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Police agencies rarely audited by FBI
“The FBI’s crime reporting program is considered the final word on crime trends in the United States, but the agency rarely audits police agencies providing the information and when it does its reviews are too cursory to identify deep flaws, an investigation by Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found.”
Read MoreWorkers exposed to dangerous levels of chemical at candy plant
When officials from Sensient Flavors explain their work, they sometimes compare it to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. But working at the food and beverage flavor manufacturer on Indianapolis’ Southwestside is no child fantasy. Some workers were exposed to more than 400 times the generally recognized safe level for a chemical associated with a life-threatening lung condition, according…
Read MoreC. diff bacteria cause of tens of thousands of deaths; could be stopped
“A USA TODAY investigation finds that an infection called C. diff is wreaking havoc in the nation’s hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities, infecting a half million Americans a year and killing about 30,000.” “The death toll is twice government estimates and nearly equal to the 32,000 U.S. deaths each year from auto accidents.”
Read MoreNavy officials may have suppressed bad test results
“U.S. Navy emails and other documents, obtained by Aviation Week, suggest that officials muzzled bad test results for the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) variant, the USS Freedom, at a crucial time in the program’s development, when the service was considering which seaframe to pick for the $30 billion-plus fleet.”
Read MoreMillions of pounds of herbicide being sprayed on Oregon’s forests
In collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Atlantic and Living On Earth, Ingrid Lobet reports that “herbicides have become a crucial tool for Oregon’s $13 billion timber industry.” However, “in spite of precautions, lab results suggest that harmful chemicals are finding their way into residents’ bloodstreams.”
Read MoreWill other states follow CA and suspend sunshine laws to save money?
OMB Watch reports that “the California legislature, as part of its Budget Act of 2012 (passed in June), suspended the state’s open meetings law for the next three years in an effort to cut state expenditures.“
Read More“Churning” is more common than thought, report finds
Ken Bensinger and Elizabeth Frank of the Los Angeles Times have found that “from mid-2008 to this April, 862 licensed used-car dealers in California — about 1 in 8 — sold at least one vehicle three or more times“, a practice that is known as churning. Bensinger and Frank used DocumentCloud to display their findings.
Read MoreExhaustive search finds little evidence of voter fraud
Despite calls for strict voter ID laws, an in-depth study of American election fraud reveals that the rate is infinitesimal. Since 2000, News21 found 10 cases of in-person voter fraud, which only photo ID laws would prevent. That would be about one case for every 15 million eligilbe voters. News21 is a national program based…
Read MoreAP Style Guide For US Elections
“The Associated Press has compiled a list of U.S. political terms, phrases and definitions to assist in coverage of the 2012 national elections. The guidance encompasses the Democratic and Republican conventions to nominate presidential candidates; terminology for presidential races; campaign rhetoric; and elections for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. Many of the…
Read MoreMissouri Supreme Court inconsistent with lawsuit cap
“The Springfield News-Leader reports that the Missouri Supreme Court recently threw out a $350,000 cap on losses such as pain and suffering in malpractice cases. But a wrongful death case decided just months early by the high court upheld the cap in wrongful death cases.” “Attorneys said the pair of rulings apparently means it may…
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