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Detroit Home Health Agency Office Manager Sentenced for Her Role in $5.8 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

The office manager of a Detroit-area home health agency was sentenced today to serve 46 months in prison for her role in a $5.8 million Medicare fraud scheme.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Conspirators in Two Android Mobile Device App Piracy Groups Plead Guilty

Members of two different piracy groups engaged in the illegal distribution of copies of copyrighted Android mobile device applications have pleaded guilty for their roles in separate schemes, each designed to distribute more than one million copies of copyrighted apps.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit-Area Physical Therapist, Physical Therapy Assistant and Unlicensed Doctor Convicted in $14.9 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A federal jury in Detroit today convicted a physical therapist, physical therapy assistant and unlicensed doctor for their participation in a nearly $15 million Medicare fraud scheme.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Patient Recruiter Sentenced in Detroit for Role in $14.5 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A patient recruiter who participated in a Medicare fraud scheme that totaled almost $14.5 million was sentenced in Detroit yesterday to serve 86 months in prison.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit-Area Home Health Agency Owner Sentenced to 72 Months in Prison for His Role in $13.8 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Zahir Yousafzai, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen in the Eastern District of Michigan. In addition to his prison term, Yousafzai was sentenced to three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $4,131,135 in restitution, jointly and severally with his co-defendants.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit Tax Preparer, Previously Convicted on Tax Charges, Found Guilty of Failing to Appear at 2013 Bond Hearing

The Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration announced that Matthew Bender, of Detroit, was convicted yesterday following a jury trial of failing to appear at a bond hearing on July 2, 2013.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole Delivers Remarks at the “Pills to Needles: the Pathway to Rising Heroin Deaths” Event

As the Attorney General recently observed, heroin and opiate addiction and abuse “is impacting the lives of Americans in every state, in every region, and from every background and walk of life.”




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Attorney General Holder Delivers at the ONDCP Summit on Heroin and Prescription Drugs

You know as well as anyone that the challenges we face are daunting. You’ve shown us that, as we seek to address the problem of substance abuse, it makes sense to focus on the most dangerous types of drugs. And right now, few substances are more lethal than prescription opioids and heroin.




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Physician Pleads Guilty for Role in Detroit-Area Medicare Fraud Scheme

A Detroit-area physician pleaded guilty today for his role in a $7 million health care fraud scheme



  • OPA Press Releases

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Members of Three Different Android Mobile Device App Piracy Groups Charged

Three federal indictments were unsealed today in the Northern District of Georgia charging six members of three different piracy groups – Appbucket, Applanet and SnappzMarket – for their roles in the illegal distribution of copies of copyrighted Android mobile device applications, or “apps,” announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates of the Northern District of Georgia, and Special Agent in Charge J. Britt Johnson of the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office



  • OPA Press Releases

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Justice Department Seeks to Shut Down Detroit Area Tax Return Preparers

The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court in Detroit to permanently bar Brandon Lee and Tamika Lee, a husband and wife who do business as Quick Money Tax & tax returns in order to claim false and inflated earned income tax credits (EITC).



  • OPA Press Releases

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Justice Department Announces Successful Resolution of Consent Judgment Involving Detroit Police Department

The Justice Department today announced the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan’s termination of the consent judgment relating to the Detroit Police Department’s (DPD) use of force and arrest and witness detention practices. The Justice Department and the city of Detroit jointly sought the termination of the consent judgment and approval of a Transition Agreement maintaining federal oversight of the DPD for an additional 18 months. The transition agreement starts a new chapter of reform and accountability for the DPD as it works in collaboration with the Justice Department to better ensure constitutional policing, promote community confidence, and improve public safety in the city of Detroit. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan have worked cooperatively throughout the duration of this matter



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit-Area Man Indicted for Attempting to Conceal Evidence in Connection with Upcoming Trial for $30 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

A Detroit-area man was indicted today for obstruction of justice in connection with his alleged attempts to conceal evidence relevant to his upcoming trial for an alleged health care fraud scheme with estimated losses exceeding $30 million.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit Gang Leader Convicted for Planning Armed Robbery by Gang Members

A leader of a street gang that operated on the east side of Detroit was found guilty today by a federal jury of aiding and abetting an armed robbery.



  • OPA Press Releases

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Detroit-Area Doctor Admits to Providing Medically Unnecessary Chemotherapy to Patients

A Detroit-area hematologist-oncologist pleaded guilty today for his role in a health care fraud scheme, admitting that he administered unnecessary chemotherapy to fraudulently bill the Medicare program and private insurance companies. According to court records, the scheme enabled the doctor to submit approximately $225 million in claims to Medicare over six years.



  • OPA Press Releases

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4 Asteroids including 1,280-foot one hurtling towards Earth: NASA

2012 XA133 or city killer as it is being called is the third asteroid heading towards the Earth.




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Physical therapy better than steroids for knee OA




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Author Correction: Genetic circuit design automation for the gut resident species <i>Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron</i>




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Author Correction: Insights into parathyroid hormone secretion




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Impact of corticosteroid therapy on outcomes of persons with SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, or MERS-CoV infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis




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Android Push Notifications with PhoneGap

Learn how to code server-side push notifications for Android devices.




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How philanthropy, business, and government sparked Detroit’s resurgence


Event Information

April 26, 2016
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM EDT

Falk Auditorium

1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Register for the Event

Having emerged from the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history, Detroit is now on surer financial footing and experiencing an economic resurgence. Due much in part to an unprecedented collaboration among philanthropy, business, and government, Detroit is benefiting from private and public sector investments downtown and across its neighborhoods. Today, there are revived neighborhoods, new businesses, a downtown innovation district, the M-1 RAIL transit corridor, and a spirit of creativity and entrepreneurialism.

On Tuesday, April 26, the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brookings Institution hosted an event about Detroit’s rebound. Brookings Vice President of Metropolitan Policy Amy Liu opened the program and introduced Kresge Foundation President Rip Rapson, who presented findings from The Detroit Reinvestment Index, forthcoming research on what national business leaders think about the city. Rapson then moderated a panel of experts who discussed accomplishments to date and the work yet to come in furthering Detroit’s revitalization.

Join the conversation on Twitter at #DetroitResurgence


Photos


Amy Liu opens the program


Rip Rapson gives remarks


Sandy Baruah, President and Chief Executive Officer, Detroit Regional Chamber; Stephen Henderson, Editorial Page Editor, The Detroit Free Press; Quintin E. Primo III, Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Capri Investment Group, LLC ; Jennifer Vey, Fellow & Co-Director, Robert and Anne Bass Initiative on Innovation and Placemaking, The Brookings Institution

Video

Audio

     
 
 




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The muni market in the post-Detroit and post-Puerto Rico bankruptcy era


Event Information

July 12, 2016
2:10 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

Online Only
Live Webcast

Puerto Rico is the latest, but probably not the last, case of a local government confronting financial strains that call into question its ability to meet its obligations to bondholders while providing services to its taxpaying constituents. Puerto Rico is, of course, a special case because it is a territory, not a state or municipality. Will Puerto Rico’s problems have ripple effects for the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market? What about the resolution of Detroit's bankruptcy? How will state and local governments and the courts weigh the interests of pensioners, employees, taxpayers and bondholders when there isn't enough money to go around?

On Tuesday, July 12, the Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy at Brookings webcasted the keynote address from the 5th annual Municipal Finance Conference, delivered by the sitting governor of Puerto Rico, Hon. Alejandro García Padilla. After Governor Padilla’s remarks on Puerto Rico’s future, Hutchins Center Director David Wessel moderated a panel on the politics and practice of municipal finance in the post-Detroit and post-Puerto Rico era.

Join the conversation and tweet questions for the panelists at #MuniFinance.

      

Video

Transcript

Event Materials

      
 
 




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How a Detroit developer is using innovative leasing to support the city’s creative economy

Inclusive growth is a top priority in today’s uneven economy, as widening income inequities, housing affordability crises, and health disparities leave certain places and people without equitable access to opportunity, health, and well-being. Brookings and others have long argued that inclusive economic growth is essential to mitigate such disparities, yet implementing inclusive growth models and…

       




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How a Detroit developer is using innovative leasing to support the city’s creative economy

Inclusive growth is a top priority in today’s uneven economy, as widening income inequities, housing affordability crises, and health disparities leave certain places and people without equitable access to opportunity, health, and well-being. Brookings and others have long argued that inclusive economic growth is essential to mitigate such disparities, yet implementing inclusive growth models and…

       




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Jésus est juif en Amérique: Droite évangélique et lobbies chrétiens pro-Israël

The alliance uniting the United States and Israel for over 60 years is commonly attributed to the influence of an all-powerful Jewish lobby thought to pull the strings of American foreign policy in the Middle East. Yet in Jésus est juif en Amérique : Droite évangélique et lobbies chrétiens pro-Israël, visiting fellow in the Center…

       




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Detroit Needs a Selloff, Not a Bailout

Robert Crandall and Clifford Winston discuss a proposal for automakers they think will cost taxpayers less and, in the long run, be more beneficial to labor and the overall economy than either a straight bailout or bankruptcy.

      
 
 




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NASA considers public values in its Asteroid Initiative


NASA’s Asteroid Initiative encompasses efforts for the human exploration of asteroids—as well as the Asteroid Grand Challenge—to enhance asteroid detection capabilities and mitigate their threat to Earth. The human space flight portion of the initiative primarily includes the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), which is a proposal to put an asteroid in orbit of the moon and send astronauts to it. The program originally contemplated two alternatives for closer study: capturing a small 10m diameter asteroid versus simply recovering a boulder from a much larger asteroid. Late in March, NASA offered an update of its plans. It has decided to retrieve a boulder from an asteroid near Earth’s orbit—candidates are the asteroids 2008 EV5, Bennu, and Itokawa—and will place the boulder on the moon’s orbit to further study it.

This mission will help NASA develop a host of technical capabilities. For instance, Solar Electric Propulsion uses solar electric power to charge atoms for spacecraft propulsion—in the absence of gravity, even a modicum of force can alter the trajectory of a body in outer space. Another related capability under development is the gravity tractor, which is based on the notion that even the modest mass of a spacecraft can exert sufficient gravitational force over an asteroid to ever so slightly change its orbit. The ARM spacecraft mass could be further increased by its ability to capture a boulder from the asteroid that is steering clear of the Earth, enabling a test of how humans might prevent asteroid threats in the future. Thus, NASA will have a second test of how to deflect near-Earth objects on a hazardous trajectory. The first test, implemented as part of the Deep Impact Mission, is a kinetic impactor; that is, crashing a spacecraft on an approaching object to change its trajectory.

The Asteroid Initiative is a partner of the agency’s Near Earth Object Observation (NEOO) program. The goal of this program is to discover and monitor space objects traveling on a trajectory that could pose the risk of hitting Earth with catastrophic effects. The program also seeks to develop mitigation strategies. The capabilities developed by ARM could also support other programs of NASA, such as the manned exploration of Mars.

NEOO has recently enjoyed an uptick of public support. It used to be funded at about $4 million in the 1990s and in 2010 was allocated a paltry $6 million. But then, a redirection of priorities—linked to the transition from the Bush to the Obama administrations—increased funding for NEOO to about $20 million in 2012 and $40 million in 2014—and NASA is seeking $50 million for 2015. It is clear that NASA officials made a compelling case for the importance of NEOO; in fact, what they are asking seems quite a modest amount if indeed asteroids pose an existential risk to life on earth. At the same time, the instrumental importance of the program and the public funds devoted to it beg the question as to whether taxpayers should have a say in the decisions NASA is making regarding how to proceed with the program.

NASA has done something remarkable to help answer this question.

Last November, NASA partnered with the ECAST network (Expert and Citizen Assessment of Science and Technology) to host a citizen forum assessing the Asteroid Initiative. ECAST is a consortium of science policy and advocacy organizations which specializes in citizen deliberations on science policy. The forum consisted of a dialogue with 100 citizens in Phoenix and Boston who learned more about the asteroid initiative and then commented on various aspects of the project.

The participants, who were selected to approximate the demographics of the U.S. population, were asked to assess mitigation strategies to protect against asteroids. They were introduced to four strategies: civil defense, gravity tractor, kinetic impactor, and nuclear blast deflection. As part of the deliberations, they were asked to consider the two aforementioned approaches to perform ARM. A consensus emerged about the boulder retrieval option primarily because citizens thought that option offered better prospects for developing planetary defense technologies.  This preference existed despite the excitement of capturing a full asteroid, which could potentially have additional economic impacts. The participants showed interest in promoting the development of mitigation capabilities at least as much as they wanted to protect traditional NASA goals such as the advancement of science and space flight technology. This is not surprising given that concerns about doomsday should reasonably take precedence over traditional research and exploration concerns.

NASA could have decided to set ARM along the path of boulder retrieval exclusively on technical merits, but having conducted a citizen forum, the agency is now able to claim that this decision is also socially robust, which is to say, is responsive to public values of consensus. In this manner, NASA has shown a promising method by which research mission federal agencies can increase their public accountability.

In the same spirit of responsible research and innovation, a recent Brookings paper I authored with David Guston—who is a co-founder of ECAST—proposes a number of other innovative ways in which the innovation enterprise can be made more responsive to public values and social expectations.

Kudos to NASA for being at the forefront of innovation in space exploration and public accountability.

Image Source: © Handout . / Reuters
     
 
 




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Climate change brings disasters on steroids

Editor’s Note: Nonresident Senior Fellow Jane McAdam says that climate change-related displacement is happening now and band aid solutions to natural disasters are simply not enough. The time is now to be proactive, because the cost of inaction will be much higher. This article was originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald and on smh.com.au.…

      
 
 




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Finally! U.N. to create asteroid defense group to prevent death from above

What's the point of protecting the environment if bad luck brings a big space rock on a trajectory that crosses Earth's path?




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Toyota’s Fuel Cell Vehicle revealed (sort of...) at the Detroit Auto Show

Last week at CES in Las Vegas, Toyota revealed the FCV concept car for the fuel cell vehicle they will be making available next year. I had a chance to see the concept this week at the Detroit Auto Show.




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: All-New Toyota Prius to be Unveiled Soon (But We've Already Seen It)

The Best-Selling Hybrid Car Gets a MakeoverIt might not be very suspenseful because we've all already seen leaked shots of the 3rd generation Toyota Prius hybrid (see below -




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: First Look at Toyota FT-EV Electric Car Concept

Diminutive but Electrifying The Toyota FT-EV electric car concept that debuted at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show is based on the platform of the 57 MPG Toyota iQ microcar that recently went on sale in Europe and that is apparently already a hit in




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Detroit Auto Show 2009: New 2010 Toyota Prius Hybrid Will Get 50 MPG, Optional Solar Roof

Photo: Michael Graham Richard. Click to see 2010 Toyota Prius Slideshow.2010 Toyota^ Prius Hybrid: Hello WorldAfter some not too suspenseful waiting, here it is. The official debut of the 3rd generation Toyota Prius hybrid! You can see tons of




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2010 Detroit Auto Show: Toyota FT-CH Hybrid Concept Might Join Prius Family

Photo: Michael Graham RichardPrius Might Become a Family, 8 New Hybrid Models ComingMaybe the rumors that have been floating around for a long time were true... Toyota said during its press event at the 2010 Detroit Auto Show that they are considering




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Heroic cow escapes trip to slaughterhouse, hides in Dutch forest for weeks

And in the meantime, the bodacious bovine has become a social media star and will receive a full pardon … as soon as they can get her out of the woods.




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Marathon Refinery Fire in Detroit Another Sign of Environmental Injustice

Last Saturday's Marathon Oil refinery explosion and fire was yet another dangerous, polluting event in a string of environmental injustices to plague the residents of the 48217 zip code in Detroit




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Flatpack Passive House is made in Detroit

Phoenix Haus brings European prefab technology to the midwest




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Terroir matters as much for wood as it does for wine

A new organic winery for Pizzolato, designed by MADE, is built almost entirely out of local, sustainably harvested wood.




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Heroic dog braves Long Island Sound to rescue baby deer

Watch this English golden retriever named Storm rush in to help the fawn and bring it back to shore.




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Superbook turns your Android smart phone into a complete laptop

It may well be all most people need as a computer, and it may well be what we have been waiting for.




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Alternative view of the future of the car at Detroit Auto Show

A designer's take on the car of the future. Hint: it's a bike




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Detroit Dirt and Ford do brilliant parody of Cadillac's ELR ad

If this is what advertisers do to promote electric and hybrid cars, I may just go buy a TV.




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Northwestern Mutual Honors Heroic Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother's Day - Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms

Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother’s Day





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Northwestern Mutual Honors Heroic Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother's Day - Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms

Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother’s Day





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Northwestern Mutual Honors Heroic Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother's Day - Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms

Northwestern Mutual Honors Moms of Childhood Cancer Patients this Mother’s Day




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A point-of-sale system like Square on steroids

A New York City cowboy boot store may sell classic styles, but it's been improving its sales by using technology and analytics on the Bindo POS iPad app.




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Private equity investors are zeroing in on financial advice business

The registered investment advisor industry has attracted the attention of private equity investors, thanks to good growth, high profit margins, consistent cash flow and low capital needs.