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Wisconsin forestry tax break program gives taxpayers bill, landowners benefit
There are more than 1 million acres in Wisconsin open to the public through a forestry tax break program. Good news for hunters and hikers … if only they could find it. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Raquel Rutledge found while taxpayers pick up the tab, it can be nearly impossible for anyone other than the landowner to…
Read MoreLos Angeles Times finds dispatchers waste valuable time on 911 calls
An internal study obtained by the Los Angeles Times shows that Los Angeles Fire Department dispatchers waste valuable time getting 911 callers to start CPR on cardiac arrest victims, possibly leading to preventable deaths. In March, the Times reported that a Los Angeles mayoral candidate unwittingly exposed inaccurate reporting of response times by the fire department.…
Read MoreDayton Daily News finds wasteful mileage reimbursements in Ohio cities, counties
Many city and county governments in Ohio pay employees more for mileage reimbursements than the state government does, and they could save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually if they switched to pay what the state does, according to a Dayton Daily News report published Wednesday. How they did it, from the Dayton Daily News…
Read MoreCommon rail tankers dangerously flawed, AP analysis finds
The Associated Press reports that one of the most common rail tankers allowed to haul hazardous liquids across the country is dangerously flawed (link comes via Fair Warning and NPR), and industry groups have been fighting pushes to increase safety standards.
Read MoreDonors deceived, money meant for charity goes to telemarketer
Million of dollars in donations intended for charities have instead gone to the telemarketing firm soliciting the donations, an investigation from Bloomberg Markets found. InfoCision Management Corp. claims on its website to raise more money for charities over the phone than any other company in the world. But one-sided contracts leave the majority of money…
Read MoreWashington Post exposes secretive deals, billions in unexplained property tax reductions
In an ongoing series, The Washington Post’s Debbie Cenziper and Nikita Stewart identified $2.6 billion in unexplained property tax reductions, made through secretive, back-room deals, for hundreds of influential developers in Washington, D.C. The third installment today found that the District’s new chief appraiser had been dogged by similar allegations at his last job in…
Read MoreWashington state’s price of public office
The Skagit Valley Herald reports that even though “Skagit County has just two full-time mayors, both earn more than the mayors of Tacoma, Vancouver, Yakima and Olympia.” An interactive map was created to compares the salaries with other mayors across the state.
Read MoreRecords show refineries in Utah have hundreds of violations
Based on records obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune it has been revealed that “a leak, spill, fire, blast or air-pollution violation occurs, on average, every nine days at the five refineries bordering Salt Lake and Davis counties.”
Read MoreHow OxyContin has changed lives
“In 1998, seven chronic pain sufferers had been featured in a promotional video for OxyContin that was put out by the drug company Purdue Pharma. In the video, they talked about how the powerful narcotic had allowed them to get their lives back. Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin marked the beginning of the industry’s…
Read MoreImmunization rates fall in Bay Area kindergartners
“In recent years, the number of Bay Area kindergartners who have been immunized against diseases like whooping cough and measles has declined. With the 2011-12 school year beginning, The Bay Citizen collected the latest data covering last year from the California Department of Health, so you can see which schools are most susceptible to an…
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