Posts by hdcoadmin
Unregulated logging industry raises questions
A father-son logging team in Vermont with a history of environmental and criminal violations is implicated in yet another investigation, while the landowners who contracted them are left with the bill for environmental remediation on their property, Hilary Niles for VTDigger, reports. State authorities won’t even use the word “logging” to describe what the men…
Read MorePrivate Prison Empire Rises Despite Startling Record Of Juvenile Abuse
Over the past quarter century, James F. Slattery’s for-profit prison enterprises have run afoul of the Justice Department and authorities in New York, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and Texas, the Huffington Post reports. The alleged offenses range from condoning abuse of inmates to plying politicians with undisclosed gifts while seeking to secure state contracts. Despite that…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Maine pharmacists get licenses despite history of drug abuse
Would you feel safe if your pharmacist had lost his license because of drug abuse or theft, yet had regained it and was dispensing your prescriptions? What about if he had lost his license twice? Naomi Schalit and John Christie of the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting found that since 2003, thirteen pharmacists with…
Read MoreTed Cruz Failed To Disclose Ties To Caribbean Holding Company
“Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz potentially violated ethics rules by failing to publicly disclose his financial relationship with a Caribbean-based holding company during the 2012 campaign, a review of financial disclosure and company documents by TIME shows.”
Read MoreResearch stalls on dangers of military burn pits
“Thousands of returning veterans and civilians are now attributing myriad symptoms — respiratory problems, neurological disorders, cancers and ALS — to exposure to the burn pits, which were located at dozens of bases throughout Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Read MoreIvy Tech, DNR emails expose favors between officials, raunchy jokes, nude pictures
“The emails — which featured jokes about erectile dysfunction and breast size, and pictures that compared naked women to various animals — appear to violate the spirit, if not the letter, of Ivy Tech’s sexual harassment policy. Yet they were allowed to continue for at least six months before administrators asked Walkup to cease sometime…
Read More$1,100 an hour? Part-time service at little agencies means big bucks and benefits for politicians
“Even the elected officials who benefit were surprised by the hefty hourly rates, which this newspaper calculated through an analysis of government meeting minutes and the Bay Area News Group’s public salary database.”
Read MoreBooming rental market makes it easier for neglectful landlords to ignore substandard living conditions
“A wide range of involved parties — City Council members, city Code Compliance officials, tenant advocates and real estate industry groups — agree that Austin’s real estate boom has made it possible for a subset of “bad actors” among rental property owners to ignore substandard conditions and tenants’ complaints. One indicator of the scope of…
Read MoreWisconsin Supreme Court justices tend to favor attorney donors
“Justices have the option of recusing themselves from cases involving donor attorneys but have rarely stepped aside, remaining involved in nearly 98 percent of such cases, the Center found.”
Read MoreFacing lawsuits over deadly asbestos, paper giant launched secretive research program
“Named in more than 60,000 legal claims, Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific sought salvation in a secret research program it launched in hopes of exonerating its product as a carcinogen, court records obtained by the Center for Public Integrity show.”
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