Jamie Smith Hopkins

May 1, 2024 | publicintegrity.org | Jamie Smith Hopkins

Reading Time: 2 minutesIt can kill on the spot or years after prolonged exposure. When methylene chloride’s fumes build up, the chemical switches off the brain’s respiratory center, asphyxiating its victims if it doesn’t trigger a heart attack first. At lower levels, the federal government says, it increases the risk of multiple types of cancer.

Dec 14, 2023 | publicintegrity.org | Jamie Smith Hopkins |Maya Srikrishnan

What happens if you don’t have the money to pay your state income tax bill? As the Center for Public Integrity has investigated the impact of state taxes on economic inequality, we kept hearing how states’ collection practices weighed on lower-income residents. But states typically put fewer specifics on their websites than the IRS does […]

Oct 27, 2023 | publicintegrity.org | Jamie Smith Hopkins

Reading Time: 4 minutesIn the latest example of state pushback to civil-rights enforcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a Texas agency has pulled out of negotiations to resolve complaints alleging its decisions on pollution are racially discriminatory. EPA, which disclosed the development on its online docket Thursday with a letter dated Wednesday, said it would continue investigating the matters.

Oct 24, 2023 | publicintegrity.org | Jamie Smith Hopkins

Reading Time: 5 minutesYou don’t need to report on the environment to investigate environmental justice. The issue intersects with many other topics: politics, planning and zoning, budgets, business, community advocacy, road building, energy and more. And it cuts to the heart of equal opportunity. Does everyone in your region get to breathe clean air, drink clean water and avoid contaminants that damage health and cut lives short?

Oct 24, 2023 | publicintegrity.org | Yvette Cabrera |Grey Moran |Jamie Smith Hopkins

This story also appeared in Mother Jones FLINT, Mich. — Civil rights law offers a tool for communities of color trying to stop unequal exposure to pollution. Over and over, people here have tried to make it work. From 1992 to 2015, residents and community groups filed a series of federal complaints asking the U.S. […]