First Amendment & FOIA
Children failed by Los Angeles County child welfare system
A report by Kim Christensen and Garrett Therolf of The Los Angeles Times reveals that the Los Angeles County child welfare system is riddled with problems. In many cases, children died with little notice by the system or the public. “At least 268 children who had passed through the child welfare system died from January…
Read MoreSocial service agency failed to protect children
After facing roadblocks from the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gathered thousands of pages of public records to create their own database of deaths within the system. They found that 22 children had died despite the bureau having clear warning signs that they…
Read MoreRetired state workers collect pension, paycheck
An investigation by The Hartford (Conn.) Courant shows that more than 500 of the 3,856 state employees who participated in the state’s Retirement Incentive Program are receiving bi-weekly paychecks in addition to their pension. The retirement incentive was intended to cut annual salary costs, but the state has rehired over 500 retirees for “temporary” work. …
Read MoreClean Water Act violations leave many suffering
Charles Duhigg of The New York Times reports on states’ negligence in enforcing clean water laws. In West Virginia, tests found tap water containing “arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.” When companies disclosed that they were pumping illegal…
Read MoreDirector’s pay increased as layoffs and losses mounted
Even as the biggest non-profit affordable housing agency in Tacoma, Wash. spiraled deeper into debt, forcing more than a dozen layoffs and property foreclosures, its executive director continued to be paid in full. In the latest development of his ongoing coverage into the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association’s meltdown, The News Tribune’s Lewis Kamb…
Read MoreLax board, hazardous lending lead to bank’s failure
Hazardous lending practices approved by the directors of Cape Fear Bank appear to have contributed to the bank’s failure, according to a report by Stella M. Hopkins of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. John Davie Waggett, a successful pharmacist, tried his hand at real estate development securing over $18 million in loans. The largest lender was…
Read MoreAccidental deaths remain a problem for the medical industry
Hearst Newspapers reveals widespread failure ten years after a federal report implored the medical industry to cut in half the annual death toll from medical errors and hospital-caused infections, estimated at 200,000. Among the failures: the federal government doesn’t even tally the nation’s leading category of accidental deaths. Some states tried but most failed. Hospital…
Read MoreLA fire inspections can’t keep pace
A Los Angeles Times analysis of fire inspection reports “show that personnel from the department’s Bureau of Fire Prevention and Public Safety have been falling behind in their efforts to flag hazards such as inoperable sprinkler systems, illegally stored hazardous materials and broken or missing fire extinguishers. In some parts of the city, inspectors were…
Read More‘Historic’ budget cuts roughly equal to 2008 payroll growth
The San Diego Union-Tribune found that “San Diego’s payroll ballooned by $41 million last year, fueled by unpublicized payouts, labor settlements and costly benefits.” Analysis of spending data “helps put into perspective the $43 million in wage and benefit reductions that will take effect July 1 to address a budget gap. [Mayor Jerry] Sanders portrays…
Read MoreIowa air pollution levels nearing federal limits
“The air across Iowa is so polluted that the state is perilously close to violating new federal limits aimed at protecting human health. Yet Iowans have no way of knowing what chemicals they are breathing because of a limited – and often inaccurate – system of monitoring pollution statewide, a Des Moines Register investigation found.”…
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