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Crunching the numbers
- ProPublica and Columbia Journalism Investigations reported that dating apps lack standards for responding to user complaints regarding sexual assault and other attacks. The news organizations asked to hear the stories of dating app users, with 224 people responding to a questionnaire. “Of those, 188 said they had experienced assault or harassment after using a dating app or had been matched with a sex offender or inappropriate person,” the report says.
- According to the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, an estimated 3 to 10% of health care spending is lost to fraud. For Kaiser Health News, Daryl Austin reported that as dentists have lost appointments during the pandemic, some have pushed unnecessary procedures to get more money from insurance reimbursements.
- A poll found 60% of Mississippi residents oppose a state Supreme Court decision that killed a voter initiative to legalize medical marijuana. The ruling also shuts down ballot initiatives, which allow voters to approve amendments to the state constitution.
- A study from the World Health Organization estimates that 745,000 people around the world died in 2016 due to overworking.
In local news
- Missouri lawmakers passed a law enforcement overhaul that would ban chokeholds, require police departments to examine the work history of potential hires and create a program requiring mental health check-ins for officers who face trauma on the job.
- Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma, is introducing a bill that would give law enforcement agencies $7.5 million “to prepare officers to respond to crises and promote collaboration with medical and mental health professionals,” Oklahoma Watch reported.
- A consulting firm recommended that the Oklahoma City Police Department release footage of officer shootings more quickly.
- After signing into law a measure that blocks schools from teaching how racism impacts society, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt was removed from the centennial commission for the Tulsa Race Massacre.
- May’s issue of The Oklahoma Bar Journal is all about the history of Black lawyers in Oklahoma, including Ada Lois Sipuel, whose rejection from the University of Oklahoma’s law school led to a 1948 United States Supreme Court ruling requiring the state to admit Sipuel and other Black students to its law schools.
Upcoming from BigIfTrue.org
Industry observers predicted last year that illegal, predatory debt collection practices and scams would increase as job loss pushed more Americans into debt. We’re publishing a story later this month about how consumers have experienced more issues with debt collection during the pandemic.
You can support our efforts to dig into this topic with a one-time donation or by becoming a monthly donor. Our independent journalism, like last month’s story about how landlords dodge eviction bans, wouldn’t exist without our readers investing in it.
Thank you for reading Hard Reset. Send feedback my way at bryant@bigiftrue.org and 405-990-0988.
– Mollie Bryant
Founder and editor, BigIfTrue.org
