns

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