Posts by hdcoadmin
Demand for pardons creates backlog
Rich Cholodofsky of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review analyzed applications for pardons dating to 2000 and found that as the country’s security concerns increased in the wake of 9/11, along with intensified background checks implemented in the late 1990s as a result of the Brady Bill, the number of people seeking to have records of criminal convictions…
Read MoreHigh school coach recruits players, violates rules
Christine Willmsen and Michael Ko of The Seattle Times investigated the Chief Sealth High School girls basketball team’s head coach, Ray Willis, and found that the coach had violated numerous amateur athletic rules. Willis and his assistants, Amos Walters and Laura Fuller, have recruited players for more than three years, six of whom helped the…
Read MoreMichael Fabey of Defense News analyzed 3 million contract and modification records from 2000 through 2004 to show that U.S. agencies made more than 2,100 deals worth $1.2 billion for satellite telecommunications and related work. “U.S. federal agencies issued about 35,000 contracts and related modifications for general space-related work, worth about $40.2 billion, the analysis…
Read MoreHighway plan too costly to execute
Tim Darragh of The Morning Call investigated why the move to widen a local highway, Route 22, seemed highly unlikely, despite the backing of several powerful groups. “The widening plan has backers that include those who lobbied for and got construction of such landmark road projects as the completion of Route 33 from the Poconos…
Read MoreMaui’s sand could be gone in five years
Ilima Loomis of The Maui News reports that Maui’s sand is expected to run out. “The vast system of inland sand dunes that stretches across Wailuku has largely been covered by development, and what’s left is being mined — about 318,000 tons of the stuff dug out and used each year, 70 percent of it…
Read MoreSchool district loans are unreasonable burden on taxpayers
Jeffrey Gaunt and Emily Krone of the Daily Herald , outside Chicago, analyzed 206 suburban school district loans to show many taxpayers repay those loans at rates higher than they would on their homes. The investigation found that, despite federal measures that keep government rates low, the district agreed that taxpayers will pay back $6.03…
Read MoreOfficial invests despite possible conflict of interest
Joni James of the St. Petersburg Times reviewed tax returns to show that Florida’s elected insurance commissioner, Tom Gallagher, invested millions of dollars in insurance-related stocks in his last year on the post. “And as a member of the Cabinet in 2004, Chief Financial Officer Gallagher voted to approve a natural gas pipeline for an…
Read MoreTaxpayer money goes to gifts, travel
Ryan J. Stanton of the Northwest Explorer, a weekly newspaper that covers the northern suburbs of the Tucson, Ariz., area, investigated how local officials are spending taxpayer money. For the five-part series, the paper reviewed town’s travel and training expenses, bank statements and receipts. It found “Marana public officials have charged close to $200,000 on…
Read MoreKansas City speeders plead to lower offenses
Michael Mansur of The Kansas City Star used computer-assisted analysis of court records to show the court repeatedly allows thousands of speeders and red-light runners to reduce dangerous moving violations to defective-equipment pleas. That means tickets for serious violations are pleaded down to offenses such as broken taillights, which means no points against a driver’s…
Read MoreDenver code enforcement cases on the rise
Daniel J. Chacón of the Rocky Mountain News used local data to show that code-enforcement cases in Denver increased more than 12 percent between 2004 and 2005 and by more than 20 percent in five of the city’s 11 council districts, according to data obtained under a Colorado Open Records Act request. “The number of…
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