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New York State Police kept missing evidence scandal secret
The State Police kept secret an evidence-handling scandal that erupted in 2011 at a bustling barracks in Westchester County in which drugs and other evidence were lost, leading to botched prosecutions, the retirement of two senior investigators and the forced resignation of a trooper accused of lying to internal affairs investigators. The only person arrested…
Read MorePennsylvania health care system tried to study shall-gas drilling impact
A major Pennsylvania health-care system invited New York to participate in a long-term, extensive study of shale-gas drilling’s human impacts, but a partnership never materialized. The February 2013 invitation from a Geisinger Health System administrator was among thousands of pages of documents recently released by the state Department of Health regarding its ongoing review of…
Read MoreMilwaukee County jail guard stalked, videotaped female co-workers
When former Milwaukee County jail guard Aron Arvelo was charged recently with two felonies accusing him of secretly recording female co-workers, it wasn’t the first time he had run into trouble for harassing women. Just 2 1/2 years earlier, officials tried unsuccessfully to fire Arvelo after he was caught stalking a co-worker. But a five-member…
Read MoreAir Force pilot grounded for speaking out
The Air Force has spent tens of millions of dollars over the past two years correcting problems with its premier jet fighter – issues that Capt. Joshua Wilson helped expose by speaking up, both to his bosses and on national television. Since then, Wilson’s career as an F-22 Raptor pilot has stalled. A member of…
Read MoreMassachusetts Legislature passes fewer bills than most states
From January 2011 through last month, the Massachusetts Legislature enacted 945 bills – just 5 percent of nearly 17,600 proposed. Only New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota passed a smaller percentage of proposed legislation in that time, according to data compiled from the LexisNexis website Statenet.com.
Read MoreIowa City taxi drivers assault passengers
Earlier this year, three women reported that Iowa City drivers — two from unmarked cabs — made unwanted sexual advances, and police are investigating. The assaults show another form of danger haunting weekends in home to the University of Iowa when alcohol flows and carefree moments make students easy marks. Many city officials agree that…
Read MoreSan Diego County city managers receive generous salary, perks
One city manager is guaranteed to earn 15 percent more than his second-highest paid employee. Another was granted up to $2,500 in public funds to pay for lawyers or other experts to advise him on his employment contract. The $260,000 base salary awarded to incoming Carlsbad City Manager Steven Sarkozy prompted U-T Watchdog to revisit…
Read MoreGeneral Motors delayed recall
General Motors waited years to recall nearly 335,000 Saturn Ions for power steering failures despite getting thousands of consumer complaints and more than 30,000 warranty repair claims, according to government documents released Saturday.
Read MoreDecrease in funding for stream gauges could put public at risk
Officials, emergency responders and citizens in waterside communities across the Southern Tier and Central New York rely on stream and river level information to make decisions affecting public safety in the event of a potential flood. Yet in recent years, government funding for the critical devices has become as fickle and unpredictable as the waters…
Read MoreFederal loopholes, local challenges complicate response plans for rural oil disasters
The federal government does not require U.S. railroads to have comprehensive plans for a worst-case oil disasters, according to the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting. That means no one knows if the railways that carried 4.2 million barrels of crude oil through the state last year are prepared for a catastrophe. A handful of…
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