Archive for April, 2005

Golf resort wants increased funding after significant losses

Friday, 04/29/05 Posted in Housing

Penny Brown Roberts of the Baton Rouge Advocate used public records to show that "developers of a swanky Texas golf resort have burned through nearly $30 million in a line ... Read more..

Medicare schemes may have cost taxpayers millions

Friday, 04/29/05 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Health, Social issues

Erin McCormick of the San Francisco Chronicle investigated Medicare scams dealing with elderly immigrants. What the Chronicle discovered were two scams: the first was a sleep clinic, which ... Read more..

Fired officers earning compensation during long appeals

Thursday, 04/28/05 Posted in Government (federal/state/local)

John Diedrich of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that since 1994, "Milwaukee has paid more than $2.1 million in pay and benefits to 30 fired officers who were not reinstated, ... Read more..

Radiologist’s long hours invoke suspicion

Thursday, 04/28/05 Posted in CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Health

Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber of the Los Angeles Times used California's Public Records Act to show that "Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center paid more than $1.3 million over ... Read more..

Felony, not petty criminals fill jail

Wednesday, 04/27/05 Posted in CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Justice (courts/crime/law)

Karen E. Crummy of The Denver Post analyzed county data to find that "most of the inmates crammed into the Denver County Jail are accused of robbery, burglary, selling drugs ... Read more..

Parolees living in state nursing homes

Tuesday, 04/26/05 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local), Justice (courts/crime/law)

Chris Fusco and Lori Rackl of the Chicago Sun-Times used state documents to show that sixty-one criminals on parole from the state's prison system are living in 37 nursing homes ... Read more..

County workers cashing in on overtime

Tuesday, 04/26/05 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local), Health, Workplace

Mickey Ciokajlo and Todd Lighty of the Chicago Tribune used Cook County payroll data to find that "more than 100 county workers were each paid $50,000 or more in overtime ... Read more..

City officials spending with little oversight

Tuesday, 04/26/05 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local), Politics

Jim Davis of The Fresno Bee used city expense reports to show that "Fresno Mayor Alan Autry and the City Council spent tens of thousands of dollars in the past ... Read more..

City insiders’ tickets dismissed at much higher rate than most

Monday, 04/25/05 Posted in CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local)

Patrick Lakamp of The Buffalo News analyzed 24,000 parking ticket hearings, finding that most Buffalo residents pay the majority of their fines, whereas as a select few city insiders get ... Read more..

FEMA contracts with criminals

Monday, 04/25/05 Posted in Disasters, First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local), IRE News

Megan O'Matz and Sally Kestin of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found that "government inspectors entrusted to enter disaster victims' homes and verify damage claims include criminals with records for embezzlement, ... Read more..