Lydia DePillis
ProPublica
New York, NY, United States
Contact Lydia
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Lydia:
She’s Supposed to Protect Americans From Toxic Chemicals. First, She Just Has to Fix Trump’s Mess and Decades of Neglect.
Biden promised to prioritize people over polluters. His pick to deliver that, Michal Freedhoff, is facing a bare-bones budget, demoralized staff and increasingly angry advocates. → Read More
Here’s Why Rapid COVID Tests Are So Expensive and Hard to Find
Months-long silences. Mysterious rejections. Here’s what's behind the shortages of a critical tool for ending the pandemic. → Read More
Alabama Firm Took PPP Loan, Then Moved Plant To Mexico
Reprinted with permission from ProPublica Late last summer, after churning along through the pandemic with only a two-week pause, managers at FreightCar Americacalled hundreds of workers into the break area at the company's factory near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to tell them that the plant was closing for good. For some employees, the news wasn't a shock: They'd been hearing rumors that management… → Read More
Alabama Firm Took PPP Loan, Then Moved Plant To Mexico
Reprinted with permission from ProPublica Late last summer, after churning along through the pandemic with only a two-week pause, managers at FreightCar Americacalled hundreds of workers into the break area at the company's factory near Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to tell them that the plant was closing for good. For some employees, the news wasn't a shock: They'd been hearing rumors that management… → Read More
Hundreds of PPP Loans Went to Fake Farms in Absurd Places
An online lending platform called Kabbage sent 378 pandemic loans worth $7 million to fake companies (mostly farms) with names like “Deely Nuts” and “Beefy King.” → Read More
The IRS Cashed Her Check. Then the Late Notices Started Coming.
A mountainous backlog of paperwork at the IRS continues to wreak havoc on America’s tax collection system — which especially hurts lower-income filers. → Read More
Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready. —
Insurrectionists made no effort to hide their intentions, but law enforcement protecting Congress was caught flat-footed. → Read More
The Big Corporate Rescue and the America That’s Too Small to Save
Girish Patel doubts his small, 20-year-old shop will survive the pandemic economy. Thirty stories above, aerospace company TransDigm has sustained eye-popping profits thanks to steep layoffs and raised over a billion with help from the U.S. government. → Read More
This Treasury Official Is Running the Bailout. It’s Been Great for His Family. —
Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich has an increasingly prominent role. He still has ties to his family’s investment firm, which is a major beneficiary of the Treasury’s bailout actions. → Read More
Did Your Company Get Bailout Money? Are the Employees Benefiting From It? —
How has your company treated its workers during the crisis? As bailout money in the form of huge loan programs reaches to your company, what are you watching for or worried about? → Read More
FDA fast-tracks COVID-19 tests, but it’s unclear how accurate they are
“What good is a test if you don’t know it’s giving you reliable results?” → Read More
Bidding wars are causing New York to pay up to 15 times the normal price for medical equipment
With little guidance from Trump, competition among states, cities, hospitals, and federal agencies adds up to a staggering bill to fight coronavirus. → Read More
How South Korea skillfully scaled nationwide coronavirus testing while the US fell behind
Korean officials enacted a key reform, allowing the government to give near-instantaneous approval to testing systems in an emergency. → Read More
The FDA Is Forcing the CDC to Waste Time Double Testing Some Coronavirus Cases —
The FDA’s strict guidance on test confirmations is one of several obstacles that has slowed the federal government’s response to COVID-19. The FDA could change its rules to speed things up, but hasn’t. → Read More
How Trump’s Trade War Is Making Lobbyists Rich And Slamming Small Businesses —
Washington’s influence industry, including former Trump officials and allies, has made big money helping companies get exemptions from tariffs — sometimes by undercutting small business owners like Mike Elrod. → Read More
Corporate America is quietly working to suppress the voices of small investors
Earlier this week, the US Securities and Exchange Commission took a significant step to curtail the power of small shareholders. → Read More
How Trump’s Tariffs Are Creating Jobs — for Canadians —
A tariff loophole lets companies ship small boxes across the border duty free. So the huge shipments are now heading to warehouses in Canadian and Mexican border towns, instead of the U.S. → Read More
Everything You Need to Play Baseball Is Made in China — and Getting Hit by Trump’s Tariffs —
Baseball is America’s pastime, but prices on its China-made gear are about to rise as the trade war escalates. Golf, lacrosse, basketball and other sports will feel the pinch, too. → Read More
Bibles but Not Textbooks: Trump’s Tariff Exemptions Pick Winners and Losers —
Products won exemptions from the U.S. Trade Representative for “health, safety, national security and other factors,” but the criteria remain unclear. → Read More
Some green cards just got a lot more expensive
The US government just jacked up the price of investing your way to permanent residency. By a lot. → Read More