Finance
VA executives received $100M in bonuses as problems mounted
Executives and employees of the troubled Veterans Affairs health system enjoyed over $100 million in bonuses, according to the Asbury Park Press. The federal government warned the VA in the past about the growing issue of excessive patient wait times and its detrimental effect on the health care system. Still, VA executives and employees received…
Read MoreTaxpayers face big Medicare tab for unusual doctor billings
More than 2,300 providers – doctors, nurses, physician assistants – earned $500,000 or more from Medicare in 2012 from a single procedure or service, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of the data. A few of those providers, including an internist in Los Angeles and a dermatologist in Port St. Lucie, Fla., collected more…
Read MoreThe Two Elk Saga: How one man’s dream became state, federal nightmare
WyoFile is featuring a special investigative series, “The Two Elk Saga,” by former Los Angeles Times correspondent and regular WyoFile contributor Rone Tempest. Wyoming has a long history of uncritically embracing, then giving public money to, dubious and expensive energy projects. The proposed $2 billion DKRW Advance Fuels — coal-to-liquids — plant near Medicine Bow…
Read MoreExperts: County supervisor’s charity use violated state, federal laws
San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn said he bought a charity decades ago for $25, called it the Basic Faith Foundation and used it to hold money from real estate deals. Horn said he gave the interest to Christian missionaries in Mexico and South America. inewsource dug into the Basic Faith Foundation and into Horn’s…
Read MoreLawmakers pocketing your tax dollars by double billing
Six lawmakers likely owe taxpayers money, following findings from our “Louisiana Purchased” investigation. And some have already written checks to return cash that they never should have collected. It’s the latest report in a joint investigation of campaign finance by FOX 8 News and Manuel Torres of NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune. But that hasn’t stopped some lawmakers…
Read MoreMaintenance workers for troubled public housing system reaped thousands of dollars from dubious overtime
The Center for Investigative Reporting has uncovered more problems in Richmond, California’s public housing system. Two maintenance workers, who also live in public housing, were found to have double-billed for tasks, billed for more hours than were worked and charged overtime during their regularly-scheduled shifts. Overtime paid to the two workers totaled more than $125,000 over four years.…
Read MoreBillions unaccounted for in Venezuela’s communal giveaway program
The unsupervised spending in El Chaparral is symptomatic of a vast community aid effort with lax financial controls. A network of more than 70,000 community groups has received the equivalent of at least $7.9 billion since 2006 from the federal agency that provides much of the financing for the program, Reuters calculates, based on official…
Read MoreCollege sports revenue goes up despite recession
Despite the economic downturn, which saw a 1.3 percent decrease in the median salary of American households, sports revenue at public colleges and universities increased by 32 percent between 2008 and 2013. Spending on coaches salaries increased by 45 percent. ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” took a look at the numbers and broke them down in a…
Read MoreDocuments show Iowa offered hush money to ex-employee
The Iowa Department of Administrative Services explicitly offered $6,500 to a former state employee last year in exchange for her secrecy, according to documents obtained by the Des Moines Register. The documents include a March 6, 2013, e-mail in which Department of Administrative Services attorney Ryan Lamb writes to an attorney representing former employee Carol…
Read MoreDetroit landlords cash in on rent aid, ignore tax bills
A Detroit News investigation found about 1 in 4 Detroit landlords paid to rent to poor families through the state’s Housing Choice Voucher program collectively owe the city at least $5 million in back taxes and probably much more. Federal and state guidelines for the rental assistance — known as Section 8 — don’t require…
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