Tony Kennedy of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune reports that some of the state’s charter schools have found a loophole in the Minnesota law that forbids charter schools from owning property. Millions of dollars in public money have gone to build schools even though the properties remain in the hands of private nonprofit corporations. According to [...]
Archive for November, 2009
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Shut out of Social Security
November 25th, 2009 
Meganm Mike Chalmers of The News Journal in Wilmington, Del., found a pattern of “denial and delay” among administrative law judges who have the power to grant or deny Social Security benefits to disabled workers in Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. The News Journal “analyzed four years of decisions by ALJ in every state, more than 1.7 [...]
Federal subsidies paid to dead farmers
November 25th, 2009 Meganm Stephen Stock of WFOR reported that as many as 1,399 Florida farmers who have been dead at least three years nonetheless received $55,051,857 in aid. “Working with help from the Environmental Working Group’s database experts, the CBS4 I-Team matched Federal Farm Bill recipients with people, birth dates, addresses and social security numbers found on the Social [...]
Soldier’s suicide illustrates problems in military psychiatric care
November 24th, 2009 Mark Horvit Tapping into hundreds of pages of medical records, Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel told the story of Iraq vet James Weigl, who committed suicide soon after his return to Wisconsin. Kissinger’s reporting identified numerous mistakes and missed warning signs – by the Army and the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Milwaukee. For example, [...]
Tags: Lawmakers, state employees get millions in health insurance perks
November 24th, 2009 Mark Horvit Beth Reinhard and Marc Caputo of The Miami Herald report that Florida taxpayers foot the bill for the insurance premiums of Governor Charlie Crist and other high-ranking Florida officials. According to the article, 2,431 of the 27,479 government employees who receive this subsidy earn more than $100,000. The subsidy program costs about $45 million a [...]
Man paroled 22 years after questionable conviction
November 20th, 2009 Beth An investigation by Times Herald-Record reporter Christine Young into the questionable handling by police and prosecutors of a 1987 New York City murder has led to the prison release of a man convicted of the crime.
Consultancies a cash-cow for retired military
November 20th, 2009 Beth A USA Today investigation found that the Pentagon has hired “at least 158 retired admirals and generals…to offer advice under an unusual arrangement. Most of the retired officers, one to four stars in rank, have been paid hundreds of dollars an hour by the military even as they worked for companies seeking Defense Department contracts.“
Tapes reveal motive in soldiers’ killing of four Iraqi detainees
November 19th, 2009 Beth An investigation by CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost found that U.S. soldiers interrogated by the Army in the 2007 murders of four Iraqi detainees blamed a military policy they said made it too hard to detain suspected insurgents.
Domestic Silence series
November 18th, 2009 Beth A Columbus Dispatch investigation of domestic violence by Stephanie Czekalinski, Jill Riepenhoff and Mike Wagner shows flaws in Ohio laws and policies that create a culture of tolerance and indifference about the top crime in the state.
FBI tracked Studs Terkel for over four decades
November 17th, 2009 Beth Through the Freedom of Information Act, CUNY graduate student Valerie Lapinski was able to obtain previously unreleased FBI file of Studs Terkel. The file revealed that the agency suspected Terkel was a Communist. “The 269-page paper trail spans 1945 to 1990 – covering everything from Terkel’s McCarthy-era blacklisting to his involvement with Paul Robeson and [...]
