The only ones left are the great plains states, Virginia and Vermont.

This past weekend found us in the Steel City, also known as 'The Burgh'- Pittsburgh, Pa. When we drove in from the airport and emerged from the Interstate 376 tunnel, an incredible panorama of skyscrapers opened before us.

Framed by three rivers, the Pittsburgh skyline is one of the most impressive Ive ever seen. From our base there, we were able to visit Steubenville, Ohio; Cumberland, Maryland; and Weirton, West Virginia ' all within a short drive.

You may be wondering what any of this has to do with commercial real estate. If youve followed my column for any length of time, you know I cant help but look for real estate lessons in everything I experience. This weekend was no exception. Lets take a look at a few takeaways from the Allegheny River Valley.

Steubenville, Ohio

Protecting the Foundation. Just across the Ohio River from West Virginia sits the historic town of Steubenville. It began as a frontier fort designed to protect surveyors mapping new land. Without those early surveyors, the land could not have been divided, titled, or developed. In many ways, they laid the groundwork – literally and figuratively – for the future economy.

The lesson for commercial real estate is clear. Before any deal can progress, the groundwork must be done properly. That means understanding zoning, confirming ownership, verifying building conditions, and doing your due diligence before you commit. Much like those surveyors, we protect our clients by defining the boundaries and identifying the hazards. Skipping this step can leave you exposed, just as the early pioneers would have been without a fort to retreat to.

Pittsburgh

Once the beating heart of Americas steel industry, Pittsburgh suffered a severe economic collapse in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But instead of fading away, the city reinvented itself. It invested in education, technology, and healthcare. Today, Pittsburgh is home to world-class universities, robotics startups, and medical research centers. Its economy no longer depends on steel, it depends on innovation.

This kind of reinvention is something we often see in commercial real estate. Properties, like cities, go through life cycles. A building once used for heavy manufacturing may find new life as a logistics hub or a research lab. An outdated office building might become a mixed-use creative space. The key is seeing potential where others see decline. Pittsburgh teaches us that reinvention, when paired with vision and investment, can lead to thriving new opportunities.

Cumberland, Maryland

Traveling south from Pittsburgh, we stopped in Cumberland, a small mountain town with big character. Decades ago, its downtown looked tired and forgotten. But today, its been completely transformed. Streets have been repaved, buildings repainted, and storefronts refilled. Theres energy, color, and commerce where there once was blight.

In our world, downtown revival projects often start with one bold investor or a city initiative that reimagines whats possible. When one property owner takes the leap to remodel, others follow. Before long, momentum builds. Cumberland shows us that with vision and collaboration, even a struggling location can experience a renaissance.

If youve ever driven through an older industrial corridor that suddenly seems alive again – with breweries, boutique manufacturers, and adaptive reuse projects – youve seen this same story play out closer to home.

The North Shore

One of the most striking parts of Pittsburgh is its North Shore, home to the Steelers, Pirates and Pitt Panthers. Decades ago, this area was primarily industrial. Today, its a bustling entertainment district filled with stadiums, restaurants, a casino and hotels. What was once a manufacturing zone is now a center of experience and energy.

Commercial real estate increasingly revolves around creating experiences. Whether its a retail development designed around community gathering spaces or an industrial project that prioritizes employee amenities, success depends on understanding how people want to use the space. The North Shore redevelopment shows how powerful it can be when cities – and property owners – think beyond square footage and focus on what draws people in.

Lessons from the Allegheny

Traveling through the Allegheny River Valley, I was reminded that markets evolve, industries adapt, and places reinvent themselves. From Steubenvilles early foundations to Pittsburghs transformation and Cumberlands revival, the story is the same: progress requires vision, courage, and a willingness to build something new from what once was.

Commercial real estate is about much more than bricks and mortar. Its about understanding cycles, reading signs of change, and helping clients navigate transitions. Whether youre developing a warehouse, repositioning an office, or reimagining a neighborhood, the principles are the same as those found in the river valleys of the east – prepare well, adapt quickly, and invest with vision.

Allen C. Buchanan, SIOR, is a principal with Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services in Orange. He can be reached at abuchanan@lee-associates.com or 714.564.7104.

The fire was reported around 6:38 p.m. Friday with 124 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel responding, according to the department’s Lyndsey Lantz. Personnel from the Long Beach Fire Department and Port Police also assisted.

Fire was visible on several levels of the 1,100-foot vessel as LAFD crews worked to confirm all 23 crew members were accounted for and safely off the ship while identifying the fire’s source and working to contain it. Port Police and Customs personnel helped with crew leave the ship,Lantz said.

LAFD HazMat teams monitored air quality as suppression efforts continued in the ship’s sub-levels, where access remained difficult. Crew members attempted to assist firefighters navigating those lower compartments.

The incident remained under major emergency status as of 7:30 p.m.

At 7:58 p.m., an explosion was reported mid-deck, disrupting power to the ship, including lighting and crane operations. By 8:27 p.m., the final five crew members were assisted off the vessel, and all crew members were accounted for, according to Lantz.

Fire boats from the Los Angeles and Long Beach fire departments, were involved in the fire fight, Fox11 reported. The ship recently arrived from Tokyo, according to Fox11.

Grand Arts Holiday Jazz Carolers from Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts entertained the crowd with holiday inspired music. Pershing Squares official opening celebration in downtown Los Angeles marks the start of SoCals holiday season.

The Justice Department, in a letter to Gates dated Friday, Nov. 21, said it will update Gates’ personnel file to note that he voluntarily resigned from his position in its Civil Rights Division.

Gates, the former Huntington Beach city attorney, announced on social media on Sunday, Nov. 9, that he had resigned his position in the Trump administration and was returning home to work for the city once more. He said he was “very conflicted” about leaving because the job was “the honor of a lifetime,” but the months felt like years as he missed his family and their events.

But the Justice Department had said Gates was terminated from his position “for cause,” personnel records obtained through a records request showed.

A Justice Department source did confirm the validity of the letter Gates received on Friday accepting his resignation. There was no further information about the change of decision.

“Please accept this letter as formal notification that the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has accepted your voluntary resignation from the position of Deputy Assistant Attorney General, effective November, 9, 2025. Accordingly, the Division rescinds and will remove from your personnel record any previous reference to your termination.”

Gates had maintained that he was not fired, but rather was planning to resign from the Justice Department.

“They were angry I resigned, and I know this because it was well known throughout the office for months that anybody resigning would make them look bad,” Gates said in an interview last week. “When other people resigned, they were so mad. I’ve seen it with my own eyes because they thought it would make them look bad.”

Gates could not immediately be reached for comment Friday evening.

But in a Facebook post, Gates called the letter “total vindication.”

“DOJ just sent a letter completely reversing ' now recognizing my resignation!” he posted.

Earlier Friday, the Huntington Beach City Council met in closed session for 90 minutes, discussing the rehiring of Gates to work in the city attorney’s office. At its regular meeting on Tuesday, the council called for a special meeting to address “anticipated litigation” in two emails from Gates’ attorney, Benjamin G. Chew, regarding Gates’ employment with the city.

In the resignation letter Gates had posted to social media earlier this month, it indicated his last day with the Justice Department would be Nov. 22. The Justice Department’s letter on Friday said his resignation is effective Nov. 9.

Gates was elected as Huntington Beachs city attorney in 2014 and won reelection twice more. He had said he would run for his old post again next year. But in the meantime, Gates said he has accepted the citys offer to be 'chief assistant city attorney' starting Nov. 24.

He had been one of the more outspoken elected officials in Huntington Beach and the county, leading his office to fight the state on multiple local control issues, including challenging the states sanctuary law, fighting for the citys voter ID law, and preventing California from mandating the coastal city to build more housing.

He announced in February that he was leaving his post as Huntington Beach’s city attorney to head to the Justice Department in Washington, D.C.

In his resignation letter, Gates said: “My decision to resign was not made easily ' but, in light of many circumstances, and after my experiences working at the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C., this year, I believe this is the best decision for me and my family.”

Staff writer Claire Wang contributed to this report. 

The Department of Building and Safety issued the certificate Friday morning for the home built by developer Thomas James Homes, located at 915 N. Kagawa St. The certificate is a legal document that certifies a building compliance with applicable building codes and means it is safe live in, according to Mayor Karen Bass’ office.

“The Palisades community has been through an unimaginable year and my heart breaks for every family that won’t be able to be home this holiday season,” Bass said in a statement. “With more and more projects nearing completion across Pacific Palisades, the city of Los Angeles remains committed to expediting every aspect of the rebuilding process, until every family is back home.”

Jamie Mead, CEO of Thomas James Homes, thanked the city for their work in accelerating permits and the rebuilding process.

“Completing this first ground-up rebuild in approximately six months shows what is possible when public and private partners work with urgency and purpose,” Mead said in a statement. “For Thomas James Homes, this is about one thing: helping families return home as quickly as safely as possible.”

A grand opening is scheduled for Dec. 6, and will be open to the public.

To date, more than 340 rebuilding projects are confirmed to have started construction across Pacific Palisades, city officials said.

About 2,376 applications for rebuilding projects have been received; 1,064 projects are in review and 1,069 permits have been issued in Los Angeles, according to a state dashboard tracking rebuilding in fire-impacted communities throughout L.A. County.

Earlier this week, in Altadena, an additional dwelling unit also received a certificate of occupancy.

The group, Beverly Belles sang Christmas and Hannukah songs. Santa made an appearance all the way from the North Pole and was mobbed by children awaiting pictures and to ask for holiday treats. Families also posed for snapshots with jolly Ole St. Nick.

The storm, combined with earlier, torrential rain over the past week, has put the region on track for near-record November rainfall, the National Weather Service said.

In Winnetka, a person was killed when a tree fell onto two vehicles on the 7300 block of North Mason Avenue on Friday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Details about how the tree toppled remain under investigation, but it was not caused by a vehicle striking the tree, Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Charles Miller said. Recent rainstorms, however, have led to multiple reports of trees falling in the area.

The person’s gender and age were not available.

Before dawn Friday, residents in several parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties were warned of flash flooding of streets and creeks, along with possible mudslides.

In coastal Huntington Beach, rain flowed through some streets like streams, and authorities responded to numerous flooding and weather-related calls in the northern part of that city.

The Huntington Beach fire department conducted about 10 rescues on Thursday night, and police responded to additional rescues involving people trapped in vehicles because of the flooding, according to city spokeswoman Julie Toledo.

A portion of the roof on a home on Cumberland Drive in Huntington Beach collapsed. No injuries were reported, and all occupants evacuated before authorities arrived. Toledo said it was unclear whether the storm alone caused the collapse or whether pre-existing damage contributed.

Huntington Beach resident Lori Shepler went outside Friday morning to find what she believed to be about a foot of water covering the street, and nearby Greer Park completely flooded.

'Ive lived in Huntington Beach for 30 years and Ive heard never rain that intense before,' she said.

Flash flood warnings from the National Weather Service covered areas spanning from downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica to Mission Viejo in Orange County.

In Huntington Beach, much of the water had receded by Friday morning, but one neighborhood remained flooded after a local pond overflowed, spilling water into the streets and trapping parked cars.

In South Orange County, a huge thunderclap woke residents as the storm moved overhead early Friday.

'It was so loud I thought maybe a house exploded,' Sarah Tullen wrote in a Lake Forest Facebook group post, which featured dozens of residents sharing how they were rattled by the boom.

Another resident, Michelle Watson, wrote, 'I havent been jolted out of my sleep like that since living in Northern Cal.' All the alarms went off in one stretch around Toledo Way in Lake Forest, she said, and 'the entire house woke up.'

A flash flood alert on mobile phones woke some residents around 3:40 a.m., just five minutes before the lightning storm began.

'The high pitch of that alert definitely wakes you!' Kim Self wrote.

A series of storms beginning Nov. 13 has unleashed copious amounts of rain, more than four times the normal amount that typically falls in November in downtown Los Angeles, according to weather service reports.

In a normal November, downtown Los Angeles typically gets 0.78 of an inch of rain, but it has already seen about 3.5 inches this month.

A potent atmospheric river is blamed for causing at least a half-dozen deaths earlier this month as it rolled across much of California.

In Orange County, a 20% chance of rain is forecast for Saturday, with gusts up to 35 mph. Sunday is expected to bring light winds and sunny skies. In the Los Angeles area, forecasters said, light showers are possible into early Saturday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a loyal supporter-turned-critic of President Donald Trump who faced his political retribution if she sought reelection, said Friday she is resigning from Congress in January.

Greene, in a more than 10-minute video posted online, explained her decision and said she didn’t want her congressional district “to have to endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for,” she said.

Greene’s resignation followed a public fallout with Trump in recent months, as the congresswoman criticized him for his stance on files related to Jeffrey Epstein, along with foreign policy and health care.

Trump branded her a “traitor” and “wacky” and said he would endorse a challenger against her when she ran for reelection next year.

She said her last day would be Jan. 5, 2026.

The White House did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Friday night.

In a brief phone call Friday night, Trump told ABC News that Greene’s resignation is “great news for the country.” He said had no plans to speak with Greene but wishes her well.

Greene was one of the most vocal and visible supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again politics, and she embraced some of his unapologetic political style.

Her break with him was a notable fissure in his grip over conservatives, particularly his most ardent base. But her decision to step down in the face of his opposition put her on the same track as many of the more moderate establishment Republicans before her who went crosswise with Trump.

The congresswoman, who recorded the video announcing her resignation while sitting in her living room wearing a cross necklace and with a Christmas tree and a peace lily plant behind her, said, “My life is filled with happiness, and my true convictions remain unchanged, because my self-worth is not defined by a man, but instead by God.”

A crack in the MAGA movement

Greene had been closely tied to the Republican president since she launched her political career five years ago.

In her video Friday, she underscored her longtime loyalty to Trump except on a few issues, and said it was “unfair and wrong” that he attacked her for disagreeing.

“Loyalty should be a two-way street and we should be able to vote our conscience and represent our district’s interest, because our job title is literally ‘representative,’” she said.

Greene swept to office at the forefront of Trump’s MAGA movement and quickly became a lightning rod on Capitol Hill for her often beyond-mainstream views. In her video Friday, Greene said she had “always been despised in Washington, D.C., and just never fit in.”

As she embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory and appeared with white supremacists, Greene was initially opposed by party leaders but welcomed by Trump. He called her “a real WINNER!”

Yet over time she proved a deft legislator, having aligned herself with then-GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, who would go on to become House speaker. She was a trusted voice on the right flank, until McCarthy was ousted in 2023.

While there has been an onslaught of lawmakers from both parties heading for the exits ahead of next fall’s midterm elections, as the House struggles through an often chaotic session, Greene’s announced retirement will ripple throughout the ranks — and raise questions about her next moves.

Greene was first elected to the House in 2020. She initially planned to run in a competitive district in northern Atlanta’s suburbs, but relocated to the much more conservative 14th District in Georgia’s northwest corner.

The opening in her district means Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will have to set a special election date within 10 days of Greene’s resignation. Such a special election would fill out the remainder of Greene’s term through January 2027. Those elections could take place before the party primaries in May for the next two-year term.

Conspiracy-minded

Even before her election, Greene showed a penchant for harsh rhetoric and conspiracy theories, suggesting a 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas was a coordinated attack to spur support for new gun restrictions. In 2018, she endorsed the idea that the U.S. government perpetrated the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and mused that a “so-called” plane had hit the Pentagon.

Greene argued in 2019 that Reps. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., and Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., both Muslim women, weren’t “official” members of Congress because they used Qurans rather than Bibles in their swearing-in ceremonies.

She was once a sympathizer with QAnon, an online network that believes a global cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibals, including U.S. government leaders, operates a child sex trafficking ring. She eventually distanced herself, saying she got “sucked into some of the things I had seen on the internet.”

During the pandemic, she drew backlash and apologized for comparing the wearing of safety masks to the horrors of the Holocaust.

She also drew ridicule and condemnation after a conspiracy she speculated about on Facebook in 2018, in which she suggested a California wildfire may have been caused by “lasers or blue beams of light” controlled by a left-wing cabal tied to a prominent Jewish family.

When Trump was out of power between his first and second terms, Greene was often a surrogate for his views and brash style in Washington.

While then-President Joe Biden delivered his State of the Union address in 2022, Greene stood up and began chanting “Build the wall,” referring to the U.S.-Mexico border wall that Trump began in his first term.

Last year, when Biden gave his last State of the Union address, Greene again drew attention as she confronted him over border security and the killing of a nursing student from Georgia, Laken Riley, by an immigrant in the country illegally.

Greene, wearing a red MAGA hat and a T-shirt about Riley, handed the president a button that said “Say Her Name.” The congresswoman then shouted that at the president midway through his speech.

Frustration with the GOP

But this year, her first serving with Trump in the White House, cracks began to appear slowly in her steadfast support — before it broke wide open.

Greene’s discontent dates back at least to May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for the Senate against Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff, while attacking GOP donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win.

Greene’s restlessness only intensified in July, when she announced she wouldn’t run for Georgia governor, either.

She was also frustrated with the Republican leadership on Capitol Hill, which worked in lockstep with the president.

Greene said in her video that “the legislature has been mostly sidelined” since Republicans took unified control of Washington in January and her bills “just sit collecting dust.”

“That’s how it is for most members of Congress’ bills,” she said. “The speaker never brings them to the floor for a vote.”

Messages left with House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office were not immediately returned.

Republicans will likely lose the midterms elections next year, Greene said, and then she’d “be expected to defend the president against impeachment after he hatefully dumped tens of millions of dollars against me and tried to destroy me.”

“It’s all so absurd and completely unserious,” she said. “I refuse to be a battered wife hoping it all goes away and gets better.”

___

Amy reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.

NEW YORK (AP) ' The U.S. flu season is starting slowly, and its unclear if it will be as bad as last winters, but some health experts are worried as U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data posted Friday shows a new version of the virus has emerged.

An early analysis suggests current vaccines may still be somewhat effective against the new version of the flu, which has been the main driver of recent infections, CDC data shows.

Some scientists and medical professionals are more worried about disappointing vaccination rates, a main reason why flu hospitalizations and deaths were unusually bad during last years flu season ' one of the deadliest this century.

'I think were going to see a really severe season,' said Asefeh Faraz Covelli of the George Washington University School of Nursing.

Last winter, the overall flu hospitalization rate was the highest seen since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. Flu was the underlying or a contributing cause of more than 18,000 deaths, and one seven-day stretch early this year saw more than 1,800 deaths ' the highest one-week spike in at least a decade. Child flu deaths also were far higher than usual.

CDC data posted Friday showed low flu activity so far, with only one state ' Louisiana ' reporting moderate activity. Most of the reported infections have been in children, said the CDCs Alicia Budd, who tracks flu infections for the Atlanta-based agency.

Most also have been a new version of the type A H3N2 virus that historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. That type is responsible for most flu infections so far this year, and more than half have been a new subclade K variant that is different from the strain this years flu shots were built to fight.

A preliminary analysis from the United Kingdom suggests the shots do provide at least partial protection, although it will take some time for scientists to know exactly how effective they are. Experts say any protection that softens the blow of a flu infection is important to get.

Flu seasons tend to get bad between December and February, and illnesses likely will accelerate as people travel and gather for Thanksgiving, Covelli said.

'I think its going to start picking up here,' she said. 'This is the ideal time to get vaccinated.'

Researchers this year have been facing an unusual struggle to get a handle on how respiratory infection and vaccination rates have been trending.

They usually rely on the CDC for data, but a recent government shutdown halted data collection and reporting just as respiratory infections started ramping up.

Meanwhile, government efforts to promote disease-preventing shots have been more limited since U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was put in charge of the CDC and other federal health agencies. Kennedy, a leading anti-vaccine activist, has fostered uncertainty about the safety of vaccines, including flu shots that contained a preservative called thimerosal.

Indeed, vaccination rates against COVID-19 clearly continue to plummet, with about 6% of children and 14% of adults up to date on their shots, according to other CDC data posted Friday. Each figure is about 3 percentage points less than it was at this point last fall.

For the flu, vaccination trends are a little muddier. Some sources have suggested flu vaccinations are down. Over two million fewer flu shots were given at U.S. pharmacies through the end of October compared to last year, according to data from IQVIA, a health information and research company.

But the latest CDC data indicates that for children, the vaccination rate this year is about the same as it was at this point last fall, at 34%. And the vaccination rate for adults is up a few percentage points to about 37%, according to the CDC data, which relies on survey information.

It is early in the season and too early to know if the increase will be sustained or what is causing it, CDC officials said.

As of the beginning of November, the U.S. flu hospitalization rate is about the same as it was at the same point in 2024. Hospitalization rates for COVID-19 and another respiratory virus, RSV, are lower so far this season, according to another set of CDC data.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institutes Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) ' Philippine police and other law enforcement teams were deployed to arrest 18 suspects in a corruption scandal involving flood control projects that has sparked huge protests and forced implicated congressional leaders to step down, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other officials said Friday.

Marcos has been scrambling to quell public outrage over the massive corruption, which has been blamed for substandard, defective or non-existent flood control projects in a poverty-stricken country, long prone to deadly typhoons, floodings and extreme weather in tropical Asia.

The warrants were issued by the Sandiganbayan, a special anti-corruption court, against Zaldy Co, who has resigned from the House of Representatives and fled to an unspecified country, and 17 others, including government engineers and executives of Sunwest Corp., a construction firm, over irregularities in a flood control project in Oriental Mindoro province.

Government prosecutors have recommended no bail for the suspects because of the scope of the irregularities in the river dike project, worth 289 million pesos ($4.8 million).

'They will be arrested, presented to the court and made to answer to the law,' Marcos said in a video message where he thanked the public for its patience. 'There will be no special treatment, and nobody would be spared.'

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla and the National Bureau of Investigation said law enforcement teams have been deployed to arrest the suspects. The Interpol would be asked to help track and arrest Co through a Red Notice if hes still out of the country, Remulla said, adding that the former lawmaker was last spotted in Japan a few days ago.

An immigration order has been issued to prevent the suspects in the Philippines from leaving the country, officials said.

Last week, Marcos said many of at least 37 powerful senators, members of Congress and wealthy construction executives implicated in the corruption scandal would be in jail by Christmas.

Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, a key prosecutor in charge of fighting government corruption, told The Associated Press that at least five former and incumbent senators were under investigation for allegedly pocketing huge kickbacks in the faulty flood control projects. Among them is former Senate President Chiz Escudero, who has strongly denied any wrongdoing.

Those implicated include lawmakers opposed to and allied with Marcos, including Rep. Martin Romualdez, the presidents cousin and key ally, who has denied any involvement but has stepped down as House of Representatives speaker. Sen. Bong Go, a key ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has also come under suspicion but has denied any wrongdoing.

Duterte was arrested in March and detained by the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity over his deadly anti-drugs crackdowns.

He is a harsh critic of Marcos and father of the incumbent vice president, Sara Duterte, who has said that the president should also be held accountable and jailed for signing into law the 2025 national budget that carried appropriations for irregular infrastructure projects.

Aides have defended Marcos from allegations linking him to the irregularities, saying that he first raised alarm over them in July in his annual state of the nation address before Congress.

At least 9,855 flood control projects worth more than 545 billion pesos ($9 billion) that were supposed to have been undertaken since Marcos took office in mid-2022 are under investigation. In September, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto told legislators that up to 118.5 billion pesos ($2 billion) for flood control projects may have been lost to corruption since 2023.