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Chadwick Banken was found liable for targeting Muslims in a home financing scheme in Minnesota. Aaron Nesheim/Sahan Journal A Minnesota home seller and financier has been found liable for violating state laws in a scheme that targeted East African Muslims with deceptive real estate deals marketed as “sharia compliant.” After a two-week trial in downtown Minneapolis, a jury sided with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office Monday afternoon in a civil case alleging that Chadwick Banken knowingly deceived home buyers through a complicated process known as “contract for deed.” The unusual real estate contracts, according to Ellison’s office, reaped massive sums of money for Banken and his companies while leaving his customers financially ruined.  Through those predatory deals, Banken sold homes to Muslim buyers at high markups and on worse terms than offered on traditional home sales, the state’s lawyers argued, luring customers into risky transactions throug...

Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux Have you ever tried to use your electronic benefit transfer card to pay for groceries only to find that your SNAP benefits were gone? You may have been the victim of EBT theft.  EBT theft happens when someone is able to get information off your EBT card in order to steal your Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. You may not have immediately realized you were stolen from, only that there were less funds in your account than there should’ve been. If so, you’re not alone — it’s a widespread issue that affects hundreds of thousands of SNAP recipients each year. If you think your benefits may have been stolen, we would like to hear from you. We need your help to understand the impact that EBT theft has on communities.  To share your experience, fill out the survey below. Our reporters read every response and may follow up with you. Don’t have SNAP benefits but know someone who does? You can also help by sen...

Photo illustration by Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica. Source image: Clive Mason/Getty Images. My family’s morning routine is usually pretty ordinary. We wake up early, drink some coffee and get our 1-year-old ready for daycare. But one Wednesday morning last month, I found myself uttering to my wife a sentence that sounded frankly surreal to both of us: “Just to let you know, I’m about to call Trump.” Then, hoping to avoid any urgent diaper events, I ducked into the next room and dialed up the president. I’d been trying to reach President Donald Trump for a few days. Each time, my heart would start pounding. After nearly two decades as a journalist, I’m reasonably used to talking to powerful people. But cold-calling the president of the United States — on his personal cellphone — made me feel like a cub reporter all over again. “Hello?” a voice said on the other end of the line. This time, the president had picked up. I introduced myself and told Trump I’m a reporte...

An ambulance at the Northbridge Health Care Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut Frank Franklin II/AP Have you called 911 for a medical emergency in Connecticut? ProPublica and The Connecticut Mirror, two nonprofit newsrooms, are examining emergency medical services in the state and want to hear from those who have had firsthand experiences seeking care.  We would like to learn more about your story and if you faced a long wait for emergency care to arrive.  We know people in some towns have had to wait up to 20 minutes for an ambulance, but the numbers don’t show what happens as time drags. And they can’t explain the impact on your life in the weeks and months following delayed emergency care. We’ve heard that emergency medical services are often underresourced, but in order to understand what the strained system actually looks like for communities across the state, we need to hear from you.  If you have called 911 for a medical emergency in Connecticut f...

Photo illustration by Mark Harris/ProPublica. Photos by Getty Images. After the Trump administration upended the world’s largest foreign aid provider last year, terminating thousands of programs and firing nearly all of its staff, its plan for the agency was clear: Eliminate it entirely. But because it is a congressionally created agency, President Donald Trump needed lawmakers’ permission to do so. So this year, Trump officials asked Congress for permission to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development and dramatically reduce federal spending on food, medicine and lifesaving work around the world.  Congress said no. Lawmakers, who hold the government’s purse strings and have oversight of federal agencies, wanted USAID to remain, even in its diminished form. They detailed precisely how much the State Department should spend on foreign aid and for what, including $9.4 billion on global health to treat and prevent maladies like HIV, tuberculosis and malar...

Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX, at the launch of the company’s initial public offering Spencer Platt/Getty Images A businessman with ties to Chinese military contractors was among the overseas investors who acquired stakes in SpaceX while it was still a private company. An entity linked to the Qatari royal family also took a stake. The new details come from a private investor list obtained by ProPublica that sheds light on a particularly delicate issue for Elon Musk’s rocket company: which people in countries like China bought into the company, and how. SpaceX built its business off sensitive U.S. government work like making spy satellites for the Pentagon. While there is no ban on Chinese investment in U.S. military contractors, such investment is heavily regulated. In a sign of its sensitivity to the concerns, SpaceX barred investors from China and Hong Kong from buying shares in its initial public offering last week due to “regulatory and compliance risks,” Blo...