Enforcement of environmental laws under the second Trump administration plummeted, while a New York judge took the rare step of dismissing a case due to a lawyer's misuse of AI, according to reports released this week. These events occurred as speculation continued regarding the elusive "Trump Phone" and as the fallout from Jeff Bezos' ownership of The Washington Post and the discovery of a fake Jeffrey Epstein Fortnite account made headlines.
A report from the Environmental Integrity Project revealed that civil lawsuits filed by the US Department of Justice in cases referred by the Environmental Protection Agency dropped to a mere 16 in the first year after Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025. This represents a 76 percent decrease compared to the first year of the Biden administration. According to the report, this drop was significantly larger than the decline observed during the same period of Trump's first term.
Meanwhile, in a New York federal court, Judge Katherine Polk Failla terminated a case due to attorney Steven Feldman's repeated misuse of AI in drafting filings. The judge cited fake citations and "conspicuously florid prose" as reasons for the extraordinary sanctions. Feldman had continued to submit documents with fabricated citations even after being asked to correct his filings.
In other news, The Verge reported on the ongoing speculation surrounding the "Trump Phone," with the outlet receiving an exclusive first look at what executives say is the T1 Phone. The final design was revealed, though the T1 logo is expected to be removed.
The Verge also reported on the impact of Jeff Bezos' ownership of The Washington Post, noting that over 300 journalists had lost their jobs and over 300,000 readers had canceled their subscriptions. The article questioned the motivations behind Bezos' actions, suggesting a potential negative impact on the publication's reputation.
Finally, Epic Games confirmed that a Fortnite account believed to be linked to Jeffrey Epstein was fake. According to The Verge, the developer stated that a player had changed their account name to "littlestjeff1" after the alias was found in the Epstein files.
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