Investigate West has obtained new documents that tell the story of Boeing and its allies worked to delay rules regarding consumption of toxic fish in Washington. This issue has become a political dilemma for Washington policy makers, with Indian tribes on one side wanting stricter water pollution rules to prevent consumption of toxic fish, and an influential aerospace industry that was dead set against tightening the rules.
Google employees were exposed to excessive levels of a hazardous chemical for more than two months at a Superfund site satellie campus, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting: "From mid-November to mid-January, levels o ftrichloroethylene, or TCE, exceeded concentrations considered safe by the federal Environmental Protection Agency at a Google office complex in Mountain View," according to a detailed EPA report obtained by CIR.
Center for Investigative Reporting
VA’s ability to quickly provide benefits plummets under Obama
“Internal VA documents, obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting and authenticated by the agency, reveal that delays newly returning veterans face before receiving disability compensation and other benefits are far longer than the agency has publicly acknowledged. The documents also offer insight into some of the reasons for those delays.”
The Houston Chronicle
Pasadena Superfund site's owner indicted, missing
“In reality, prosecutors said, he is a polluter responsible for a 17-acre disaster - hundreds of dumpsters and concrete tanks vaporizing hazardous chemicals into the air ...
According to a report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a sharp rise in students diagnosed with major disabilities is forcing many Minnesota schools to take difficult and at times divisive new steps to tailor classrooms to the disabled students’ needs, no matter how expensive that gets. Even as overall school enrollment declined over the past decade, the number of disabled students rose 14 percent. Many of the state’s most psychologically troubled students also are being sent to school settings for the first time as mental health programs that once served them have been cut back or eliminated. By law ...
Read more ...The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Murderous 'monster' acquires an arsenal
A Minnesota man who killed his mother with a firearm in 1995 and was later committed to a state mental hospital was still able to obtain a permit to purchase firearms last May, the Star Tribune’s Paul McEnroe and Glenn Howatt reported. Dozens of other Minnesotans judged by a court to be mentally ill have also found that designation no barrier to obtaining deadly weapons. A review of state court records found case after case in which individuals deemed mentally ill in judicial proceedings later wound up in possession of ...
The New Haven Register
Connecticut superintendents get many perks in addition to salaries
“Meal allowances, housing help, generous mileage reimbursements and bonuses of up to $30,000 a year are some perks Connecticut school superintendents get in addition to their annual salaries.”
The Texas Tribune
A Part-Time Legislature, but in Whose Interest?
“Wth a conflict disclosure system rife with holes, virtually toothless ethics laws often left to the interpretation of the lawmakers they are supposed to regulate, and a Legislature historically unwilling to make itself more transparent, the reality is Texans know exceedingly little about who or what influences the ...
"Driven by a common belief in Asia that ground-up rhino horns can cure cancer and other ills, the trade has also been embraced by criminal syndicates that normally traffic drugs and guns, but have branched into the underground animal parts business because it is seen as “low risk, high profit,” American officials say.”
Bloomberg News reports that more than 244,00 Americans with injuries are consigned to nursing homes, where patient lawyers say they are warehoused with inadequate care. In many cases, they are housed in institutions designed for geriatric care, not the specialized care they need, and in some cases they are in facilities graded poorly on measures like quality and cleanliness.
Repeated independent reviews of the agency, including one by the Institute of Medicine released this month, have found that its board is rife with conflicts of interest. In fact, of the $1.7 billion that the agency has awarded so far, about 90 percent has gone to research institutions with ties to people sitting on the board, according to an analysis by David Jensen at the California Stem Cell Report, which closely follows the agency's operations.