Government (federal/state/local)
Public PayCHECK: Check out local government salaries
Recent salary survey shows that City of Springfield wages often were less than the wages offered for comparable jobs in other cities. But a News-Leader analysis of public employee salaries shows that city government workers have no more — and no less — cause for complaint than other area workers. Overall, city wages appear to…
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 MoreWhites getting more spots at top Chicago public high schools
More white students are walking the halls at Chicago’s top four public high schools. At Walter Payton College Prep on the Near North Side, more than 41 percent of freshmen admitted the past four years have been white, compared to 29 percent in 2009, a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of Chicago Public Schools data has found.…
Read MoreIllinois Department of Transportation increased the number of patronage positions
The Illinois Department of Transportation increased the number of patronage positions — jobs that can be filled based on politics or loyalty — by 57 percent in the last decade, documents released Friday show.
Read MoreMilwaukee County Board pays labor law firm for secretive counsel
Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic gets a number of perks as the chairwoman of the Milwaukee County Board, ranging from better pay than her colleagues to the power to appoint committee leaders. And, it now appears, the Bay View Democrat also gets her own private law firm.
Read MoreFBI examines lobbying by Brownback loyalists
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is exploring whether confidantes of Gov. Sam Brownback operated influence-peddling operations in Kansas pivoting on personal access to the Republican governor and top administration officials. The Topeka Capital-Journal learned the months-long inquiry involves Parallel Strategies, a rapidly expanding Topeka consulting and lobbying firm created in 2013 by a trio of…
Read MoreEmails show Emanuel aides, producers coordinated CNN ‘Chicagoland’ scenes
If it seemed as though some scenes of CNN’s documentary series “Chicagoland” were coordinated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall and the show’s producers, that’s because they were. More than 700 emails reviewed by the Chicago Tribune reveal that the production team worked hand in hand with the mayor’s advisers to develop storylines, arrange specific…
Read MoreSouthern Oregon Pesticide Case Highlights Gaps In State Oversight
In October, residental properties in Oregon were sprayed with pesticides meant for a nearby forrest. Residents say the pesticides caused health problems for themselves, their families and their pets. Oregon Public Broadcasting looked into what oversights allowed this to happen. They found lack of government funding to test soil and improper record keeping to be major factors…
Read MoreVeterans languish and die on a VA hospital’s secret list
At least 40 U.S. veterans died waiting for appointments at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system, many of whom were placed on a secret waiting list. The secret list was part of an elaborate scheme designed by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix who were trying to hide that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were…
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