AP investigations: Rising utility bills, agency abuses and widening security gaps

A series of Associated Press investigations and reports reveal widening problems at home and abroad. Contrary to a presidential promise to lower electricity costs, power bills have risen, leaving many West Virginians paying more for utilities than for rent or mortgages — a burden tied in part to the state’s reliance on aging coal-fired plants. Industrial safety concerns surfaced after an August blast at U.S. Steel’s Clairton Coke Works, where current and former workers say years of underinvestment left the plant with little margin for error.

AP reporting also documents systemic enforcement and security failings: at least two dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and contractors have been charged since 2020 with crimes ranging from physical and sexual abuse to corruption; ICE continued using full-body restraint devices during deportations despite safety warnings; and the Border Patrol operates a secret program monitoring millions of drivers to identify “suspicious” travel. Additional investigations found that U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats have killed more than 60 people, a U.S. agent allegedly tried to recruit Venezuela’s president’s pilot for a capture plot, American contractors reportedly used live ammunition and stun grenades at Gaza aid sites, and tens of thousands of documents show how some U.S. companies helped build systems used in China’s digital surveillance. Lawmakers at the state level have introduced more than 420 anti‑science bills this year, and cuts to U.S. foreign aid have been tied to mortal consequences abroad — all part of a broader picture of policy shortfalls and oversight failures. as reported by AP News