Latest news with #Contractors
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Stockholm officials refused to comply with US Embassy's request regarding Trump's anti-DEI policies
Claim: The U.S. Embassy in Sweden sent a letter to Stockholm's city planning department stating that U.S. State Department contractors must comply with the Trump administration's anti-diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Rating: In early May 2025, claims shared across the internet alleged the United States Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden sent an official letter to Stockholm's city planning department demanding compliance with U.S. President Donald Trump's executive orders championing "anti-discrimination laws." The letter allegedly stated that all contractors for the U.S. State Department must adhere to the administration's rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The claim spread widely on social media, with posts on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), X (archived) and Reddit. The popularity of the claim led to a variety of Snopes readers sending emails asking if there was any truth behind the rumor. Stockholm is latest city to refuse 'bizarre' US request to abandon diversitybyu/pilldickle2048 ineurope Indeed, claims that the U.S. Embassy in Sweden's capital city sent Stockholm's city planning department a letter stating contractors must comply with the Trump administration's anti-DEI policies are true. Neither the State Department nor the U.S. Embassy in Sweden has responded to Snopes' requests for comment, but this article will be updated if we receive a response. A press officer for the city of Stockholm provided Snopes with a copy of the document in question along with a screenshot of the email in which the embassy delivered it to the city. (City of Stockholm) The email read: CERTIFICATION REGARDING COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE FEDERAL ANTI-DISCRIMINATION LAW — 19SW8025P0594 Dear Stadsbyggnadskontoret [City Planning Office], Due to updated U.S. acquisition policies under Executive Order 14173, we kindly ask you to review and sign the attached certification form. This certification is required for all U.S. Government acquisitions, including purchase orders and all contracts for goods or services. Please return the signed form within 10 working days. Thank you for your cooperation. Best regards, U.S. Embassy Stockholm The letter itself was addressed from the Embassy of the United States of America in Stockholm, Sweden, and it opened by repeating the email's subject line. It then read, "All Department of State contractors must certify that they do not operate any programs promoting DEI that violate any applicable anti-discrimination laws and agree that such certification is material for purposes of the government's payment decision and therefore subject to the False Claims Act." It concludes with directions on how to submit the certification. (City of Stockholm) According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the False Claims Act "provides that any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government's damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation." The press official for the city of Stockholm told Snopes via email, "The city of Stockholm will not comply with the embassy's demands or respond to the letter." In comments to The Associated Press, Stockholm's Vice Mayor for City Planning Jan Valeskog said of receiving the letter, "We were really surprised, of course. We will not sign this document at all, of course not." Valeskog also told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, "If the U.S. terminates its relationship with the city planning office, the embassy will have difficulty obtaining a building permit if they want to rebuild, for example. That's their headache, not ours." Trump signed Executive Order 14173 on Jan. 21, 2025. According to the text of the order, its purpose was "ending illegal discrimination and restoring merit-based opportunity." It reads in part: Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex. The anti-DEI policies of the Trump administration have been widely criticized, with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights stating, "These EOs will weaken our economy, endanger our national security, and threaten our multi-racial democracy." Civil Division | The False Claims Act. 17 June 2019, "Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity." The White House, 22 Jan. 2025, Kassam, Ashifa, and Ashifa Kassam European community affairs correspondent. "Stockholm Rejects 'Bizarre' US Letter Urging City to Scrap Diversity Initiatives." The Guardian, 8 May 2025. The Guardian, "Stockholm City Council Rejects US Embassy Demands to End DEI Programming." AP News, 9 May 2025, "Trump's Executive Orders on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Explained." The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Accessed 9 May 2025. "USA:s ambassad kräver lydnad av Stockholms stad: "Bisarrt"." 6 May 2025,
CBS News
06-02-2025
- Climate
- CBS News
A Minnesota bridge that almost collapsed under heavy rains has been demolished
Contractors on Wednesday blew up the remnants of a damaged southern Minnesota bridge that almost collapsed last summer after a bout of heavy rain that prompted a federal emergency declaration for the area near Mankato. Explosives were used to destroy the beams of County Road 9 Bridge, Blue Earth County officials said in a Facebook post. Video shows synchronized blasts followed by eruptions of billowing black and beige clouds as huge sections of the bridge crashed into the frozen Blue Earth River below. County commissioners last year voted to replace the bridge and remove the nearby Rapidan Dam, both of which were at risk of crumbling after last year's deluge. Residents had used the roughly 40-year-old bridge to commute across the dam from rural patches of land to nearby towns. Officials anticipate a yearslong rebuilding process. The river's water levels rose dramatically in late June and early July after heavy rain pummeled the Midwest for days. While the structures held up in the end, floodwaters forged a new river channel around the dam and cut deeply into a steep riverbank, toppling utility poles, wrecking a substation, swallowing a home and forcing the removal of a beloved store. Mankato is about 80 miles south of Minneapolis.
