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Ohio businesses abusing disabled vet funds
“A Dayton Daily News examination has found that federal agencies have awarded tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded contracts to businesses operating in Ohio that claimed to be owned and controlled by military veterans with service-related disabilities, only to conclude the companies lied to the government when they said a disabled veteran was in…
Read MoreSchool test scores raise questions across the nation
“Suspicious test scores in roughly 200 school districts resemble those that entangled Atlanta in the biggest cheating scandal in American history, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows.” To learn how the reporters gathered information click here. “The newspaper analyzed test results for 69,000 public schools and found high concentrations of suspect math or reading…
Read MoreNYPD using counterterrorism tactics on lawful citizens
Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, for the Associated Press, report that undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.
Read MoreNew York’s Freedom of Information Law fails concerned parents
Elmira Star-Gazette reporter Jason Whong showed that despite having the benefit of the newspaper’s archives and knowing where to look and which dates to research, New York’s Freedom of Information and open records law couldn’t help him — or any parent — find much evidence of an accused sexual predator’s history of similar crimes and…
Read MoreMillion-dollar hospital bills on the rise
Phillip Reese and Darrell Smith, of The Sacramento Bee, analyzed hospital discharge data from the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to determine that, “The number of Northern California hospital stays resulting in charges of $1 million or more rose sevenfold in the past decade, from 430 in 2000 to almost 3,000 during 2010.”…
Read MoreJustice program fails to commit nation’s most dangerous sex offenders
Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation’s most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended. But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men. Far more often, men the U.S.Justice Department…
Read More“Fracking” draws little oversight in California
Michael J. Mishak, Los Angeles Time, reports that “energy companies across California are injecting a mysterious mix of chemicals into the ground to tap oil deposits while frustrating attempts to regulate the controversial process, known as hydraulic fracturing.” “So far, nine states require energy companies to disclose what they put into the ground but the…
Read MoreCalifornians drinking nitrate-contaminated water
Stett Holbrook, for the Food and Environment Reporting Network, reports that “nitrate contamination in groundwater from fertilizer and animal manure is severe and getting worse for hundreds of thousands of residents in California’s farming communities, according to a study released today by researchers at UC Davis.” “The report is the most comprehensive assessment so far…
Read MoreDocuments further confirm surveillance of Muslim-Americans
The Huffington Post reports that the New York Police Department collected information on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims, according to newly obtained secret documents. They show in the clearest terms yet that police were monitoring people based on religion, despite claims from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the contrary.
Read MoreMilwaukee police fail to follow dept. policy
In an investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, reporter Gina Barton found that a Milwaukee man who was in need of medical attention while in police custody was ignored, until it was too late. “The man repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe, but no one called an ambulance until he lost consciousness, despite a department…
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