Author

Madison McVan/INVESTIGATE MIDWEST

Madison McVan/INVESTIGATE MIDWEST

Madison McVan graduated from the University of Missouri in 2020 with degrees in journalism and Latin American Studies. Before joining the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, she worked for the Columbia Missourian and Missouri Info Corps, covering topics including state and local government, meatpacking plants and the coronavirus pandemic. She is fluent in Spanish and has published work in both Spanish and English. Originally from Pflugerville, Texas, she is now based in the Twin Cities.

JBS’s cybersecurity was unusually poor prior to 2021 ransomware attack, internal homeland security records show
By: - June 11, 2023

A May 30, 2021, ransomware attack on JBS, one of the world’s largest meat companies, disrupted the company’s operations internationally and ended when the company paid an $11 million ransom to Russian hacker group REvil. While food production companies are potentially lucrative targets for cyberattacks, JBS was poorly protected against them compared to similar companies, […]

Large CAFOs are known polluters. Here’s why EPA permits only cover one-third
By: - November 21, 2022

This story was originally published by Investigate Midwest.  The Environmental Protection Agency is charged with protecting important waterways from pollution, but manure from concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, continues to harm waterways — and only one-third of the largest facilities have a federal permit. EPA permits require CAFO operators to tell the agency how much waste the […]

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