Dodgers owner's insurance risk: A little-known set of state laws puts taxpayers in 44 states on the hook if the Dodgers owner's life insurance companies fail.
New York climate law: A federal judge blocked the state's $75 billion plan to bill oil companies for climate change.
China hacking takedown: Federal agents seized the domains behind two Chinese state-sponsored hacking platforms, and the target list explains why this was never just a California case.
Michigan voting case: A citizen-only voting proposal went from a tied state board vote to an emergency appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trucking crackdown: Federal officials targeted hundreds of commercial driving schools over alleged training violations, but one trucking executive says the crackdown misses the bigger issue.
Taxpayers in 44 states could pay if Dodgers owner's insurers fail
Photo: freepik / Freepik / Edited in Canva
What we found: The Center Square found taxpayers in 44 states could cover billions of dollars in losses if Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter's life insurance companies collapse. Walter is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over lending between businesses he controls. Statutory filings show money tied to Walter's other companies jumped from 3% to 42% of one insurer's disclosed investments after federal investigators began issuing subpoenas. No charges have been filed, and Walter's holding company, TWG Global, says the insurers remain financially strong and that no fraud occurred.
The stakes: If an insurer fails, rival insurers pay policyholder claims first, then recoup the cost through tax credits in the 44 states that offer them. University of Texas law professor Andrew Granato and Yale financial-economics researcher Pranjal Drall say credits draw less attention than direct spending for the same amount, part of what is known as the "submerged state." Drall said the bill still arrives as new debt, higher taxes, or cut services.
The backstory: The safety net runs on 1980s laws buried in state tax codes, and it has been used before. Rival insurers paid about $3.7 billion when Executive Life Insurance collapsed in 1991.
Where it stands: Walter is selling his stake in the Los Angeles Lakers. His team says the Dodgers aren't for sale, though researchers interviewed by The Center Square said the team's value could give Walter another way to raise money if needed.
3 States
New York: A federal judge struck down the funding mechanism behind New York's $75 billion climate “superfund” law, ruling that the federal Clean Air Act preempts its requirement that fossil fuel companies pay into the fund. The lawsuit was brought by 22 Republican attorneys general, while the DOJ is separately challenging climate liability laws in New York and Vermont, arguing they burden domestic energy production.
California: The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI seized the domains behind QScan and QTRouter, two hacking platforms investigators tied to a Chinese state-sponsored group known as QTFY in a campaign dating to 2018. Authorities said targets included NASA, the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Senate. Bryce Poole, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told The Center Square the case “was aimed at the core machinery of the American government,” not a local target list.
Michigan: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked Michigan election officials to respond to an emergency appeal over a citizen-only voting proposal that came up three valid signatures short in the state's sample review of petitions. The campaign filed with the Michigan Supreme Court first and went to Washington after the state court did not act, the first Michigan initiative in recent state history to do so. Michigan's ballot must be finalized Friday.
2 Issues
Accountability: Federal officials ordered 110 commercial driver's license schools closed over English-language proficiency violations and 150 more for using unlicensed instructors or lacking space for behind-the-wheel training. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said fraudulent operators drive down wages and raise insurance costs. Commercial trucking liability premiums rose 18.6% from 2021 to 2024. But Zach Meiborg, CEO of Rockford-based Meiborg Companies, says the crackdown treats the symptom. He argues outdated hours-of-service rules give companies willing to falsify electronic logs a cost advantage of about $1 per mile.
Education: Half of registered U.S. voters say taking on student loan debt for a college degree is too risky given how hard it is to find a job that justifies the cost, according to The Center Square Voters' Voice Poll. Another 35% say a degree is still worth borrowing for. The split narrows by education: voters with bachelor's degrees said too risky 46% to 43%, while those with postgraduate degrees said worth it 47% to 40%. Outstanding federal student loan debt stands at roughly $1.8 trillion across nearly 47 million borrowers, according to education data cited in the report.
1 Number
$2 million
That is the minimum Washington taxpayers have spent so far on Flock Safety's automated license plate reader cameras, now in use by at least 43 confirmed jurisdictions statewide and many more across the nation.
Illinois gun ban case reaches the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court is weighing a challenge to Cook County's ban on semi-automatic firearms, including AR-15-style rifles. Greg Bishop breaks down the plaintiffs' argument, why "common use" is central to the case, and what happens next.
Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General, DOJ Civil Rights Division
The DOJ's Civil Rights Division sued Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools, alleging the district helped students socially transition at school while withholding that information from parents, in violation of federal parental-rights laws. Dhillon said the district “does not know children better than their own parents.” The lawsuit comes amid more than 40 Trump administration investigations into school districts nationwide.
Which company do the Federal Trade Commission and 22 states accuse of secretly inflating ad prices, costs they say can ultimately reach shoppers?
The FTC and 22 states allege this company used hidden "shill" bids to increase what advertisers paid for ad placements. The complaint says more than 1.2 million advertising customers were overcharged by more than $20 billion since 2019, and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson said businesses can pass higher advertising costs on to consumers through higher prices.
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