Nation Glance
DOJ looks into how AT&T, Verizon handle defecting customers
NEW YORK — The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into whether AT&T, Verizon and a standards-setting group worked together to stop consumers from easily switching wireless carriers.
The companies confirmed the inquiry in separate statements late Friday in response to a report in The New York Times.
The U.S. government is looking into whether AT&T, Verizon and telecommunications standards organization GSMA worked together to suppress a technology that lets people remotely switch wireless companies without having to insert a new SIM card into their phones.
The Times, citing six anonymous people familiar with the inquiry, reported that the investigation was opened after at least one device maker and one other wireless company filed complaints.
Verizon, which is based in New York, derided the accusations on the issue as “much ado about nothing” in its statement. It framed its efforts as part of attempt to “provide a better experience for the consumer.”
Missouri governor charged over charity donor list
ST. LOUIS — St. Louis prosecutors on Friday charged Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens with a felony for using a charity donor list for his 2016 political campaign, adding to the woes of the first-term Republican governor who responded by calling it another effort to “smear” him.
The charge of tampering with computer data is in addition to an earlier charge alleging Greitens took and transmitted a nonconsensual photo of a partially nude woman with whom he had an extramarital affair in 2015. The new charge accuses Greitens of disclosing the donor list from The Mission Continues in 2015 without permission from the St. Louis-based charity that Greitens founded.
The Associated Press first reported in October 2016 that Greitens’ campaign obtained a list of top donors to The Mission Continues and raised nearly $2 million from donors who were on it.
Greitens has been facing increasing pressure to resign — including from fellow Republicans — since a special House investigative committee’s report released April 11 that detailed allegations from the woman with whom he had the affair. She testified that Greitens restrained, slapped, grabbed, shoved and threatened her during a series of sexual encounters that at times left her crying and afraid.
Greitens has denied committing any crimes and vowed to remain in office, calling the investigations into him a “political witch hunt.” On Friday, he accused Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner, a Democrat, of wasting “thousands and thousands of taxpayer dollars.”
Bus leaves Cleveland for New York, ends up in Toledo
CLEVELAND — Greyhound says it is investigating how a bus meant to take passengers from Cleveland to New York ended up in Toledo.
WEWS-TV reports that the bus left Cleveland several hours late on Thursday and was headed east through Pennsylvania when it started experiencing problems. The company says the driver was instructed to head back to Cleveland and get a new bus, but instead drove about two hours past it, to Toledo. The driver then turned around and went back to Cleveland.
Passenger Morgan Staley says they spent about seven hours “just going in a circle.”
The company says passengers interested in a refund can contact customer service.