GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE AND $1 MILLION CHEVY: The Georgia Department of Human Services, which oversees the state's child welfare agency, paid more than $950,000 for just one Chevrolet Traverse. The department won't explain why. But documents obtained by @thecentersquare show that most of the cost is apparently is for sophisticated spying equipment that will be used by a unit tasked with rescuing sex-trafficked foster teens. From the records, it appears Georgia's child protective services has bought a cell-site simulator, a powerful surveillance device normally used by law enforcement that mimics a cell phone tower to track and tap into cell phones remotely. The purchase raises questions about whether the equipment could violate constitutional rights and the department's authority as a child welfare service. 🧵, and story below ⬇️ /1

TAXPAYER PHILANTHROPY: A Detroit pastor who last year admonished a parishioner for her inadequate church donation of $1,235 was paid a salary of $538,955 that year by a taxpayer-funded nonprofit he leads that is separate from the church, @jstrong712 of The Center Square reports. During a church service, Marvin Winans Sr. — the pastor of Perfecting Church and a Grammy-winning gospel singer — asked congregants to individually approach the front of the sanctuary and present their donations. When one woman, accompanied by a child, presented her $1,000 plus $235 she had obtained elsewhere, Winans responded: "Now that's only $1,200. ... Y'all not listening to what I'm saying," according to video the church had published of the service. Meanwhile, the pastor's salary accounted for about 61% of what the nonprofit spent toward its stated mission of "community development," its recent report to the Internal Revenue Service shows. And his role is a part-time job, @thecentersqare reported. thecentersquare.com/michigan…

Democratic hopes of taking the Senate might hinge on a liberal Muslim in Michigan. TV attack ads against Abdul El-Sayed most often point to his affiliation with online streamer Hasan Piker, who has been derided for statements that included: "America deserved 9/11, dude." El-Sayed also apologized in August for his own response to a March synagogue attack, when a man rammed the building with a vehicle and opened fire before killing himself. Several of the man's relatives had reportedly been killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. "Hurt people hurt people," El-Sayed said shortly after the attack. A Pew Research Center survey this year found that about 42% of U.S. adults think American Muslims are having a negative impact on the country, and about half say Islam encourages violence more than other religions, @jstrong712 of @thecentersquare reports. thecentersquare.com/michigan…

Private universities are not for profit? The year Amy Gutmann left her post as president of the University of Pennsylvania, the university paid her nearly $23M, according to nonprofit filings reviewed by @jstrong712 of @thecentersquare. That included a base salary of about $1.6M, a bonus of $1M, and a deferred compensation payment of more than $20M. Government grants to the university exceeded $1 billion in a recent year, records show. thecentersquare.com/national… via @thecentersquare