Mike Balsamo

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Mike Balsamo
@MikeBalsamo1
Lead Justice Dept. & federal law enforcement reporter . Board member . Prior gigs: NYC & LA. Long Island native. Taco aficionado. MBalsamo@ap.org
Washington, DCapnews.comJoined November 2011

Mike Balsamo’s Tweets

PARIS (AP) — A French judicial official says a suspect in the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has been arrested in France.
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A federal prisoner at a high-security penitentiary in Colorado died today in an altercation with another inmate, marking the third time a Bureau of Prisons inmate has been killed in a U.S. federal prison in the last month.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional leaders announce Bob Dole to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Thursday.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Department sues Texas over new redistricting map, says plans discriminate against Latino, Black voters.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Ohio religious group says gang in Haiti releases three more hostages, 12 more remain captive.
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Eyes
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Frank Stoltze
@StoltzeFrankly
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I've confirmed one of the nation's best known police leaders Art Acevedo will enter the race to unseat @LACoSheriff Born in Havana..raised LA..started at CHP..was chief in Austin, Houston and Miami, where his departure was rocky @LAist @ReporterClaudia npr.org/2021/10/12/104
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A BOP officer at a women’s prison in California was charged today with sexually abusing an inmate. He’s the third worker at FCI Dublin charged with abusing inmates in recent months & his arrest comes after the warden was arrested for similar conduct.
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PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Michigan prosecutor files involuntary manslaughter charges against suspect's parents in Oxford High School shooting.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate passes stopgap bill averting shutdown and funding government through mid-February; bill next goes to Biden.
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A 13-year-old in Georgia was making ghost guns in his house & selling them, sheriff's officials say. He fired a shot at people who took the gun without paying & struck his sister, killing her. She died as her mother rushed her to the hospital.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House votes to fund government into February, avoid weekend shutdown; quick Senate action in doubt over vaccine mandates.
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Senate Judiciary Chair ⁦⁩ lambasted the director of the beleaguered federal prison system on Thursday, saying he has “no intention of reforming the institution” and reiterating his call for the director to be immediately fired.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Jan. 6 panel advances contempt charges against former Justice Dept. official Jeffrey Clark.
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OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Teen charged with murder, terrorism, other charges in shooting that killed 4 fellow students at Michigan high school.
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BREAKING: A person in California has become the first in the U.S. to have an identified case of the omicron variant of COVID-19, a U.S. official told . It comes as scientists continue to study the risks posed by the new strain of the virus.
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OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Undersheriff: 3 students killed and 6 people injured in Michigan high school shooting; 15-year-old gunman arrested.
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Will be curious to see whether or not the Justice Dept. steps in here, as it did under the Trump admin. with the proposed site in Philadelphia. The Third Circuit ruled in the Philly case in January that such a supervised consumption site would violate federal law.
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Jeff Mays
@JeffCMays
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NEW: In an attempt to curb a surge in overdose deaths caused by increasingly potent street drugs, New York City will allow two supervised injection sites in Manhattan to begin operating as soon today. W/@andylocal nytimes.com/2021/11/30/nyr
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A Michael Jackson impersonator in a traveling production of Jesus Christ Superstar is charged with storming the Capitol with fellow Oath Keepers. On Monday, the actor almost talked his way into jail after espousing "sovereign citizen" rhetoric.
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A 32-yr.-old inmate at USP Canaan in Pennsylvania died this morning after an altercation with a fellow prisoner. The Bureau of Prisons says Dominique Spence was serving 6+ yr. sentence as a felon in possession of a firearm. The second inmate was treated for minor injuries.
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For the second time in a few days, reports someone stole a French Bulldog during a home burglary. One of the pooches — taken from a home in Huntington — was found in Center Moriches. Police say another Frenchie, named Zushi, was stolen from a Bay Shore home Thurs. or Fri.
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On Sat., Britain confirmed two linked cases of the new omicron variant while Germany indicated it has a probable case. Dutch authorities are also checking for the new variant after 61 passengers on two flights from South Africa tested positive for COVID-19
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GENEVA (AP) — World Health Organization classifies new COVID-19 variant as highly transmissible virus of concern, names it "Omicron."
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Though many federal prisons are still satellite feeding (meals given in housing units) b/c of covid restrictions, most will serve a (sort of) traditional Thanksgiving meal today, as has been the case for years. BOP provided a sample menu of what's being served at FMC Fort Worth.
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OH on plane as flight attendant asks if other passenger wants anything to eat for breakfast: “Ma’am, that’s champagne. It is a drink, not food.”
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Happy Thanksgiving folks! So much to be thankful for this yr. I’m eternally grateful to those who have shared their stories with me (sometimes at great risk to themselves) & to all the folks who answer my calls & texts at all hours when I know you want to tell me to go kick rocks
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A security guard hired by TV station KRON4 in the San Francisco Bay Area was shot Wednesday afternoon while on assignment with a reporter in Oakland. Police say it was an attempted robbery & the suspect was trying to take camera equipment, the station reports.
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KRON4 News
@kron4news
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A security guard hired by KRON4 was shot Wednesday afternoon while on assignment with a KRON4 reporter. trib.al/PkK4NJ6
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Attorney General Merrick Garland has directed U.S. attorneys across the country to swiftly prioritize prosecution of federal crimes that happen on commercial flights as federal officials face a historic number of investigations into passenger behavior.
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The letter to union members from BOP union president Shane Fausey, obtained by the , also repeated misinformation about the vaccine, including claims that it doesn’t stop the spread of COVID-19 and that it does not reduce the “overall adverse medical effects of the virus.”
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The union has filed suit seeking to block the mandate & argues it’s an unfair labor practice & violates employees’ free speech & privacy rights. Bruce Castor & Michael van der Veen, who represented former President Donald Trump at his impeachment trial, are representing the union
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The president of the union representing Bureau of Prisons workers said more than 3,500 BOP employees — about 10% of the agency’s workforce — were being issued counseling letters & face possible termination for not complying with the federal vaccine mandate
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BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Travis McMichael, who shot Ahmaud Arbery, has been convicted of murder; the case inflamed tensions over racial injustice.
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BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Jurors have reached a verdict in the trial of the three white men charged in Ahmaud Arbery's slaying.
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Officer: Suspect in Wisconsin parade crash seemed to be intentionally moving side to side to strike multiple people.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — Jury: White nationalists found liable in 4 counts for violence at Unite the Right rally, no verdict on 2 key claims.
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The Justice Department is adding $800K to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System to increase resources for cases involving American Indians & Alaska Natives. It follows recommendation from Operation Lady Justice, the Trump-era federal task force & supports Biden EO.
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An inmate at USP Tucson in Ariz. died yesterday, nearly two weeks after an altercation at the high-security prison. The BOP says 61-year-old Stephen Keating was serving a 110 yr. sentence after pleading guilty to sexually abusing young children to create & distribute child porn.
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Law enforcement official: Investigators examining whether person held in deadly Wisconsin parade crash was fleeing crime.
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — City of Waukesha, Wisconsin, says at least 5 people dead and more than 40 injured after SUV speeds into Christmas parade.
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Police chief in Waukesha, Wisconsin, says there were "some fatalities" when SUV sped into Christmas parade.
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WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — Waukesha, Wisconsin, police chief says more than 20 injured when SUV plows into Christmas parade.
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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — US-based church organization says 2 kidnapped people in missionary group freed in Haiti.
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KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse cleared of all charges in shootings that intensified debate over vigilantism, guns and racial injustice.
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KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Jury reaches a verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse murder case, which became flashpoint over guns, protests, vigilantism.
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An unbelievably powerful story from ⁦⁩ on children dying because they can’t get transplants in Venezuela. “Except for a few charity-aided cases, poor Venezuelan children have not received organ or bone marrow transplants since 2017.”
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You have to read this story from today. “Some Florida prison guards openly tout associations with white supremacist groups to intimidate inmates and Black colleagues, a persistent practice that often goes unpunished…”
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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma governor commutes death sentence of Julius Jones, who was convicted of killing businessman in 1999.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — US charges 2 suspected Iranian computer hackers, alleging they tried to intimidate voters ahead of presidential election.
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Meng Hongwei, the former Interpol president, has vanished into China’s sprawling penal system. His wife, a political refugee under round-the-clock police protection in France, is speaking without any anonymity for the first time, to the .
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PARCHMAN, Miss. (AP) — State: Man who killed estranged wife, terrorized their family becomes 1st person executed in Mississippi since 2012.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — House censures Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, removes him from committees over posting of violent video.
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BREAKING: Jacob Chansley, the spear-carrying Jan. 6 rioter whose horned fur hat, bare chest and face paint made him one of the more recognizable figures in the assault on the Capitol, has been sentenced to 41 months in prison.
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NEW: An inmate at FCI Fort Dix in NJ was stabbed in the eyeball by a fellow prisoner this month, the latest gruesome example of violence in the Bureau of Prisons. The prison is run by the same warden who was in charge of the MCC when Epstein killed himself
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Senate Judiciary Chair Durbin doubles down on call to oust BOP director & says there "is no excuse for any further delay in dismissing Director Carvajal. It is time for Atty. Gen. Garland to appoint new leadership at the bureau that will address the crisis that he has created..."
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and have been digging into BOP for two years now reporting one disturbing thing after another.
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Senate Judiciary Committee
@JudiciaryDems
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BREAKING: Following an @AP investigation which found that the Federal Bureau of Prisons is a "hotbed of abuse, graft and corruption" that "turned a blind eye to employees accused of misconduct," Senate Judiciary Chair Durbin calls on AG Garland to dismiss BOP Director Carvajal.
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. says BOP has not applied earned time credits to any of the approximately 60K eligible inmates who may have completed recidivism reduction programs and activities under the First Step Act because BOP officials have been refusing to meet in person to bargain w/ union.
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DOJ Inspector General
@JusticeOIG
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Video: Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz discusses findings of our report on Impact of the Failure to Conduct Formal Policy Negotiations on the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Implementation of the FIRST STEP Act and Closure of Office of the Inspector General Recommendations.
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Senate Judiciary Chair calls on AG Merrick Garland to oust Bureau of Prisons Dir. Michael Carvajal after investigation reveals how BOP has turned a blind eye to staff misconduct & details over 100 arrests of federal prison workers since ‘19
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NEW YORK (AP) — American journalist Danny Fenster arrives in US after nearly 6 months in jail in military-ruled Myanmar.
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones found liable for damages in lawsuits brought by parents of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon taken into federal custody on contempt charges, will appear before judge later Monday.
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LONDON (AP) — UK police say taxi blast outside Liverpool hospital was a 'terrorist incident' involving improvised bomb; motive unclear.
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If you have info on misconduct inside the Bureau of Prisons we definitely want to hear from you. DMs are open. Email is in bio. And of course snail mail is also always welcome (letters from inmates to the media is considered special mail under BOP guidelines)
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Santa’s Sak Santa ClausWrapped present
@mikesisak
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Stories like this aren't possible without the help of whistleblowers, inmates and their families, and anyone else who suspects wrongdoing or knows what's going on and tells us about it. Share your stories and your tips with us here: ap.org/tips
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