Posts by hdcoadmin
Gas price secrets revealed
A series by The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed a daily price database of gas prices at 716 stations in the Greater Cincinnati region, including northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana, to better understand the many aspects of retail gas pricing. Rising gas prices and stiff competition are causing many major oil companies, like BP and Shell, to…
Read MoreLoopholes in hiring practices leave kids at risk
Flaws in how the city of Columbus handles background checks for street peddlers has created loopholes that allow child predators behind the wheels of ice cream trucks, reports Paul Aker of WBNS-TV. Prospective employees submitted their own background checks, and one ice cream truck driver simply omitted his history of child pornography charges. As a…
Read MoreU.S. hospitals deporting invalid immigrants
“Many American hospitals are taking it upon themselves to repatriate seriously injured or ill immigrants because they cannot find nursing homes willing to accept them without insurance,” reports Deborah Sontag of The New York Times. Hospitals are deporting these patients without any government assistance or oversight. While immigration rights advocates see this as international patient…
Read MoreCity’s wildfire clean-up exceeded estimates
Following the October 2007 wildfires, the city of San Diego contracted with two companies for demolition and clean-up of homes destroyed in the fire. Original estimates for the service was around $28,000 per home, but the final costs surpassed the original estimate by more than 68 percent according to a watchdog report by Dana Wilkie,…
Read MoreEPA investigation shows “safe” pesticides now top list of poisonings
Through a FOIA request, The Center for Public Integrity obtained the Environmental Protection Agency’s internal pesticide incident database, called one of the “Ten Most Wanted Government Documents” by a watchdog group. Their analysis of the more than 90,000 “adverse-reaction” reports filed by manufacturers to the EPA found that the supposedly “safe” pesticide compounds now in…
Read MoreProgress slow in bridge repairs across the U.S.
“A year after the worst U.S. bridge collapse in a generation brought calls for immediate repairs to other spans, two of every three of the busiest problem bridges in each state — carrying nearly 40 million vehicles a day — have had no work beyond regular maintenance,” report Robert Tanner, Steve Karnowski and Frank Bass…
Read MoreSome guards at Maryland jail have arrest records
Following the apparent strangulation death of 19-year-old inmate Ronnie L. White, the Prince George’s County Jail has been under intense scrutiny. A report by Debbie Cenziper and James Hohman, of The Washington Post, revealed that more than a dozen correction officers at the facility have arrest records, yet many have been retained on staff. “The…
Read MoreU.S. auditor calls for end to funding of Iraqi reconstruction
Peter Spiegel of The Los Angeles Times reported that a U.S. auditor has called for an end to American funding of reconstruction in Iraq. Citing record oil profits and unspent funds from previous budgets, the special inspector general claimed Iraq has the means to fund its reconstruction needs, and American responsibility should be to help…
Read MoreUnsafe Haven series
Mary Zahn and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed the rising number of injuries and serious violations at nursing homes in the state of Wisconsin. The reporters reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents and built their own database of accidents, injuries and deaths spanning the past 3 ½ years. They found that…
Read MoreA look inside the fall of Bear Stearns
Vanity Fair’s Bryan Burrough investigated the fall of Bear Stearns. Through internal accounts of the investment bank’s demise, some suggest that an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission would point to evidence that Bear was the victim of short-sellers who make bets that a firm’s stock will go down. Burrough’s investigation found that many…
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