Investigations
Former chairman resigns from Arkansas Medical Board facing scrutiny in state, federal probes
Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist Dr. Brian Hyatt resigned from the State Medical Board last week, two months after he stepped down as chairman. Hyatt’s resignation — confirmed by records obtained under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act — comes as he is under investigation by state and federal authorities. The scope of the criminal probes is […]
Lawsuits pile up against former Arkansas Medical Board chairman at center of fraud probe
Patients have flooded the former chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board with lawsuits since his suspension from Medicaid and resignation as head of the regulatory body over doctors. When an Advocate investigation first revealed questions about Dr. Brian Hyatt’s billing practices, two former patients had sued the Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist over false imprisonment, battery […]
Northwest Health to repay Arkansas $1 million in Medicaid settlement
A Northwest Arkansas hospital chain must repay $1.1 million to the state Medicaid program over the former State Medical Board chairman’s billing practices. The settlement is the latest development in the Medicaid fraud investigation against Dr. Brian Hyatt, a Northwest Arkansas psychiatrist. State investigators reviewed medical records and hundreds of hours of surveillance footage before […]
Clarence Thomas secretly accepted luxury trips from a billionaire GOP donor
In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a super yacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and […]
Arkansas psychiatrist suspected of fraud steps down from chairman position on medical board
Dr. Brian Hyatt, suspended from Medicaid and under investigation for health care fraud, has resigned as chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board. In a special meeting Thursday, the board voted to accept Hyatt’s resignation but allow him to remain on the board as a non-executive member. Vice Chairman Dr. Rhys Branman, a Little Rock […]
Arkansas Medical Board chairman suspended from state Medicaid program
This is a developing story that was last updated at 3 p.m. Friday, March, 2023. The chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board has been suspended from the Arkansas Medicaid Program and is under investigation for Medicaid and Medicare fraud. State health officials suspended all Medicaid payments to Board Chairman Dr. Brian Hyatt on Friday […]
Trump allies have interviewed nearly 200 election officials to probe for weaknesses
This article was originally published by Votebeat, a nonprofit news organization covering local election administration and voting access. Two of Donald Trump’s most prominent allies in his fight to overturn the 2020 election are leading a coordinated, multi-state effort to probe local election officials in battlegrounds such as Michigan, Arizona, and Texas ahead of the […]
Ohio State employed a serial sex abuser. Its fight with his victims lives on
As Ohio State University came to publicly acknowledge that a physician it employed abused hundreds of students over two decades, it also waged several high-stakes legal and political fights against some of his victims to narrow their path to financial damages, an Ohio Capital Journal investigation has found. In state and federal courtrooms and behind […]
Forged paperwork allowed special ed students’ move into GED program at youth lockup
Staff at Arkansas’ youth lockups forged the paperwork of students with disabilities to transfer them from special education classes to the GED program, internal emails show. The newly uncovered records further explain a suspicious increase in incarcerated youths obtaining GEDs last year. A state investigation in April found that teachers at the youth lockups — […]
Probe finds cheating in GED program at Arkansas’ youth lockups
Arkansas officials last year noticed a suspicious increase in incarcerated juveniles earning GEDs. A review of classroom surveillance footage during a preliminary GED test at Mansfield Juvenile Treatment Center confirmed their fears. An educator for the contractor that runs Arkansas’ youth lockups provided answers to students, state records show. Sarah Gober, a then-teacher for Rite […]