The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Government (federal/state/local)
Income not checked for emergency food stamps
Kathleen Chapman of The Palm Beach Post investigated the emergency food-stamp program in Florida after Hurricane Wilma and found that nearly 700,000 Floridians, many of whom were not really too poor to buy food, got in line for the stamps. “Florida didn’t require proof of income to get the payments, and the state hasn’t completed…
Read MoreUtility district spent ratepayers’ money on sports
Andrew McIntosh of The Sacramento Bee found that “the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has spent more than $1 million in ratepayers’ money on partnership deals with the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs since 2002.” The public utility’s contracts with Maloof Sports, disclosed under the state’s Public Records Act, offer a rare glimpse into an NBA team’s…
Read MoreN.J. funds schools that manage money poorly
Jean Rimbach and Kathleen Carroll of The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record analyzed audits of more than 100 state-funded preschools in New Jersey’s poorest communities, reviewed tax returns, financial documents and contracts and interviewed dozens of state and local officials, owners and teachers to show that seven years after New Jersey launched its landmark program for disadvantaged…
Read MoreL.A. county soft on employee discipline
Troy Anderson of the Los Angeles Daily News reviewed records to show that in recent years county employees’ firings or suspensions were softened by the Civil Service Commission. The commission overturned or reduced discipline recommended by county departments in nearly half of cases from 2001 to 2004. “Out of 17 sheriff’s cases the commission considered…
Read MoreOvertime a burden in N.H. town
Andrew Nelson of The (Nashua, N.H.) Telegraph used city payroll records to look at overtime costs. While the city is laying off schoolteachers, it continues to pay $9 million a year in overtime and other extra pay to city employees. The investigation found that “nearly 50 city workers added at least 50 percent to their…
Read MoreCounty dumps toxic materials, fails to clean up
Asjylyn Loder of the St. Petersburg Times used local and state documents to show that Hernando County’s public works facility served as a toxic dumping ground for years, and “instead of cleaning up the site, the county continued polluting. Instead of cracking down on the county’s ineffective cleanup, the state allowed delay after delay.” Despite…
Read MoreTax breaks prove costly for Detroit
David Josar of The Detroit News used State Tax Commission data, property assessments and tax records to show that Detroit is losing more than $63 million in annual revenue because of property tax breaks given to people moving into new houses, condos and lofts. The tax breaks have cost the city and school district more…
Read MoreAgency’s spy satellite technology loses relevance
Michael Fabey of the DefenseNews looks into the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s fading imaging- and signals-intelligence program that reportedly has an annual budget of about $7 billion. “A satellite communications technology called spot beaming might help the NRO regain some of its fading signals-intelligence relevance, but imagery’s place as an intel centerpiece may have gone…
Read MoreN.C. drinking water safety in doubt
In a three-part series, Pat Stith of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer shows the “state’s regulation of drinking water reveals disregard for safety of private wells, weak regulation of public water systems and widespread problems with lead testing.” The series includes an interactive map and a sidebar about how the state closely followed Stith’s…
Read MorePublic records request frightens workers
Tamara Koehler of the Ventura County Star reports on the paper’s public records audit showing that 40 percent of county government agencies failed to comply with requests. “Ventura Unified School District employees feared for their lives when a young man walked into the office, asked for public records and refused to give his name.”
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