Media Mentions

As the United States faces another intense wildfire season, a group of U.S. lawmakers is sounding the alarm over prediction market platforms that allow users to bet on these fires, and experts warn such actions potentially raises the risk of arson.

The Guardian reports, huge wildfires in Washington state and Oregon have burned more than 2m acres and forced tens of thousands to evacuate.

Ann Skeet, senior director of leadership ethics, commended the senators’ demands of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and says offering bets on how a wildfire spreads could incentivize people to commit arson.

“Somebody could place a bet and then be motivated to actually start a fire,” Skeet said. “There’s just the practical reality of what it is you might be motivating people to do.”

Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by The Guardian.

The Herald Sun reports, the director of the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) attended a political fundraiser at a Southport, North Carolina restaurant for a state lawmaker. The next day, an SBI social media post praised state lawmakers for their support."

Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director of government ethics said she didn’t know enough to speak on the SBI investigation, but Hawley’s appearance and the social media post were troubling.

“It is my opinion that the most significant ethical concern is not attendance alone, but the combination of attending a political fundraiser and using the agency’s official communications platform, publicly thanking a legislator who funds the agency and doing so during an election cycle,” Hurt said in an email response. “Individually, each fact might be explainable, but together they present ethical red flags.”

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by The Herald Sun.

As Oregon's fire season crossed 2 million acres on August 2, nine Democratic senators are appealing to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requesting that federal regulators restrict or outright prohibit event contracts that let users profit from wildfire scale, duration, and destruction, effectively closing the door on wildfire prediction markets.

Ann Skeet, Ethics Center's senior director of leadership ethics, identified the deeper issue. "When you start gambling on somebody's potential death or harm, you're really diminishing the value that you're placing on human life," Skeet said.

Ann Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics, quoted by Tech Times.

Scotts Miracle-Gro announced contributed $1 million to the National Park Service to help restore the White House South Lawn following the America 250 UFC fight held on Trump's 80th birthday. The company donated 500,000 to a pro Trump PAC in 2024

Trump promoted the company and its products and said the company would soon be replacing the grass in 700 acres of parks around Washington, DC.

"Favors don't stay favors. Sooner or later, they turn into invoices," said Davina Hurt, Ethics Center director of government ethics. "The only question is whether the public gets to see them."

Hurt says Trump's actions give the appearance that a contractor wasn't chosen on merit.

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by Business Insider.

Riverside County Independent-study charter school, SCALE Leadership Academy – East, was shut down by the county in June for fiscal concerns that stemmed from business relationships the school entered with religious programs and corporations managed by the school’s founder.

The closure has left parents scrambling to find new academic placements for their children and teachers and staff unemployed and searching for new jobs at a time when most positions have been filled for the upcoming school year.

Davina Hurt, Ethics Center's director of government ethics, says, "Public school leaders must practice good governance to protect the trust of student families, the state and the public."

Davina Hurt, director, government ethics, quoted by the San Diego Union-Tribune, distributed via MSN.

Podcast Host Courtney Theriault talks with Irina Raicu, director of the internet ethics program at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics about smart glasses and the ethical concerns around their use.

Theriault categorizes wearable recording devices as a "trojan horse of unbridled digital harm" because there are no regulations in place surrounding the use of this technology.

"Think about the concerns about people being recorded going to particular health care clinics, or places or worship, or shelters for domestic violence victims...It's a very different kind of recording with these kind of tools where we can't tell that they are being used...All of the existing concerns just get heightened with these new devices, says Raicu."

Irina Raicu, director, internet ethics, interview by the Courtney Theriault Show / Midday on 880 CHED with Courtney Theriault.

According to data from the city’s open data portal, "Impact Sac — a nonprofit that received more than $1.2 million in contracts from the Sacramento Police Department over the last five years — collected 783 tickets valued at more than $83,000 since 2019, nearly 300 more tickets than any other organization among all 383 non-profits that have received tickets," The Sacramento Bee reports.

Ethics experts said that they were troubled by the non-profit’s use of luxury box Dye provided dozens of tickets to the city official and her family who approved Impact Sac’s contracts and expense reports, which lacked receipts and other documentation.

Joan Harrington, a nonprofit law professor at Santa Clara University and fellow at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, said when a gift goes to a nonprofit and then comes back to the police official overseeing millions of dollars — especially repeatedly — it looks like there was some sort of agreement.

Joan Harrington, Ethics Center Fellow, quoted by The Sacramento Bee.