Aaron Gregg
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Past articles by Aaron:
Use of military contractors shrouds true costs of war. Washington wants it that way, study says.
The rockets that fell on a military base in Iraq did not distinguish between soldiers and contractors. Nawres Hamid, a U.S. contractor working as an interpreter, was killed in the Dec. 27 attack by an Iranian-backed militia that also injured American troops, prompting retaliatory strikes that edged the United States and Iran closer to open conflict. Hamid's death illuminated the proliferation of… → Read More
Senate Democrats press for simplified Paycheck Protection Program loan forgiveness application
WASHINGTON - Forty-seven Senate Democrats are pressing the Small Business Administration to set up a streamlined application process for "low-dollar" subsidized small business loan recipients, according to a letter released Friday by the office of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. The lawmakers say the SBA's existing 11-page loan forgiveness application takes too long to complete, and… → Read More
Trump administration won't say who got $511 billion in taxpayer-backed coronavirus loans
Federal officials responsible for spending $660 billion in taxpayer-backed small-business assistance said Wednesday that they will not disclose amounts or recipients of subsidized loans, backtracking on an earlier commitment to release individual loan data. The Small Business Administration has previously released detailed loan information dating back to 1991 for the federal 7(a) program, a… → Read More
Analysis: Here's where the Small Business Administration's coronavirus disaster loans are going
After three chaotic months during which bureaucratic delays and a lack of communication left millions of business owners wondering when help would arrive, the federal government's coronavirus disaster-loan program is gaining momentum. The Small Business Administration had approved just over 1.1 million coronavirus disaster loans as of Saturday, according a recent SBA report, up from about 39,000… → Read More
SBA to wall off $10 billion for community development organizations
WASHINGTON - The Small Business Administration is setting $10 billion in federal Paycheck Protection Program small-business loan funds aside for community development organizations as a way of ensuring federal coronavirus relief funds reach underserved communities. The carve-out was requested earlier by congressional Democrats, who raised concerns that minority-owned businesses, rural… → Read More
Stimulus turns political as SBA tries to claw back funding from Planned Parenthood
WASHINGTON - A political fight over $80 million in subsidized Small Business Administration loans that were awarded to Planned Parenthood nonprofits is escalating, with 127 Republican lawmakers on Friday calling for a federal investigation of the loans and 31 Democratic senators on Saturday defending them. Each of Planned Parenthood's state and local affiliates is a separate nonprofit, with its… → Read More
Boeing raises $25 billion in massive bond sale, turns down bailout funds
Boeing has raised $25 billion in a massive debt sale, allowing it to avoid tapping a $17 billion coronavirus bailout fund meant to shore up businesses critical to national security. The company announced Thursday that it would not accept any additional funding from private or government sources before the bond sale closes Monday. The announcement came ahead of the Friday deadline to accept… → Read More
After lobbying push, Casinos eligible for small business funds under new stimulus rules
WASHINGTON - Casinos with fewer than 500 employees are eligible to receive loans from a new pot of $310 billion in small business funding that was released Monday, a rule change that could help casinos hire back workers but was opposed by anti-gambling advocates. For nearly 25 years, companies that made more than one-third of their revenue from gambling were barred from receiving Small Business… → Read More
SBA official blasts big banks over failure to quickly distribute loans
A high-level Small Business Administration official criticized several big banks over their reticence to get involved in a $349 billion federally subsidized small business lending program, in a recorded teleconference obtained by The Washington Post. The comments from SBA Nevada district director Joseph Amato offer a rare candid glimpse behind the scenes at the frustrations federal officials… → Read More
Amazon presses on with cloud lawsuit despite Pentagon's walk-back
WASHINGTON - Amazon is fighting the Pentagon's decision to reconsider an important military technology contract award that went to Microsoft last October, arguing that the Defense Department is trying to "reaffirm" its earlier decision while ignoring other mistakes it allegedly made. The Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract, better known as JEDI, is a project to create a powerful,… → Read More
Plane crash victims' families 'sickened' by fired Boeing CEO's $62 million payout
Hundreds of people who lost loved ones aboard doomed 737 Max jets learned Friday evening that Dennis Muilenburg - the fired Boeing chief executive who presided over the flawed airplanes' development and pushed regulators to keep them in the air - will receive at least $62 million on his way out. Family members of crash victims told The Washington Post they are "sickened" by Muilenburg's payout,… → Read More
Family of Army helicopter pilot sues Lockheed Martin over 2017 Black Hawk crash
The widow of a deceased Army helicopter pilot is suing four of America's largest defense manufacturers, alleging her husband's MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was improperly assembled and maintained, causing its engine to suddenly shut off at a critical moment. Emil Rivera-Lopez, originally of San Juan, Puerto Rico, was 31 when his helicopter crashed off the coast of Yemen during a training mission… → Read More
Airlines cancel thousands of flights as Boeing works on 737 Max problems
Airlines are planning for the possibility that Boeing's beleaguered 737 Max commercial jetliners will remain out of commission late into the fall, as the company works to fix a host of technical problems that have rendered the planes grounded since early March. The three U.S. airlines that operate Max jets - American, United and Southwest - announced in recent days that they will cancel 737 Max… → Read More
Pair of D.C.-area firms at center of cyberdefense deals
The Washington, D.C., area has long been a hotbed for cybersecurity talent, owing to a quiet but influential community of hackers, network specialists and software experts serving the U.S. government agencies waging cyberwarfare. That talent base has become the backbone of a fast-growing local industry focused on corporate cyberdefense, which has produced influential local companies including… → Read More
Maryland man pleads guilty in alleged $550 million Ponzi scheme
The second of three defendants in an alleged $550 million Ponzi scheme pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court in Baltimore after signing an agreement with federal prosecutors. Kevin Merrill, 53, of Towson, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of wire fraud, each of which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years and a maximum fine of… → Read More
Texas man pleads guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in $360 million Ponzi scheme
BALTIMORE - One of three defendants in an alleged $360 million Ponzi scheme involving hundreds of investors in Maryland and Virginia pleaded guilty Tuesday in an agreement with federal prosecutors. In a federal courthouse in downtown Baltimore, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joyce MacDonald described Cameron Jezierski of Texas as an accomplice to two others ?• Kevin Merrill of Towson, Maryland, and Jay… → Read More
Years before crash, Ethiopian pilots raised concerns over training, records show
Two pilots filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration about allegedly flawed training programs and poor safety procedures at Ethiopian Airlines years before a Boeing 737 MAX commercial jet crashed in Ethiopia with 157 people on-board last week, according to a Federal Aviation Administration database. The 2015 complaints, filed before the Max 8 was in use, are critical of training… → Read More
D.C.'s Kiplinger family parts with publishing company after 99 years
WASHINGTON - The family-owned business and finance publisher Kiplinger Washington Editors has been sold to London-based Dennis Publishing, a prolific, private-equity-owned publisher that owns the Week, the company announced Friday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both will be owned by Exponent, a British private-equity firm that acquired Dennis late last year. Denise Elliott, who is vice… → Read More
Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic completes second flight in bid to reach space
Virgin Galactic flew its space plane near the edge of space Friday morning on its quest to eventually fly paying passengers there but it was unclear whether the craft actually reached space. The flight came two months after Virgin Galactic hit an altitude of 51.4 miles, reaching space for the first time, a historic milestone for which its pilots were awarded astronaut wings by the Federal… → Read More
Pentagon cloud protest put on hold after 'new information' emerges
WASHINGTON - A federal judge temporarily halted a contentious legal battle involving the Pentagon and the cloud computing divisions of Amazon and Oracle on Tuesday, putting the litigation on hold until the Defense Department "reconsiders whether possible personal conflicts of interest impacted the integrity" of a not-yet-awarded $10 billion contract both companies are after. The decision by… → Read More