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Corporate PACs update donations after backing losers
Bloomberg News reports that corporate political action committees, such as those of Boeing and General Electric, waste no time in donating to winners of congressional elections after previously placing money on losing campaigns. Bloomberg reports that “at least eight corporate PACs that contributed to the losing candidate gave to the victor in the month following the…
Read MoreOKC bombing survivors’ requests for funds being denied
“The Tulsa World reports that nearly 18 years after the Oklahoma City bombing, more than $12 million in donated funds remains but survivors say the foundation in charge of most of it has denied requests for surgery, tuition and other needs donors intended to be funded.”
Read MoreTesting around metal recycling plants reveals known carcinogen in the air
An investigation by the Houston Chronicle has found that over the last five years several complaints, including red and yellow smoke, explosions and fire, have been reported around metal recycling plants. These complaints led Houston air authorities to discover dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.
Read MoreTriMet overtime: ‘Exhaustion has become part of the culture’ at transit agency
“Reports of drowsy drivers, including three with multiple incidents, are just one sign that Oregon’s largest transit agency is playing a game of chicken with fatigue. The newspaper’s eight-month examination found that the budget-battered agency allows operators to manipulate work rules to log as many as 22 hours in a 24-hour period, filling open runs…
Read MoreAre power wheelchair companies ripping off the government?
“Medicare fraud costs taxpayers an estimated $60 billion annually. One problem area is power wheelchairs, which cost the program hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Over the course of a several month “CBS This Morning” investigation, numerous people who have sold and prescribed these wheelchairs told CBS News that the industry bullies doctors, and…
Read MoreContract for deed can be house of horror for buyers
A Star Tribune investigation of 1,330 Twin Cities real estate transactions known as contracts for deed reveals that they are beset by inflated prices, high interest rates and other terms that almost guarantee the buyer will default. In hundreds of cases, records show, sellers failed to provide mandated home inspections that would have revealed code…
Read MoreU.S. House panel probes SEC spending on consultants
“Reuters first reported in late February of last year that the SEC had spent millions of dollars hiring Booz Allen consultants to help streamline the agency, leading some agency insiders to question whether the SEC was getting its money’s worth.”
Read MoreNeighboring towns, separated by a vast divide
“The greatest income inequality in the state was in Philadelphia and Allegheny County from 2009 to 2011, according to recently compiled Census estimates that measure the gap between richest and poorest. The chasm between rich and poor can be seen near Pittsburgh in the boroughs of Fox Chapel and Sharpsburg, a wealthy bedroom community and…
Read MoreIowa’s Returning War Veterans Endure Long Waits for Benefit
“Nearly 7,000 disabled veterans overseen by the Des Moines Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office are waiting an average of 313 days on claims across the state, VA records show. That’s 18 percent longer than a year and a half ago, although records show that since 2000 there are fewer veterans in the state.”
Read MoreNotre Dame case highlights complexities of campus sexual assault investigations
The boasts of lofty moral standards have long struck other schools’ fans as a bit sanctimonious. But they are getting fresh scrutiny now, in part because the bright lights of college football’s biggest stage have brought renewed attention to a two-year-old case involving a Notre Dame player and chilling allegations of sexual assault.
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