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Philadelphia Schools face downsizing, closures
Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission (SRC), voted on a controversial budget last May that eliminated counselors, sports, secretaries, librarians, music and art teachers and support safety staff at public schools in the area. Their plan: Save the beleagured School District of Philadelphia by tearing it down. The district faced a budget hole roughly the size of $300 million…
Read MorePretrial detainees on the rise in New York
WNYC News reports that “over the past decade, as New York City’s backlog of felony cases has grown, so too has the time defendants are spending behind bars before trial. The average pretrial detention in a felony case was 95 days in 2012.”
Read MoreErrors plague school testing
AJC reporter Heather Vogell exposed cracks in a cornerstone of No Child Left Behind: flawed exams. Questions with no right answers; scoring errors; test booklets with missing pages can cost students dearly.
Read MoreAdviser didn’t disclose tax liens
An Atlanta investment adviser public pensions across the nation to sink millions into his firm’s funds. But as he criss-crossed the country touting the investment, he had not disclosed his personal financial problems – including a $1 million lawsuit settlement and federal tax liens – to regulators, the AJC reported Sunday.
Read MoreBoomers’ embrace of devices gives rise to new med-tech age
“Hundreds of thousands of Americans are receiving medical devices that were once considered nearly exclusive to the elderly. The shift is profoundly changing patient care and expanding the fortunes of the medical-technology industry while amplifying concerns over the safety and oversight of some products. Device companies are facing thousands of patient lawsuits challenging the safety…
Read MoreMany US bridges old, risky and rundown
An Associated Press analysis of 607,380 bridges in the most recent federal National Bridge Inventory showed that 65,605 were classified as “structurally deficient” and 20,808 as “fracture critical.” Of those, 7,795 were both – a combination of red flags that experts say indicate significant disrepair and similar risk of collapse.
Read MoreSan Diego FBI building financed by Chinese seeking U.S. visas, senator says
“Posh FBI field office, built by Las Vegas developer with ties to late mobster Moe Dalitz and San Diego GOP candidates Carl DeMaio and Kevin Faulconer, was financed by funds from U.S. visa-seeking Chinese investors, Sen. Charles Grassley says”
Read MoreInsurers limiting doctors, hospitals in health insurance market
“Insurers in California’s new health insurance exchange are holding down premiums by limiting choices, raising concerns that patients will struggle to get care.”
Read MoreUnlike Nation, Oklahoma Is Failing to Reduce Drunken-Driving Deaths
During most of the past two decades, the annual number of alcohol-related traffic deaths across the country has fallen by about 20 percent, to more than 11,500. More stringent drunken driving laws, widespread public education campaigns and safer vehicles have all played a role in that sharp reduction. In Oklahoma, however, it’s been a much…
Read MoreMeet the lawyer who keeps some of America’s worst charities in business
“The Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting spent a year identifying the 50 worst charities in America based on the money they paid to professional solicitation companies over the past decade. Copilevitz & Canter has represented nearly three-quarters of them, as well as most of their for-profit telemarketers and direct mail companies.”
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