Ian Urbina of The New York Times reports that elections officials removed or blocked tens of thousands of eligible voters from voter registration rolls in at least six swing states and that elections workers misused Social Security databases. The actions, revealed in a Times review of state and Social Security records, appear to violate federal law. Although no one believes elections officials and workers intentionally barred voters or acted in connection with any political party, the discrepancy has already led to legal action in Michigan, Florida and Ohio.

A report by Michael de Yoanna and Bill Gertz of The Washington Times reveals that the relocation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from Cheyenne Mountain to office space at nearby Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. could undermine national security.  “According to military and defense sources familiar with the missions and U.S. government documents obtained by The Washington Times, the move — billed as a cost-cutting measure — received insufficient government review, violated previous Pentagon directives, may have broken U.S. law and has left the United States less able to track potential threats and the operations center more vulnerable to attack.”

Joaquin Sapien of ProPublica reports that the CDC’s original report on the safety of FEMA trailers dispensed to Hurricane Katrina victims was fundamentally flawed. While an agency standard states that formaldehyde exposure for two-weeks or more at levels measuring 30 parts per billion (ppb) can lead to health problems — the FEMA trailers all measured above this level — the study used a measure of 300 ppb.  At this level, the CDC proclaimed the trailers fit for residents as long as they kept the windows open. An investigation by ProPublica shows flawed science and failed communication between government agencies allowed conflicting information about the trailers’ safety to continue to circulate. “The story that emerged is of a government bureaucracy that remained silent as the formaldehyde crisis mounted, straying from its mission to serve the public by ‘providing trusted health information to prevent harmful exposures and disease related to toxic substances.’”

“State senators may be violating a Texas Constitution ban on using taxpayer money for bonuses to government workers by approving temporary end-of-year raises to give staffers thousands of dollars in extra pay,” reported Matt Stiles of the Houston Chronicle.  An analysis of a state payroll database obtained through the Texas Public Information Act showed a pattern of temporary salary inflation at the end of the fiscal year in many Senate offices.  The bonuses totaled more than $650,000 in the past two years.

Ames Alexander and David Ingram of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported that North Carolina Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry has collected at least half of her campaign contributions from executives and managers of companies that have been inspected by her department. The newspaper’s analysis also found that while the Labor Department routinely reduces fines for workplace safety violations, Berry’s contributors have usually gotten bigger-than-average breaks.

An investigation by Tom Spalding and Heather Gillers of the Indianapolis Star has led to a policy change regarding special parking placards in Indianapolis. Some have been using the special permits, intended to help city employees complete quick downtown tasks, to park for hours at no charge. The abuse has negatively impacted downtown businesses, whose customers have no place to park. On Sep. 23, in response to the Star’s ongoing investigation, Indianapolis Public Safety Director Scott Newman asked the Indianapolis City Council to draft an ordinance regulating permit use.

Reporters Joe Mahr, David Hunnand and Jeremy Kohler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch have uncovered a scandal involving St. Louis police and a private towing contractor. St. Louis police, who do have access to a public impound lot, allowed the proprietors of the St. Louis Metropolitan Towing lot, to illegally keep and sell stolen and seized cars impounded by the police department. The lot also made it nearly impossible for vehicle owners to retrieve their cars, even if they managed to complete the lot’s unnecessary and confusing paperwork.

An investigation by Michelle Breidenbach of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y) shows that a $1.20 cell phone tax intended for upgrades to 911 technology is being misappropriated. Only six cents for every $1.20 collected ends up in the coffers of the 911 call center. “Instead, the state spends the money on itself: overtime, fringe benefits, travel, vehicles, new boots, clip-on ties, sun block, spray paint, groceries, dry cleaning and other daily expenses for agencies ranging from the state police to the departments of corrections and parks, state records show.”

An investigation by The New York Times has uncovered an epidemic of occupational disability claims among retirees of the Long Island Rail Road. “Virtually every career employee — as many as 97 percent in one recent year — applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement, a computer analysis of federal records by The New York Times has found. Since 2000, those records show, about a quarter of a billion dollars in federal disability money has gone to former L.I.R.R. employees, including about 2,000 who retired during that time.”

In an effort to break up large-scale public housing projects riddled by crime, Section 8 vouchers have created the opportunity for low-income families to move into suburbs, according to a report by Gregory Korte of the Cincinnati Enquirer. The opportunity for a more stable community is not without its challenges, and many Section 8 tenants feel they were unprepared for the responsibilities suburban life. “That’s the fundamental flaw in Section 8, says Don Driehaus, housing authority chairman. Instead of a government-run social program, it’s now a loosely regulated service provided by more than 3,600 different landlords – some good, some bad and some criminal.” Critics of the program, including Driehaus, would like to see an end to the vouchers and a return to “more traditional public housing.”