95.1 The Bee

Google confirmed it has fired 20 additional workers that it says were involved in protests last week in NYC and Sunnyvale, CA, denouncing the tech giant’s cloud computing deal with the Israeli government, bringing the total number of workers fired to 50 (per CNN).

The group organizing the demonstrations, No Tech for Apartheid, told The Washington Post that Google had fired an additional 20 workers, on top of the 30 workers terminated last week, claiming that some of the workers fired were “non-participating bystanders” during last Tuesday’s sit-in protests at Google’s offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, and not actively involved in the workplace activism. The statement decried the mass firings as “an aggressive and desperate act of retaliation” by the tech giant. Jane Chung, a spokesperson for No Tech for Apartheid, charged Google with trying to quash dissent within the company. The group has led demonstrations over Google and Amazon’s contracts with the Israeli government since 2021.

Google did not give specific numbers of how many were fired, it accused them of being involved in “disruptive activity,” with a spokesperson telling The Hill: “To reiterate, every single one of those whose employment was terminated was personally and definitively involved in disruptive activity inside our buildings. We carefully confirmed and reconfirmed this .. Google values its profits, and its $1.2 billion contract with the Israel government and military more than people.”  Google said it took longer to learn about others participating in the protests because masks partially concealed their identities and they were not wearing badges.

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The Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) announced on Wednesday said that a civil settlement had been reached with the victims of ex-Team USA doctor Larry Nassar, who was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison for sexually assaulting gymnasts — resolving their claims of wrongdoing against the FBI in its failures to investigate allegations of sexual abuse.

ABC News reported that the claims were filed after the department said it was declining to pursue criminal charges against agents whom the DOJ’s inspector general found failed to properly investigate allegations of abuse by Nassar. The watchdog report found the FBI was notified of Nassar’s behavior but failed to act for more than 14 months, a period where Nassar is alleged to have abused at least 40 more girls and women.

Nassar had sexually abused hundreds of victims under the guise of performing medical treatments over the course of nearly two decades, ending in 2016. Once the settlement is finalized, it will resolve 139 tort claims filed against the DOJ and the FBI in 2022 by the long list of athletes and patients who reported abuse by Nassar, including Maggie Nichols, Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney.

Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a press release: “for decades, Lawrence Nassar abused his position, betraying the trust of those under his care and medical supervision while skirting accountability. These allegations should have been taken seriously from the outset. While these settlements won’t undo the harm Nassar inflicted, our hope is that they will help give the victims of his crimes some of the critical support they need to continue healing.”

Nassar, 61, pleaded guilty in 2017 in connection with crimes against several victims and was sentenced to 60 years behind bars for child pornography and other charges, and again pleaded guilty in 2018 and was sentenced to an additional 40 to 175 years.  He is currently serving a prison term of between 40-175 years for multiple cases of sexual assault involving gymnasts at the school, as well as with USA Gymnastics.

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President Joe Biden marked Earth Day by announcing $7 billion in federal grants for residential solar projects serving 900,000-plus households in low- and middle-income communities while visiting Prince William Forest Park in Virginia on Monday to mark Earth Day.

The White House also plans to also expand Biden’s New Deal-style American Climate Corps green jobs training program, saying that it hopes its ‘Solar for All’ grants will help more than 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities get solar power. It said solar power could save about $400 per household in electricity costs and prevent 30 million metric tons of carbon pollution over 25 years.

The grants are being awarded by the Environmental Protection Agency, which unveiled the 60 recipients on Monday. The White House said: “the selectees will provide funds to states, territories, tribes, municipalities, and nonprofits across the country to develop long-lasting solar programs that enable low-income and disadvantaged communities to deploy and benefit from distributed residential solar.”

2,000 jobs were revealed as ‘just the beginning’ of what is expected to be about 20,000 positions that will be available for young people to get involved in conservation, renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure to address climate change. The White House said: “These positions are hosted by hundreds of organizations advancing clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience. The website, which is launching in beta form, will be regularly updated with new American Climate Corps positions. Its goal is to make it easy for any American to find work tackling the climate crisis while gaining the skills necessary for the clean energy and climate resilience workforce of the future.”. According to the White House, the jobs on ClimateCorps.gov will be located in 36 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico.

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Clothing retailer Express, the parent of the Bonbons and UpWest brands, announced on Monday that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and will be closing 95 stores (including all of its UpWest stores) with closing sales spanning across more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. to begin on Tuesday. Express said its remaining stores will operate as usual during the mass closing.

The retailer – based in Columbus, Ohio, and founded in 1980, was a shopping mall staple; the company said it made the move to file for bankruptcy as a strategic move to sell most of its operations to investment group WHP Global, an indirect subsidiary of shopping outlet giant Simon Property Group. Express also announced that it received a non-binding letter of intent from a group led by consumer brand acquisition and management firm WHP Global to potentially purchase the majority of its stores and operations. Express said that it had filed for Chapter 11 protection “to facilitate the sale process” (per ABC NEWS).

According to Express’ website, the company operates about 530 Express retail and Express Factory Outlet stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, in addition to roughly 60 Bonobos Guideshop locations as well as online operations for these brands.  Express reported nearly $1.2 billion in total debts and $1.3 billion in total assets as of March 2 in its Chapter 11 petition, which was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

Stewart Glendinning, CEO of Express, said in a statement: “We continue to make meaningful progress refining our product assortments, driving demand, connecting with customers and strengthening our operations. We are taking an important step to strengthen our financial position and enable Express to continue advancing our business initiatives. WHP has been a strong partner to the company since 2023, and the proposed transaction will provide us additional financial resources, better position the business for profitable growth and maximize value for our stakeholders.”

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