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Chemical Safety Board investigations languish
The Center for Public Integrity reports that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board operates with a sluggish investigative pace and short attention span. A former board member told CPI that the agency is “grossly mismanaged.” “The number of board accident reports, case studies and safety bulletins has fallen precipitously since 2006,” according to an analysis by…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: OSHA ignores slow and silent killers, corporate influence reaches court, back-door school handouts
As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester | The New York TimesThe Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency that many Americans love to hate and industry calls overzealous, has largely ignored the slow, silent killers that claim the most lives. Corporations, pro-business nonprofits foot bill for judicial seminars | Center for Public IntegrityConservative…
Read MoreFour of five drug busts by Border Patrol involve U.S. citizens
There’s no argument that Mexico-based crime organizations dominate drug smuggling into the United States. But the public message that the Border Patrol has trumpeted for much of the last decade, mainly through press releases about its seizures, has emphasized Mexican drug couriers, or mules, as those largely responsible for transporting drugs. It turns out that…
Read MoreDozens of internet sweepstakes cafes operated by those unfit for casinos
Dozens of Internet sweepstakes cafes are owned and operated by people who are in so much financial hot water that they couldn’t land a job at an Ohio casino. The pseudo gambling parlors have flouted a decades-old state law that requires businesses to register with the secretary of state. And most cafe owners snubbed an…
Read MoreThousands of California teachers missing needed credentials
According to an analysis from California Watch, nearly 1 in 10 teachers lack the necessary credentials for their positions. Using data from the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California Watch found more than 32,000 school employees lacked proper authorization between 2007 and 2011. According to the report, “The problem is greater at low-performing schools, where…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Public schools lose millions to crooks, radon hotbeds, campaign-finance funded luxury
Center for Investigative Reporting/EsquireThe Shooter“The man who shot and killed Osama bin Laden sat in a wicker chair in my backyard, wondering how he was going to feed his wife and kids or pay for their medical care.” The Tampa Bay TimesPublic schools lose millions to crooks and cheaters“Axson’s case points to a larger problem with…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Crime inside NFL stadiums, Boeing supply chain outsourced, NRA freebies
The Sacramento BeeGuns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.” The Denver PostDenver’s 911 call review shows a pattern of problemsIn…
Read MoreIowa hospital sends $180,000 in food waste to landfill
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics threw away 355,000 servings of food worth $181,600 last year, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The hospital prepared roughly 3 million total servings of food in 2012, not counting patient meals. The Gazette found that the hospital’s dining room serving doctors and nurses from operating rooms threw away…
Read MoreNew measure drops Pennsylvania charter school ratings
Analyzing state education data, The Morning Call found that only 28 percent of Pennsylvania charter schools met an adequate yearly progress rating, compared to 49 percent using a more lenient calculation implemented by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and later rejected by the U.S. Department of Education.
Read MoreGun laws, state by state
“President Obama has indicated a move towards strengthening federal gun control measures, but the reality is that the majority of gun legislation in the US is enacted at the state level. That has brought broad variations across the country, with states taking different approaches to issues ranging from sales, permits, licensing, self-defense and carry laws.”…
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