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Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the alleged murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, is in prison awaiting trial. But he still managed to launch a new website, along with his first official statement since his arrest, via his legal team.The message stated that Mangione, who is being held at Brooklyns Metropolitan Detention Center, has been “overwhelmed by” and “grateful” for the support he’s received in the form of letters from those who have been moved by his story. Although Mangione is charged with Thompson’s murder, some Americans who are frustrated with the state of the health insurance industry have celebrated Mangione as a folk hero. Not long manhunt for the shooter began, there were memes, donations, merchandise, and conversations over the potential of copycats.“Powerfully, this support has transcended political, racial, and even class divisions, as mail has flooded MDC from across the country, and around the globe,” said Mangione in the statement. “While it is impossible for me to reply to most letters, please know that I read every one that I receive. Thank you again to everyone who took the time to write. I look forward to hearing more in the future.” Mangione’s legal team also shared a note on the site, explaining why they felt the need to create the outlet. “Due to the extraordinary volume of inquiries and outpouring of support, this site was created and is maintained by Luigi Mangiones New York legal defense team to provide answers to frequently asked questions, accurate information about his cases, and dispel misinformation,” the note read. “The intent is to share factual information regarding the unprecedented, multiple prosecutions against him.”Per the site’s FAQ page, Mangione’s team asked that supporters limit the number of certain items they are sending, such as photos. “Luigi is allowed to receive photos via Shutterfly and FreePrints in accordance with mail procedures while in custody,” the section explains, noting Mangione has received many photos.“Due to the volume of photos, they could take longer than usual to be screened and shared. Luigi appreciates the photos that are sent and kindly asks that people send no more than five photos at a time. Please note that every photo that is received is screened and reviewed by law enforcement.” It also asked that supporters temporarily refrain from sending books, given a large number have already been sent. The site also includes a link to a Give Send Go crowdfunding website, which supporters have been donating to in order to help pay for the suspect’s legal fees. As of Monday afternoon, the donations topped $475,000.Last week, the accused’s attorney, Karen Friedman Agnifilo told ABC News, “Luigi is aware of the fund and very much appreciates the outpouring of support.” Agnifilo continued, My client plans on utilizing it to fight all three of the unprecedented cases against him.Mangione has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include first-degree murder, an act of terrorism, criminal possession of a weapon and forgery by using a fake ID. His next court appearance is scheduled for February 21 in Manhattan.
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Personnel from Elon Musk’s government-downsizing team DOGE were set to visit the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)’s Air Traffic Control command center in Warrenton, Virginia, on Monday, as the Trump administration says it wants to reform the system. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy disclosed the plan in a social media post on Sunday. DOGE personnel will “get a firsthand look at the current system, learn what air traffic controllers like and dislike about their current tools, and envision how we can make a new, better, modern and safer system,” he added. The Trump administration this month reversed course and denied participation to air traffic controllers or security officers of the Transportation Security Administration in a government incentive program to quit. On Saturday, the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union said several hundred FAA probationary employees were among thousands fired as part of a campaign by President Donald Trump and Musk to slash the U.S. bureaucracy. The union said the “draconian action will increase the workload and place new responsibilities on a workforce that is already stretched thin.” The FAA did not immediately comment on Sunday. Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, said on X in response late on Sunday to the planned DOGE visit that the “safety of air travel is a non-partisan matter. SpaceX engineers will help make air travel safer.” Musk previously cited concerns about the recent temporary failure of the FAA’s NOTAM pilot alerting system, housed at the Virginia command center. This month Senator Maria Cantwell called on Duffy to bar Musk from involvement in FAA air space reform, citing conflicts of interest and saying SpaceX was fined by the agency. SpaceX did not comment late on Sunday. The FAA handles an average of 45,000 daily flights and says more than a quarter of the worlds scheduled flights arrive at or depart from U.S. airports. Last week, two U.S. senators called for increased funding and staffing for FAA air traffic after a fatal midair collision highlighted the persistent lack of aviation safety personnel. Senators Jeanne Shaheen and John Hoeven said the FAA is more than 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. FAA controller staffing has been flat in recent years and is down 10% from 2012. A January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter killed 67 people near Washington Reagan National Airport in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years. Duffy says the administration plans to “make sure that America has the most innovative, technologically advanced air traffic control system.” He is reconsidering rules that let air traffic control supervisors cut staffing before the fatal collision. Duffy plans to soon announce steps to surge more air traffic control training and applicants and will visit the FAA Academy in Oklahoma this week to meet air traffic controller instructors and students. David Shepardson, Reuters
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E-Commerce
Signaling a major shift in civil rights enforcement, the federal agency that enforces workplace anti-discrimination laws has moved to dismiss six of its own cases on behalf of workers alleging gender identity discrimination, arguing that the cases now conflict with President Donald Trump’s recent executive order, court documents say. The requests by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mark a major departure from its prior interpretation of civil rights law, and a stark contrast to a decade ago when the agency issued a landmark finding that a transgender civilian employee of the U.S. Army had been discriminated against because her employer refused to use her preferred pronouns or allow her to use bathrooms based on her gender identity. Just last year, the EEOC updated its guidance to specify that deliberately using the wrong pronouns for an employee, or refusing them access to bathrooms corresponding with their gender identity, constituted a form of harassment. That followed a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that gay, lesbian and transgender people are protected from employment discrimination. Nearly all workplace discrimination charges must pass through the EEOC at least initially and the agencys decision to drop at least six of the cases raises serious questions about whether its protections will continue to extend to transgender and gender nonconforming people going forward. The EEOC is seeking to dismiss three cases in Illinois as well as one in Alabama, New York and California. In each instance, the original complaints allege discrimination against transgender or gender nonconforming workers. The agency cites Trumps Jan. 20 executive order declaring that the government would recognize only two immutable sexes male and female as the reason for why it no longer intends to pursue the cases. The Alabama case charged that Harmony Hospitality LLC discriminated against an employee who identifies as a gay nonbinary male by firing him hours after co-owners learned of his gender identity. The New York lawsuit alleged that Boxwood Hotels LLC fired a transgender housekeeper who complained that a supervisor repeatedly misgendered them and made anti-transgender statements, referring to the housekeeper as a transformer and it. Another suit alleged that Wendys franchisee Starboard Group, Inc. subjected three transgender employees to pervasive sexual harassment at a Wendys restaurant in Carbondale, Illinois, claiming a supervisor demanded to know if one employee had a penis. In another Illinois case, a transgender Reggios Pizza cashier at Chicago OHare International Airport was outed by her manager, called a racist, homophobic slur by coworkers, and fired when she complained. In southern Illinois, at a hog farm called Sis-Bro, Inc., a coworker allegedly exposed his genitals to a transgender employee and touched her breasts. And in Santa Clara, California, the EEOC charged that a Lush Handmade Cosmetics store manager sexually harassed three gender nonconforming employees with offensive physical and verbal sexual conduct.” Former EEOC General Counsel and Professor and Co-Dean Emeritus at Rutgers Law School David Lopez, who served in the agency for more than 20 years, on Friday said in his experience, the EEOC has never dismissed cases based on substance rather than merit until now. For the country’s anti-discrimination agency to discriminate against a group, and say, Were not going to enforce the law on their behalf itself is discrimination, in my view,” Lopez said. “Its like a complete abdication of responsibility. The EEOC’s requests to dismiss the cases come just weeks after Trump dismissed two Democratic commissioners of the five-member EEOC before their terms expired, an unprecedented decision that removed what would have been a major obstacle to his administration efforts to upend interpretation of the nation’s civil rights laws. Had the commissioners been allowed to carry out their terms, the EEOC would have had a Democratic majority well into Trump’s term. The administration also fired Karla Gilbride as the EEOC’s general counsel, replacing her with Andrew Rogers as acting counsel. Shortly after their dismissals, acting EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, a Republican, signaled her intent to put the agency’s resources behind enforcing Trump’s executive order on gender. She announced in a statement that one of her priorities would be defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights.” Later, she ordered that the EEOC would continue accepting any and all discrimination charges filed by workers, although complaints that implicate Trump’s order should be elevated to headquarters for review. Biology is not bigotry. Biological sex is real, and it matters, Lucas said in her statement. Sex is binary (male and female) and immutable. It is not harassment to acknowledge these truths or to use language like pronouns that flow from these realities, even repeatedly. She removed the agencys pronoun app, which allowed employees to display their pronouns in their Microsoft 365 profiles, among other changes. The EEOC in fiscal year 2023 received more than 3,000 charges alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the most since the agency started tracking these charges in FY 2013, and up more than 36% from the previous year, according to the agencys website, which also provides a link for more information on discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But the information appears to have been removed and the link now leads to a blank page with the message: The requested page could not be found. Jocelyn Samuels, one of the Democratic EEOC commissioners who was fired last month, said via email that Trump’s executive order and the EEOC’s response to it is truly regrettable. “The Administrations efforts to erase trans people are deeply harmful to a vulnerable community and inconsistent with governing law,” she said. Sarah Warbelow, vice president of legal at LGBTQ+ rights group Human Rights Campaign, added in an emailed statement: This is the inevitable outcome when the EEOC is weaponized to greenlight discrimination against American workers. Instead of standing up for the rights of everyone to a workplace free from discrimination, including harassment and bias, the Trump administration is making it abundantly clear they will not protect working people.” By Claire Savage and Alexandra Olson, Associated Press The Associated Presss women in the workforce and state government coverage receives financial support from Pivotal Ventures. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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