Declarations

“We’re thinking that having the goats go in and eat back the brush might be the best way to maintain the treatment.”

— Hilary Boyd, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, speaking about a plan to use goats to help slow Colorado wildfires.

“While the vulnerable residents of her facility suffered through dreadful living conditions, the defendant selfishly used their benefits to pay for her own debts, travel, and gambling expenses in Atlantic City and Las Vegas.”

— Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh said in a statement regarding the former owner of a Richmond, Virginia, assisted living facility who pleaded guilty to health care fraud after spending more than $800,000 meant for residents’ care on travel, gambling expenses and personal debts, federal prosecutors said. Mable Jones owned and operated Jones & Jones, an assisted living facility for elderly and incapacitated adults, according to court documents.

“Instead, Entergy chose the bubble gum and super glue approach to protect their billions of dollars instead of their customers.”

— A lawsuit alleges Louisiana’s largest electric utility used a “bubble gum and super glue” approach to maintenance and construction that left customers sweltering in the dark without adequate sewage treatment after Hurricane Ida. Underground cables would have protected power transmission, the lawsuit said. The suit was filed against Entergy Corp. and its subsidiaries Entergy Louisiana and Entergy New Orleans. Entergy has said about 902,000 customers lost power after the major hurricane made landfall on Aug. 29.

“Without the decisions to approve the subdivision, issue building permits and certificates of occupancy, the opportunity for harm would not have existed.”

— A lawsuit filed by more than 150 homeowners alleges the decision by South Dakota’s Meade County to approve the development of the subdivision outside of Rapid City put homeowners at risk after a sinkhole exposed an abandoned gypsum mine. The federal complaint filed by Hideaway Hills residents seeks damages and other relief “allowed by law or equity.” The sinkhole forced about 40 residents from 15 homes in April 2020. Geotechnical studies show there could be water flowing through the abandoned mine and toward Interstate 90 and there is the potential for future sinkholes.

“This was a sham company that had one goal in mind. That was scamming victims.”

— Florida’s St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara comments after the South Florida owners of a swimming pool company were arrested and charged with swindling homeowners out of almost $2 million, as well as failing to obtain workers’ compensation insurance and insurance application fraud. Investigators say Chrystal Washburn and Brian Washburn, owners of Amore Pools, took large deposits from more than 100 homeowners on in-ground pools, then never completed or, in some cases, never started the work.

“A year ago, we’re health care heroes and everybody’s clapping for us. … And now we’re being in some areas harassed and disbelieved and ridiculed for what we’re trying to do, which is just depressing and frustrating.”

— Dr. Stu Coffman, a Dallas-based emergency room physician. More than a year after U.S. health care workers on the front lines against COVID-19 were saluted as heroes with nightly clapping from windows and balconies, some are being issued panic buttons in case of assault and ditching their scrubs before going out in public for fear of harassment. Across the country, doctors and nurses are dealing with hostility, threats and violence from patients angry over safety rules designed to keep the scourge from spreading.