The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Government (federal/state/local)
Records show California lawmakers increased staff pay
Despite a huge budget deficit, an Associated Press review of legislative pay records showed that many California lawmakers had given pay raises to their staff in the first half of 2009. These pay increases came at a time when the state had to make “some $30 billion in cuts over a two-year period to education,…
Read MoreHealth care lobbyists number six per lawmaker
Jonathan D. Salant and Lizzie O’Leary of Bloomberg.com report that there are approximately 3,300 lobbyists currently working on the issue of health care. “That’s six lobbyists for each of the 535 members of the House and Senate, according to Senate records, and three times the number of people registered to lobby on defense.” During the…
Read MoreRigged Privilege series
A three-part investigation by the East Valley Tribune (Mesa, Ariz.) looked at Arizona’s Private School Tuition Tax Credits program. “The tuition tax credits law was supposed to revolutionize school choice for disadvantaged children. Instead it fostered a rigged system that keeps private education a privilege for the already privileged.“
Read MoreMany bad bridges not receiving stimulus funds
“Tens of thousands of unsafe or decaying bridges carrying 100 million drivers a day must wait for repairs because states are spending stimulus money on spans that are already in good shape or on easier projects like repaving roads, an Associated Press analysis shows.” An interactive map gives details state-by-state on bridge projects funded by…
Read MoreSome rape victims failed by Violence Against Women Act
A report co-published by ProPublica and the Huffington Post Investigative Fund found that “15 years after Congress passed a law to ensure that rape victims would never see a bill, loopholes and bureaucratic tangles still leave some victims paying for hospital expenses and exams, which can cost up to $1,200.“
Read MoreProjects get stimulus funds despite limited economic impact
A report by Michelle Breidenbach of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) shows that in many cases stimulus funds funneled through the National Institutes of Health are going towards previously unfunded proposals with no regard for job creation or economic impact. In one example, a formerly wait-listed grant for $500,000 was awarded to Cornell University for the…
Read MoreNurse drug prevention program loosely monitored
In their continuing investigation into failed oversight of California’s nursing board, ProPublica and the Los Angeles Times found problems within the state’s drug diversion program. Diversion is intended to help nurses overcome substance abuse problems without losing their nursing license. The investigation found “participants who practiced while intoxicated, stole drugs from the bedridden and falsified…
Read MoreMany Pentagon contractors go unnamed
“The Pentagon’s unnamed contractors placed 14th on the Defense Department’s ranking of top contractors for 2008, according to an Aerospace Daily analysis of an independent national database of government contracting data,” reports Michael Fabey. The analysis also showed that all work associated with these unnamed contractors was completed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. The Federal…
Read MoreQuestions remain about Wisconsin’s proposed high-speed train
An investigation by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and University of Wisconsin-Madison journalism students found gaps in one of the state’s biggest proposed stimulus projects: a half-a-billion-dollar high-speed passenger rail line between Madison and Milwaukee. They found that in some cases, the trains wouldn’t match current commuting and travel routes. And officials are calling…
Read MoreHealth care czar profited from companies under investigation
Nancy Ann DeParle, who heads the White House Office on Health Reform, made more than $6.6 million since 2001 serving as a director of corporations that faced scores of federal investigations, whistleblower lawsuits and other regulatory actions, according to government records reviewed by the Investigative Reporting Workshop. The story by IRE award winner Fred Schulte…
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