The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Posts by hdcoadmin
Top Seattle parking scofflaws are billion-dollar firms
Washington state drivers who don’t pay parking fines in the City of Seattle face hefty penalties, including the “boot,” a tire clamp that immobilizes a car until the owner pays up. But a KING 5 Investigation found that a select group of multi-billion-dollar companies has been permitted to avoid the penalties while piling up more unpaid…
Read MoreSpinal fusions serve as case study for debate over when certain surgeries are necessary
The rate of spinal fusion surgery has risen sixfold in the United States over the past 20 years, according to federal figures, and the expensive procedure, which involves the joining of two or more vertebrae, has become even more common than hip replacement, the Washington Post reports. More than 465,000 spinal fusions were performed in…
Read MoreCalifornia agencies gamble on pension bonds to cover debts – and lose
Desperate to cover a $40 million shortfall in its pension fund for retired police officers and firefighters, the city of Richmond, Calif., turned to an exotic loan, the Center for Investigative Reporting explains. Today, Richmond still owes more than $12 million on the bond, plus about $5 million in interest, and its pension fund remains…
Read MoreSome non-profits found to keep significant losses quiet
Charities and other non-profits often try to keep their losses quiet to avoid spooking donors, but a Washington Post investigation by Joe Stephens and Mary Pat Flaherty used a new IRS tax return checkbox to find more than 1,000 organizations that reported significant diversions of assets. The Post’s online database is being used by news…
Read MoreSecret memos reveal explicit nature of U.S., Pakistan agreement on drones
“Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA’s drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan’s government have for years secretly endorsed the program and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts, according to top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos obtained by The Washington Post.”
Read MoreMan Making Ireland Tax Avoidance Hub Proves Local Hero
“Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. wound up in Ireland because they could reduce their tax bills. Their success is leading European and U.S. politicians to label the country a tax haven that must change its ways. The grand architect of much of that success: Feargal O’Rourke, the scion of a political dynasty who…
Read MoreThe Scholars Who Shill for Wall Street
“Academics get paid by financial firms to testify against Dodd-Frank regulations. What’s wrong with this picture?”
Read MoreEDD’s new software has thousands of defects, some ‘critical’
“In the latest in an ongoing investigation by KCRA into the state’s new unemployment department computer system, insiders tell KCRA’s Sharokina Shams that the system’s computer upgrade is a “system failure.” The error reports they supplied from just one day’s work show that more than 1,700 problems exist with the system. This is a steady…
Read MoreRaising a stink about spreading sewage on farms
“EPA regulations for the land application of biosolids are some of the most lenient in the world, requiring wastewater-treatment plants to check for just nine of some 80,000 pollutants that can make it through processing and into sewage sludge.”
Read MoreDennis Schrader’s “Little Cooperstown” exhibit raises questions about autograph authenticity
“As a grand exhibit opens to honor the “World’s Biggest Autographed Baseball Collection,” a WTSP investigation reveals not only do many of the autographs appear to be forged – but the museum exhibiting the collection ignored numerous warnings about the balls’ authenticity.”
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