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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

It’s an economic scourge that costs workers at least $15 billion a year. It’s called wage theft, and a new report explains why corporations keep getting away with it.

Meanwhile, did the US government kill a young Black Panther activist in 1969? A new bill by one of Fred Hampton’s former comrades, Congressman Bobby Rush, seeks to open up the FBI’s files on Hampton’s case and others.

And lastly, the new federal official in charge of student loans has a record of taking on shady lenders. Hear why consumer advocates are praising the Biden administration’s appointment of Richard Cordray this week.

THESE ARE THE STORIES YOU NEED TO KNOW:

This tale of everyday corporate crime from the Associated Press. Essential workers struggling through the pandemic are facing another hazard of hard times: employers who steal their wages. Companies that hire child care workers, gas station clerks, restaurant servers and security guards are among the businesses most likely to get caught cheating their employees. That’s according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of minimum wage and overtime violations from the US Department of Labor. In 2019 alone, the agency cited about eight thousand five hundred employers for taking about $287 million from workers. Some major US corporations were among the worst offenders. They include Halliburton, G4S Wackenhut and Circle-K stores.

According to the AP, victims of wage theft toil on the lower rungs of the workforce. Danielle Wynne, a $10-an-hour convenience store clerk in Florida, said her boss ordered her to work off the clock. Ruth Palacios, a janitor from Mexico, earned less than minimum wage to disinfect a New York City hospital at the height of the pandemic. Companies have little incentive to follow the law. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, which investigates federal wage-theft complaints, rarely penalizes repeat offenders. On top of that, the division often lets businesses avoid repaying employees all the money they’re owed. Jenn Round, a labor expert at Rutgers University, said some companies do a cost-benefit analysis and realize it’s cheaper to violate the law, even if they get caught. Sounds like a great reason to increase fines for wage theft!

Bill Would Open COINTELPRO Records

It’s time for some truth. The Washington Post reports that a Democratic lawmaker introduced new legislation yesterday that would force the government to reveal decades-old FBI files about domestic spying on civil rights and peace activists. Illinois Democratic Representative Bobby Rush is seeking answers about the killing of Fred Hampton, a Black Panther activist targeted by an FBI informant and shot by police in Chicago in 1969. The congressman, who helped found the Illinois Black Panther Party and blames the FBI for Hampton’s death, said the files should hold important details about the bureau’s activities. The FBI declined to comment.

The Post says the FBI’s investigation of Hampton was part of a larger domestic intelligence gathering effort by the FBI called COINTELPRO, short for Counterintelligence Program. It entailed infiltrating, harassing, and sowing division among groups involved in constitutionally protected political activism. The restrictions imposed on the FBI in the wake of COINTELPRO have come under renewed scrutiny in recent months. Some have argued the FBI has interpreted the rules too narrowly, allowing the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol to be planned in plain view. Rush said he would welcome any conservatives’ support if that helps provide answers about the domestic spying program. Rush’s bill would require all COINTELPRO files to be made public within six months of the law’s passage. It would also remove the J. Edgar Hoover name from the FBI headquarters building. Maybe they should call it the Fred Hampton Memorial FBI Building.

Consumer Advocate Takes Over Student Loans

Here’s some hopeful news on the personnel front. The Post reports that Richard Cordray, the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has been named to head the federal aid office that oversees the government’s $1.5 trillion student loan portfolio. Cordray led the bureau’s crackdown on consumer abuses in debt collection, student loan servicing and for-profit colleges, garnering the respect of advocates and drawing the ire of those industries. His selection signals tougher oversight of the Education Department’s contractors and enforcement of the rules governing federal student aid.

According to the Post, Cordray will arrive at the department as the Biden administration grapples with its authority to cancel a portion of federal student loans, a policy championed by one of Cordray’s chief supporters, Senator Elizabeth Warren. The Democratic senator from Massachusetts praised his appointment Monday, saying she is, "very glad he will get to apply his fearlessness and expertise to protecting student loan borrowers." During his six-year tenure at the CFPB, Cordray frequently clashed with the financial industry and conservatives over his aggressive regulation. His efforts to weed out poor servicing of student loans and predatory career training schools at times put him at odds with the Education Department. The CFPB under Cordray’s direction also brought some of the most high-profile student lending cases in recent years. Among them: a lawsuit against the for-profit giant Corinthian Colleges for steering students into private loans that had interest rates as high as fifteen percent. Parasites! Your time is up.

AND NOW FOR SOME QUICKER QUICKIES:

The Guardian reports that the United Nations has condemned the violent repression of protests in Colombia, after police attacks left at least eighteen dead and eighty seven people missing. Riot police have rampaged across the smoke-filled streets, shooting protesters at point-blank range and charging at crowds with their motorcycles. Protests began peacefully with a nationwide general strike last Wednesday. Solidarity to all facing state violence.

Officials told NBC News that the man who tried to drive into CIA headquarters in Virginia on Monday has died of his injuries after being shot by FBI agents who believed he had a bomb. The man, Roy Gordon Cole, was known to the CIA because he had tried to drive into its heavily guarded facility before. No explosives were found.

The AP reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday failed to meet a midnight deadline to put together a new governing coalition. The news raises the possibility that his Likud party could be pushed into the opposition for the first time in twelve years. Feels like forever, though.

According to the Washington Post, President Joe Biden yesterday set a goal of seventy percent of adult Americans having at least one coronavirus vaccine shot by the Fourth of July. The administration is also taking steps to make vaccine more accessible, including directing pharmacies to offer walk-in appointments, redirecting federal resources to support pop-up clinics and sending more doses to rural health clinics. Whatever it takes, we’re in!

MAY 5, 2021 - AM QUICKIE

HOSTS - Sam Seder & Lucie Steiner

WRITER - Corey Pein

PRODUCER - Dorsey Shaw

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER - Brendan Finn