The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
A Chicago Tribune 3-part investigation by David Jackson and Gary Marx found elderly and disabled nursing home residents assaulted, raped and even murdered because Illinois has failed to manage the growing numbers of mentally ill felons admitted to nursing facilities. “More than any other state, Illinois relies heavily on nursing homes to house mentally ill…
Read MoreA series by Yamil Berard of the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports on problems with medical examiners in Texas. “Texas medical examiners have misidentified bodies, botched examinations and had to do a double take on cases of individuals later exonerated by law enforcement.” Critics point to lax oversight and an absence of performance standards among other…
Read MoreA report by Dave Tobin of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) shows how the Federal Aviation Administration plans to spend $11 million on a rural airstrip. Eight miles from the planned airstrip, the developers are ripping up an existing airfield that was built with public money but largely unused. “The Federal Aviation Administration has already spent…
Read MoreA 10-month investigation by Garance Burke of the Associated Press has found unsafe levels of contaminants such as lead and pesticides in school drinking water in all 50 states. “But the problem has gone largely unmonitored by the federal government, even as the number of water safety violations has multiplied.” An interactive graphic allows the…
Read MoreBrad Heath of USA Today reports that “nearly $10 billion in stimulus aid to repair the nation’s tattered highways has largely bypassed dozens of metropolitan areas where roads are in the worst shape.” Stimulus funds are intended to be spent quickly and repairs to many of the worst roads would take too much time and…
Read MoreLewis Kamb of The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash) writes that Washington state commerce officials have launched an investigation of the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association. The probe follows News Tribune reports that exposed financial mismanagement and other problems at the nonprofit affordable housing agency.
Read More“An audit of the Wisconsin Shares program released Wednesday found four cases where the addresses of in-home child-care providers matched those of registered sex offenders,” according to a report by Raquel Rutledge and Stacy Forster of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The audit was launched in response to an earlier Journal Sentinel story that showed nearly…
Read More“Of 2,737 lobbyists hired to promote the interests of drug companies, insurers, hospitals, health professionals, industry groups and business organizations, 1,418 — or 52 percent — have worked for Congress, the White House or federal agencies. That includes 55 former members of Congress.” reports Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O’Leary of Bloomberg.com.
Read MoreA sixth-month, statewide investigation into Florida’s child care centers, nursing homes and assisted living facilities by Sally Kestin, Peter Franceschina and John Maines of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel found that Florida laws have often placed children and the elderly in the hands of habitual criminals. The first of a three-part series includes a database of…
Read MoreAn investigation by The Hartford (Conn.) Courant shows that more than 500 of the 3,856 state employees who participated in the state’s Retirement Incentive Program are receiving bi-weekly paychecks in addition to their pension. The retirement incentive was intended to cut annual salary costs, but the state has rehired over 500 retirees for “temporary” work. …
Read More