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Labor Department deploys ‘strike team’ to California over $21B unemployment debt, fraud concerns

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Labor Department deploys ‘strike team’ to California over B unemployment debt, fraud concerns

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The Labor Department deployed a “strike team” to California to address federal findings of improper payments and alleged fraud within the state’s unemployment insurance (UI) program.

California has been found to have a depleted UI trust fund, along with $21 billion in borrowed federal funds to keep the system running, which federal officials say has led state employers to pay higher UI taxes to repay the debt.

In a statement, the department cited an 83-page California State Auditor report that determined the state’s UI system is high-risk in part due to “inadequate fraud prevention and claimant service [in its employment development department (EDD)], as well as a high rate of overturned eligibility decisions in its Unemployment Insurance Program.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom  (Tayfun Coskun/Getty Images)

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“Financial issues and potential fraud in California’s unemployment insurance program will be fully examined. The previous administration turned a blind eye toward failing Labor programs. This ends now,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said.

“Immediately, we are engaging a specialized strike team to uncover any potential fraud or abuse and quickly moving to protect the American worker and taxpayers. I look forward to restoring the California UI program’s integrity and financial health.”

Chavez-DeRemer added that the “strike team” will include Labor Department specialists from both its national and regional offices.

The secretary also wrote a letter to the EDD, citing increasing improper payment rates, insufficient timeliness, data accuracy and quality concerns and questions about participants’ eligibility and the use of taxpayer funds.

California received about $290 billion in COVID relief, part of which helped what the California Post described as “rapidly implementing expanded unemployment benefits.”

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FEDERAL PROSECUTOR CALLS NEWSOM ‘KING OF FRAUD’ AS TRUMP LAUNCHES CALIFORNIA CORRUPTION PROBE

Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is cracking down on reported H-1B abuse. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

At least one California UI steward was convicted of using her position to file nearly $860,000 in fraudulent UI claims, while some civilians were convicted of creating nonexistent businesses to claim UI.

Before the strike team’s deployment, DOL Inspector General Anthony D’Esposito said he found nearly $1 billion in taxpayer funds “at risk” nationwide due to COVID-related UI fraud.

D’Esposito, a former NYPD officer and ex-congressman from Long Island, said in a statement that an analysis of 6.5 million prepaid debit cards used for COVID UI benefits still had $720 million loaded on them.

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“My office has warned that, absent swift action, U.S. taxpayers risk losing nearly a billion dollars in fraudulently obtained benefits,” D’Esposito said in a statement.

“This is taxpayer money, and it demands immediate attention.”

D’Esposito said fraud is not a victimless crime and that every misspent dollar is one that an actual needy family could use.

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Quality Learning Center in Minnesota was found to be at the center of an alleged childcare fraud scandal in the state. (Madelin Fuerste/Fox News)

“When we root out fraud, we protect taxpayers and lower the real cost of living,” he said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom and the state Senate’s top Republican for comment.

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EXCLUSIVE: Senate bill targets Minnesota-style ‘runaway fraud’ to force scammers to repay taxpayers

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New Mexico

New Mexico confirms latest measles case at a local jail

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New Mexico confirms latest measles case at a local jail


The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.

A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.

State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.

“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”

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Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.

All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.

The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.

Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.

Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.

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New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.

With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.

State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”

According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.

As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.

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On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.

The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.



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Oregon

Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class

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Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class


With the winter evaluation period of high school football recruiting now behind us, we’ve seen some of the top recruiting sites update their rankings over the past few weeks and start to reset their boards for the 2027 class. In February, On3 shifted players around after getting fresh looks at the class, and 247Sports did the same earlier this week.

So with Oregon’s handful of commits getting new ratings, where does the Ducks’ class rank nationally in this cycle?

If you look at sites individually, it looks different, with 247Sports having Oregon sitting at No. 13 in the nation. At Rivals, though, they take the industry ranking, which factors in their own rankings, plus an average from 247Sports and ESPN.

In the industry rankings, Oregon sits at No. 9 in the nation, with five commitments.

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Going into the summer months, the Ducks are in a great spot, leading or among the top schools for a handful of the top prospects in the nation, like 5-star QB Will Mencl or 5-star WR Dakota Guerrant. We will see what movement Oregon can make in the coming months after official visits take place early in the summer.

Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions. 



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Utah

22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide

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22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide


LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.

Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.

Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.

MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges

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The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.

According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.

The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.



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