The upcoming 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan are overshadowed by the lingering impact of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, while in the United States, Americans may face delays in receiving their tax refunds due to IRS staffing shortages. Additionally, a recent fraud investigation and the use of coded language in Cuba highlight diverse challenges across the globe.
According to NPR News, the scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell has cast a shadow over the Olympic movement, with the chairman of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Casey Wasserman, facing calls to step down. This comes after revelations of email exchanges between Wasserman and Maxwell, a collaborator of Epstein. The news broke during the first days of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
Meanwhile, Americans might experience delays in receiving their tax refunds this year, as reported by Fortune. This is due to staffing shortages at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a consequence of the Trump administration's policy of reducing the federal bureaucracy. Approximately 25,000 employees left the agency through layoffs or deferred resignations by July of last year, representing around 25% of the IRS workforce.
In other news, a recent fraud investigation in Minnesota, as discussed on Hacker News, faced challenges due to the journalist's "poor epistemic standards," which led to secondary media dismissing the results. The investigation, however, gained traction due to sensationalized framing and support from aligned media and politicians.
Also, in Cuba, the phrase "la cosa" carries significant weight, representing coded truths and unspoken realities, according to NPR Politics. This phrase is used by Cubans to express their opinions in a society where public expression can be problematic.
In a separate story from Fortune, Angel Juarez, a 27-year-old software engineer, overcame a challenging background to build a successful career. Juarez, who once had a 1.0 GPA in high school, now works in a six-figure career at American Express. He shared that he was inspired to pursue tech training after seeing an ad for a free program at the nonprofit Per Scholas.
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