Michigan paid more in fraud than it would cost to fix Bridge cards
Criminals stole at least $14 million in food stamp benefits from Michigan’s most vulnerable residents last year — and the state shows no interest in pursuing a relatively low-cost fix for this growing problem.
The state loads money onto cards used by the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which recipients can use to swipe at grocery stores, farmers' markets, and gas stations. It could solve part of the problem by switching from magnetic cards that are easily cloned to more secure chipped cards. Switching to chipped cards would cost Michigan $8 million, and the federal government would pay $8 million, Michigan Capitol Confidential reported in May.
SNAP fraud in Michigan jumped by nearly 400% from 2023 to 2024, CapCon exclusively reported in May. The state mailed more than 269,000 replacement Bridge cards in 2024.
About 10 years ago, the state paid $30.8 million in fraud within Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services, which works with the federal government to feed the state’s most vulnerable. Click here to read more.
Texas Sues Swimming Organization For Letting Men Compete With Women
Texas is suing U.S. Masters Swimming over its policy allowing trans-identifying males to compete in women’s events, The Daily Wire can first report.
The lawsuit, which Attorney General Ken Paxton filed Thursday, comes after an investigation determined the amateur sports organization “engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading practices by allowing men to compete in women’s events,” Paxton’s office said in a press release.
U.S. Masters Swimming holds competitions for adult swimmers across the country and has about 60,000 members.
In May, Paxton launched an investigation into U.S. Masters Swimming after a trans-identifying male swimmer blew his female competitors away at this year’s Spring Nationals in San Antonio. Click here to read more.
Anti-ICE Violence Escalates to Doxing, Threatening Officers at Home
“ICE is trash,” announced the handwritten note, placed atop a pile of garbage, dumped on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s front lawn. Another vulgar note threatened the officer by name.
Such personal intimidation of law enforcement officers is part of an escalating trend of violence, as the left-wing agitators that pitched Black Lives Matter riots five summers ago now direct their inappropriate ire against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency tasked with enforcing federal immigration law.
After failing to deter ICE law enforcement efforts through mass rioting in Los Angeles, lawless radicals have adopted tactics that might be called more “sophisticated,” although they remain just as sinister.
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“Criminals have posted fliers in officers’ neighborhoods, that includes their name, address, pictures of them and their families,” warned the Department of Homeland Security. “These fliers threaten officers with text that says, ‘NO PEACE FOR ICE’ and ‘CHINGA LA MIGRA’ (translation: F— immigration services).” Click here to read more.
China’s cyber sector amplifies Beijing’s hacking of U.S. targets
Undeterred by recent indictments alleging widespread cyberespionage against American agencies, journalists and infrastructure targets, Chinese hackers are hitting a wider range of targets and battling harder to stay inside once detected, seven current and former U.S. officials said in interviews.
Hacks from suspected Chinese government actors detected by security firm CrowdStrike more than doubled from 2023 to more than 330 last year and continued to climb as the new administration took over, the company said. Bursts of espionage are typical with each new president, the officials said, and major staff cuts at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency have disrupted some response coordination.
“The U.S. is absolutely facing the most serious Chinese hacking ever. We are in China’s golden age of hacking,” said China expert Dakota Cary of security company SentinelOne.
Although the various Chinese hacking campaigns seem to be led by different government agencies and have different goals, all benefit from new techniques and from Beijing’s introduction of a less constrained system for cyber offense, the officials and outside researchers told The Washington Post. Click here to read more.
21 children taken from couple amid surrogacy scam investigation
ARCADIA, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) - Police in California are investigating a husband and wife for an alleged surrogacy scam after more than a dozen surrogate children were found packed in their home.
Police have placed 21 children, most from surrogate mothers, in protective custody amid an investigation into Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan. The couple had 15 children living at their Arcadia home, and six others had been moved to other homes.
Investigators say the children range in age from about 2 months old to 13 years old, but most are between 1 and 3 years old.
Police say action was taken after a 2-month-old baby was brought to the hospital with severe head trauma. Security video inside Zhang and Xuan’s home allegedly showed their nanny, Chunmei Li, violently shaking and hitting the baby. Video also showed other nannies abusing all the children, according to police. Click here to read more.
