Extra! Extra!

Some Massachusetts companies abused job creation tax breaks

Beth — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 08:06:22 +0000

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 breaks. In other cases, companies received subsidies for projects that were already planned or underway without the incentives.

Stimulus funds for special-education diverted for other uses

Beth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:22:49 +0000

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 statute that guarantees children with disabilities the right to a ‘free and appropriate’ education. The law allows districts to use up to half of any annual increase in such federal aid to replace local tax dollars earmarked for special education, freeing up those funds for other uses.”

Nominee’s links to TSA contractors raise ethics concerns

Beth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:16:40 +0000

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 firm’s Web site as its ‘clients and partners,’ several firms, including Lockheed Martin Corp., L-3 Communications, SAIC, CACI, QinetiQ and General Dynamics Corp., have done business with TSA.”

U.S changes rules for holding Afgan detainees

Beth — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 15:00:50 +0000

A month after an investigation by CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost, the U.S. military has changed a controversial policy in Afghanistan that soldiers claimed put them at risk . The policy, known as the 96-hour rule, required that detainees be released or turned to Afghan authorities within four days. The new rule, announced by Gen. David Petraeus, extends the amount of time to 14 days or longer in some cases. Sen. Lindsey Graham credited CNN’s story with revealing the problems with the 96-hour rule.

Materials, construction increase risk of fire in modular homes

Beth — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:05:15 +0000

The investigative team at WFXT-Boston found material and construction methods used in the construction of modular homes may increase the risk for fire, according to some fire safety experts. After the story aired, the board that sets Massachusetts’ building codes voted to consider significant changes in the state’s building codes for modular homes.

Loophole in Hawaii’s pay-to-play law exploited by donors

Beth — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:24:15 +0000

An investigation by the Honolulu Advertiser found that donors linked to city and state contractors are giving money to candidates for Hawaii’s gubernatorial races. Experts say the donors are exploiting a loophole in Hawaii’s five year-old pay-to-play law. The study is based on a computer-assisted survey of more than 2,300 campaign contributions made to three top gubernatorial candidates during the second half of 2009.

New York State road work account raided, little left for repairs

Beth — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:26:51 +0000

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

Beth — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:27:48 +0000

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.”

Parolees clustered in a handful of communities in Utah

Beth — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:06:20 +0000

An investigation by The Salt Lake Tribune found clustering of probationers and parolees “in specific neighborhoods and even apartment buildings, despite rules prohibiting people on supervision from associating with one another. Law enforcement and scholars say offenders are more likely to succeed if they are dispersed, but a lack of halfway houses and city ordinances passed in recent years have limited where many offenders can live.”

Tracking gang activity in Tennessee

Beth — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:45:13 +0000

The Tennessean’s three-part series on gangs reveals a growing problem across the state, particularly in suburbia and small towns. Law enforcement is overwhelmed and schools are ripe recruiting grounds in what’s part of a national trend of gangs expanding their influence to areas outside the urban core to sell drugs. The newspaper gained access to gangs, taking readers inside their world, while providing the most complete public accounting to date of gang activity across the state. Included in the online presentation is an interactive map of known gangs that operate in each of Tennessee’s 95 counties. Relying on a confidential report, interviews, police records and court records, the newspaper’s series found there’s no consistent system to track gang activity. The lack of information leaves the public, and sometimes even law enforcement, in the dark about the scope of the problem. The paper also found some homicides with links to gangs never get reported as such by police.