Posts by hdcoadmin
Scam stole land from the dead
Mike Hoyem of The (Fort Myers) News-Press has a new twist on Florida land deals: the use of phony deeds to sell land owned by dead people. “Forged signatures, faked notarizations, phony witnesses and easy access to land records via the Internet are robbing the dead and their relatives of land as property values in…
Read MoreAdministrative spending grows while student spending dwindles
Vicki McClure and Tania deLuzuriaga of The Orlando Sentinel used audit records of local charter schools to find that “Imagine Schools Inc., operator of 10 schools in Central Florida, spent as much as 50 percent less per student on instruction last year but about two to six times more on administration than other public schools…
Read MoreTeacher pay rising faster than inflation
Kurt Rogahn of The (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) Gazette found that teacher pay “is increasing at rates better than inflation, despite warnings from the state’s leading teacher organization that Iowa’s average teacher pay hasn’t kept pace with inflation.” One researcher says the numbers show pay has gone up quite a bit, though the averages say it…
Read MoreConsulting work pays big for former employees
Brett J. Blackledge of The Birmingham News used state records to show that Alabama’s Department of Human Resources has spent millions on computer consultants, including payments to former agency employees who left DHR only to return for consulting work. “The agency responsible for helping needy children and families now is facing questions from federal officials…
Read MoreUnsafe bridges put public safety at risk
Dani Dodge of the Ventura County Star used Federal Highway Administration data to show that “twenty-eight of Ventura County’s 485 bridges are considered ‘structurally deficient’ … Bringing just 15 of those bridges up to standard would cost $50 million.” A map shows the location of the troubled spans, and a sidebar describes the condition of…
Read MoreRail safety in question
Scott Dodd, Bruce Henderson and Heather Vogell of The Charlotte Observer examine railroad safety, finding that “in the Charlotte region, nearly 800,000 people live within a mile of a major rail line,” an increase of 90,000 in the past 10 years. “Yet emergency planners don’t know how much hazardous material passes daily through uptown Charlotte…
Read MoreLow tax penalty serves as cheap loan for some businesses
Lee Davidson of The Deseret Morning News used local records to show that “at least 443 land developers, real estate companies and construction companies owed more than a combined $5.17 million in back property taxes and penalties” as of January 2005. Ski resorts, an airline and telecommunications firm MCI are among the other tax delinquents…
Read MoreNet worths rise for some legislators while in office
Lucy Morgan of the St. Petersburg Times reviewed the annual financial disclosure forms filed by Florida state legislators, finding that “while 22 of the 160 legislators report their legislative salary as their principal income, a review of annual financial disclosure forms shows that 37 House members and 16 senators reported net worths of more than…
Read MoreSecurity firm tipped off prior to airport inspections
Lance Williams of the San Francisco Chronicle used federal and court records to investigate a claim by a former employee of the firm, that the company was tipped off prior to security decoy tests. The tips allegedly helped the firm secure a 90 percent success rate with the tests. “That success rate helped the Chicago…
Read MoreCoaches’ contracts with Nike raise ethical questions
Hartford Courant reporters Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman won a month-long legal battle for release of the contracts between University of Connecticut mens’ and womens’ basketball coaches Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma and Nike Inc. Over strenuous objections by the coaches’ lawyers, the state Ethics Commission decided that the contracts were public documents. A Courant…
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