Todd Wallack of The Boston Globe reports on the misuse of the Massachusetts’ Economic Development Incentive Program which provides tax incentives to companies that invest and create jobs in the state. A review of records shows that hundreds of projects created fewer jobs than promised while others actually reduce employment while still collecting the tax [...]
Archive for the ‘Government (federal/state/local)’ Category
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Stimulus funds for special-education diverted for other uses
March 17th, 2010 
Beth An investigation by Shannon Mullen of the Asbury (N.J.) Park Press shows that special-education stimulus funds have been diverted to other costs in Monmouth and Ocean counties, including legal fees and teacher benefits. “The redirection of funds was possible thanks to a previously little-used provision in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal [...]
Nominee’s links to TSA contractors raise ethics concerns
March 17th, 2010 Beth Last week, President Obama nominated Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding to head the Transportation Security Administration, but Harding’s ties to several TSA contractors via Harding Security, a firm he founded in 2003, have raised ethics concerns. “A review of Harding Security’s business activities by CongressDaily showed that of 21 companies listed on the [...]
New York State road work account raided, little left for repairs
March 8th, 2010 Beth Michelle Breidenbach of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) mined state financial documents to show the abuse of New York State’s Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund. It’s not “dedicated” at all. Years of raiding and borrowing have left just 22 percent of the fund to fix the state roads.
U.S. government funded companies doing business in Iran
March 8th, 2010 Beth An investigation by The New York Times reveals that “the federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there.”
Lawyers to Ohio’s governor intervened in active criminal investigation
March 3rd, 2010 Beth An investigation by Randy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch revealed that the top two lawyers to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland intervened in an active criminal investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
Leaking underground tanks leave legacy of contamination in Pennsylvania
March 1st, 2010 Mark Horvit An investigation of leaky underground storage tanks in the Lehigh Valley by Christopher Baxter and Tim Darragh of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) found spills left lingering for years or even decades, homeowners kept in the dark about nearby problems and inconsistent tracking and enforcement by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The project includes [...]
California state employees pile up millions in vacation time
March 1st, 2010 Mark Horvit Amid a crippling fiscal crisis, managers throughout California’s government have routinely allowed their employees to amass unused vacation time, enabling hundreds of workers to end their public-service careers with payouts topping $100,000, a California Watch investigation has found. One worker combined vacation and compensatory time to walk away with more than $800,000, records show.
Agencies in New Mexico impeded fraud and elder care investigations
February 23rd, 2010 Beth An ongoing series in The New Mexico Independent explores allegations that state agencies interfered with fraud and elder abuse investigations. The Medicaid Fraud Division stated that Human Services Department and the Health Department had “withheld, ‘filtered’ and ’sanitized’ information and documents requested by investigators, hindering numerous investigations.“ Medicaid Fraud The series led to an attempt [...]
Texas slow to penalize nursing homes where residents suffer
February 19th, 2010 Mark Horvit Through interviews with families and advocates and a review of thousands of pages of public records, the San Antonio Express-News reports that some of the city’s most frail and vulnerable residents are suffering at the hands of their caregivers in Texas nursing homes. Yet state officials allow troubled nursing homes to continue operating with little [...]
