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D.C. property tax refund fraud
In a Washington Post analysis of Washington D.C. city records, Dan Keating and Carol D. Loennig report that seven years’ worth of fraudulent property tax funds have cost the District $31.7 million. On Nov. 7, the former manager of property tax refunds was arrested and charged for the refund fraud, along with five others. Federal…
Read MoreConvicted killers in Texas receive probation
After a Texas man convicted of shooting an unarmed prostitute received probation, Brooks Egerton and Reese Dunklin of The Dallas Morning News decided to see whether his sentence was a fluke or representative of a larger trend. They analyzed thousands of government records, some of which came from confidential criminal files and interviewed more than…
Read MoreFelons issued hunting licenses in Wisconsin
Analyzing state data on hunting licenses, Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that dozens of convicted felons in Wisconsin were issued gun-deer hunting licenses last year despite a state law that bans them for life from possessing firearms. Felons with armed robbery, rape and weapons convictions all bought gun-deer licenses in Wisconsin in…
Read MoreTwin Cities residents pocket farm subsidy payments
Matt McKinney and Glenn Howatt of The Star Tribune report that millions in farm subsidies are being paid to people who live in urban areas, including some of the toniest neighborhoods of Minneapolis-St. Paul. “The flow of federal largesse comes thanks to rules that allow landowners — including some 2,000 in the metro area —…
Read MoreEarmarks added $11.8 billion to defense bill
The Seattle Times kicked off an occasional series on Congressional earmarks, the companies that benefit and the political fundraising connected to the pork projects. David Heath and Hal Bernton report that, after months of collecting and checking data from press releases and campaign finance reports, they were able to “tie about half of the 2,700…
Read MoreOne-third of S. Florida gas pumps inaccurate
A report by Mc Nelly Torres of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel shows that 34 percent of gas pumps in South Florida failed accuracy tests over the past three years. “The analysis found 580 of more than 2,500 stations in South Florida had at least one pump dispensing more gas than customers paid to purchase, while…
Read MoreIllinois lags in tracking teachers’ misconduct
Scott Reeder, writing for Quad-CitiesOnline.com, found that Illinois ranked 49th in a nationwide analysis of disciplinary actions against teachers. The state has no system in place to investigate or flag teachers accused of misconduct. To determine how Illinois compares to other states, Small Newspaper Group obtained information on 20,000 cases of teacher licensure discipline from…
Read MoreFEMA aid distribution uneven to victims of NY storms
Patrick Lakamp, Mary Pasciak and Susan Schulman of the Buffalo News report on FEMA’s uneven aid to areas hit by a surprise storm last October. “Almost one-half the nearly 18,000 residents in Western New York who applied for FEMA money got some help. But in Buffalo, one-third of the applicants received aid.” In North Buffalo,…
Read MoreSubprime crunch felt on Jersey Shore
The Asbury Park(N.J.) Press analyzed federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data to report that in Monmouth and Ocean counties subprime lending accounted for one out of five mortgages in 2006, a total of $3.1 billion. Reporter Jason Method found “the income of subprime borrowers was 5 percent lower than those taking out traditional mortgages, yet…
Read MoreDiscipline system for teachers, staff flawed in Ohio schools
The Columbus Dispatch delves into Ohio’s flawed system of disciplining and tracking teachers, coaches, aides, counselors and administrators. The Web site for The ABCs of Betrayal includes asearchable database of Ohio educators disciplined since 2000. The 10-month investigation found educators remained in the classroom despite misconduct such as theft, assault and abuse of children.
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