Government (federal/state/local)
Industry muscle targets federal ‘Report on Carcinogens’
A Center for Public Integrity reports that increasingly, industry is targeting James Huff’s former employer and its parent, the Department of Health and Human Services — in particular, HHS’s Report on Carcinogens. Two lobby groups sued the agency after two widely used chemicals were listed in the report. In a victory for industry, lawmakers mandated…
Read MoreAlexandria Police Shield Information on Officer-Involved Shooting
“No video. No audio. No transcripts. The Virginia Supreme Court operates in a total blackout. The Alexandria Gazette Packet exposes the shocking lack of transparency at the commonwealth’s top court.”
Read MoreU.S allowed Italian kidnap prosecution to shield higher-ups, ex-CIA officer says
“A former CIA officer has broken the U.S. silence around the 2003 abduction of a radical Islamist cleric in Italy, charging that the agency inflated the threat the preacher posed and that the United States then allowed Italy to prosecute her and other Americans to shield President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials from…
Read MoreU.S. Spends $24 Million on ‘Propaganda Plane Few Can See or Hear
Foreign Policy reports: “For the last six years, the U.S. government has spent more than $24 million to fly a plane around Cuba and beam American-sponsored TV programming to the island’s inhabitants. But every day the plane flies, the government in Havana jams its broadcast signal. Few, if any, Cubans can see what it broadcasts.…
Read MoreExtra paid sick days costing city millions
“According to a Los Angeles Times examination of data obtained under the California Public Records Act, Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power has paid thousands of employees a total of $35.5 million since 2010 in extra sick days under an unusual program that the utility’s top executive acknowledges has been vulnerable to abuse.”
Read MoreUSA Today examines players in the risky supplement game
USA Today launched the first part of its investigation titled Supplement Shell Game: The People behind risky pills. The first article examines Matt Cahill, who has spent time in federal prison and now faces another federal charge after creating a series of products over the past 12 years — one of which contained a pesticide…
Read MoreFlorida’s chronic, tragic record of pedestrian crashes
The Orlando Sentinel completed its three-part series “Blood In the Streets” this week, examining Central Florida’s chronic, tragic record of pedestrian crashes, the worst in the country. Using state and federal data, reporters Scott Powers and Arelis Hernandez reviewed thousands of pedestrian crashes to target scores of interviews. Their findings: The problems are rooted in many decades…
Read MoreThe huge drone that could not be grounded
“A major defense contractor used campaign donations and insider access on Capitol Hill to defy the Air Force and keep a troubled drone aloft at a cost to taxpayers of billions of dollars,” according to a Center for Public Integrity report.
Read MoreU.S. reviewing 27 death penalty convictions for FBI forensic testimony errors
The Washington Post reports: “The unusual collaboration came after The Washington Post reported last year that authorities had known for years that flawed forensic work by FBI hair examiners may have led to convictions of potentially innocent people, but officials had not aggressively investigated problems or notified defendants.”
Read MoreUsing Outdated Data, FEMA Is Wrongly Placing Homeowners in Flood Zones
“From Maine to Oregon, local floodplain managers say FEMA’s recent flood maps — which dictate the premiums that 5.5 million Americans pay for flood insurance — have often been built using outdated, inaccurate data. Homeowners, in turn, have to bear the cost of fixing FEMA’s mistakes,” according to a ProPublica report.
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