TECH
Pilot sues influencer on X in latest test of defamation law
Two days after a helicopter collided with a passenger jet in Washington in January, killing 67 people, Jo Ellis woke up to a flurry of text messages. Ellis, a 35-year-old helicopter pilot in the Virginia Army National Guard, learned from friends that her name and photos were all over social media. Users were falsely naming her as the pilot who had crashed into a passenger jet Jan. 29 — a sign, in the eyes of the online mob, that diversity initiatives had played a role in the crash because Ellis is transgender. She posted a “proof of life’’ video on Facebook — emphasizing she was very much alive in an attempt to slow the spread, but claims seemed to multiply. Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against Matt Wallace, an influencer on the social platform X with more than 2 million followers. Wallace was one of the more prominent people to spread the falsehood in a series of posts that included photos of Ellis and details about her life. Wallace deleted his posts about Ellis after her Facebook video started spreading online. He posted an “important update’’ on the afternoon of Jan. 31, writing that Ellis “was not piloting the helicopter that crashed in to the plane and is still alive.’’ The filing claims Wallace had “concocted a destructive and irresponsible defamation campaign.’’ It was filed in US District Court in Colorado, the state where Ellis’s lawyers said Wallace resides. — NEW YORK TIMES
MANUFACTURING
Lego says Vietnam factory to rely on clean energy
Lego opened a $1 billion factory in Vietnam on Wednesday that it says will make toys without adding planet-warming gas to the atmosphere by relying entirely on clean energy. The factory in the industrial area of Binh Duong, close to Ho Chi Minh City, is the first in Vietnam that aims to run entirely on clean energy. Lego says it will do that by early 2026. It’s the Danish company’s sixth worldwide and its second in Asia. It will use high-tech equipment to produce colorful Lego bricks for Southeast Asia’s growing markets. The factory is an important factor in Lego’s quest to stop adding greenhouse gases by 2050. It has a shorter-term target of reducing emissions by 37 percent by 2032. The privately held group makes its bricks out of oil-based plastic and says it has invested more than $1.2 billion in a search for more sustainable alternatives. But those efforts have not always been successful. Fast-industrializing Vietnam also aims to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, so it needs more of its factories to use clean energy. The country hopes the plant’s 12,400 solar panels and energy storage system will help set a precedent for more sustainable manufacturing. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
ENTERTAINMENT
Britain lost out on Euro Disney. Now it’s getting a Universal theme park.
Universal Studios will build its first European theme park in Bedfordshire, England, studio officials said Wednesday, previewing a sprawling resort that could combine iconic American brands like “Jurassic Park’’ with classic British characters like Paddington Bear, Dr. Who, and Harry Potter. The park is set to open in 2031, and British officials said the yet-to-be-named theme park would be Britain’s largest single tourist attraction. Executives at Comcast, Universal’s parent company, said the 476-acre complex would include themed lands, rides, a 500-room hotel, shops, and dining. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the announcement as a boost for his country’s sluggish economy and an example of his government’s attempt to cut through the red tape that has long made it costly and difficult to complete complex projects in Britain. — NEW YORK TIMES
GOVERNMENT
Pronouns in bio? You may not get a response from the White House.
The Trump administration formally barred federal workers from listing their pronouns in email signatures, calling it a symptom of a misguided “gender ideology.’’ Some White House officials are taking a similar approach with the journalists who cover them. On at least three recent occasions, senior Trump press aides have refused to engage with reporters’ questions because the journalists listed identifying pronouns in their email signatures. The practice of including pronouns, such as “he/him’’ or “they/them,’’ in email signatures and social media bios has become widespread in recent years as a way of clarifying one’s gender identity and conveying inclusivity and solidarity for transgender and nonbinary individuals. Conservative politicians and pundits zeroed in on the practice as an example of what they deemed runaway woke-ism and decried it as an attempt to normalize the concept that there are more than two biological genders. Contacted for comment, administration officials did not directly say if their responses represented a new formal policy, or when the practice had started. — NEW YORK TIMES
TAXES
IRS to lose billions in revenue if migrants stop filing taxes
The Internal Revenue Service is projected to lose more than $313 billion in revenue in the coming decade as undocumented workers are poised to pay fewer taxes after the agency struck a deal to share data with US immigration authorities. The IRS is expected to lose $12 billion in revenue for the remainder of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to a report out Tuesday by the Yale Budget Lab. The group estimates unauthorized workers paid about $66 billion in federal taxes in fiscal year 2023, with about two-thirds of that coming from payroll levies. The Treasury Department — which oversees the IRS — earlier this week reached a deal with the Department of Homeland Security to share taxpayer information in response to law enforcement requests related to migration. While federal officials say the agreement includes safeguards and applies only to criminal matters, it reverses longstanding IRS privacy policies. The report underscores the role undocumented workers play in paying into Social Security and Medicare benefit programs that they can’t draw from in retirement because of their immigration status. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
BANKRUPTCY
Publishers Clearing House, known for big checks, goes bankrupt
Publishers Clearing House LLC, famous for handing out oversize checks on the doorsteps of its surprised contestants, has filed bankruptcy. The 72-year-old company owes as much as $100 million to more than 100,000 creditors, it said in a Chapter 11 filing in Manhattan. PCH listed between $1 million and $10 million in assets on its bankruptcy petition. PCH rose to prominence through ads promoting its sweepstakes which flooded daytime televisions in the late 1980s and 1990s. The company said that it had awarded more than $500 million in prizes over the decades and continued to offer sweepstakes through social media and mobile apps, according to court papers. Company revenue shrank as online consumers demanded faster deliveries and free shipping, which PCH could not meet, according to court documents. Revenue fell from nearly $879 million in 2018 to $181 million last year, court documents show. — BLOOMBERG NEWS
Postal Service seeks to hike stamp cost
The US Postal Service is seeking a rate increase this summer that includes hiking the cost of a first-class stamp from 73 cents to 78 cents. The request was made Wednesday to the Postal Regulatory Commission. If approved, the 5 cent increase for a “forever’’ stamp and similar increases for postcards, metered letters, and international mail would take effect July 13. The proposed changes would raise mailing services product prices approximately 7.4 percent. The Postal Service contends, as it did last year when it enacted a similar increase, that it’s needed to achieve financial stability. — ASSOCIATED PRESS
LEGAL
pro bono leader resigns from Paul Weiss, a firm hit in Trump’s crackdown on Big Law
A leader of the pro bono practice at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison is resigning from the law firm, within weeks of the elite firm striking a deal with President Trump to lift an executive order that had threatened its ability to represent clients with business before the federal government. Steven Banks, a former New York City social services commissioner who was special counsel at the New York-based law firm for the past three years, said in a statement that he was leaving to return to his roots and would resume working for the rights of the homeless by providing legal services to the Coalition for the Homeless and The Legal Aid Society. “This has been weighing on me since the November election,’’ Banks said in the statement. “At this historical moment, I know that I belong back on the front lines fighting for the things that I have believed in since I first walked in the door of The Legal Aid Society as a staff attorney in 1981.’’ His departure comes as Paul Weiss has faced a barrage of criticism for not fighting Trump and his broader attacks on the legal system. — NEW YORK TIMES
