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Employers caught cheating
The News & Observer exposed employers who cheat, misclassifying construction workers to avoid taxes and buying fake workers’ compensation policies. A three-part series, “The Ghost Workers,” also showed a state government inept at — and not interested in — finding the dishonest businesses. However, Governor Bev Perdue has already ordered reforms.
Read MoreTaxpayers foot the bill for convention parties
“WTSP-Tampa has found, through federal filings, that the Republican & Democratic national conventions promise economic windfalls to host cities but most of the money spent comes from the U.S. Treasury, including money spent on alcohol and parties.“
Read MorePolice agencies rarely audited by FBI
“The FBI’s crime reporting program is considered the final word on crime trends in the United States, but the agency rarely audits police agencies providing the information and when it does its reviews are too cursory to identify deep flaws, an investigation by Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found.”
Read MoreWorkers exposed to dangerous levels of chemical at candy plant
When officials from Sensient Flavors explain their work, they sometimes compare it to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. But working at the food and beverage flavor manufacturer on Indianapolis’ Southwestside is no child fantasy. Some workers were exposed to more than 400 times the generally recognized safe level for a chemical associated with a life-threatening lung condition, according…
Read MoreC. diff bacteria cause of tens of thousands of deaths; could be stopped
“A USA TODAY investigation finds that an infection called C. diff is wreaking havoc in the nation’s hospitals, nursing homes and other medical facilities, infecting a half million Americans a year and killing about 30,000.” “The death toll is twice government estimates and nearly equal to the 32,000 U.S. deaths each year from auto accidents.”
Read MoreNavy officials may have suppressed bad test results
“U.S. Navy emails and other documents, obtained by Aviation Week, suggest that officials muzzled bad test results for the first Littoral Combat Ship (LCS-1) variant, the USS Freedom, at a crucial time in the program’s development, when the service was considering which seaframe to pick for the $30 billion-plus fleet.”
Read MoreMillions of pounds of herbicide being sprayed on Oregon’s forests
In collaboration with the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Atlantic and Living On Earth, Ingrid Lobet reports that “herbicides have become a crucial tool for Oregon’s $13 billion timber industry.” However, “in spite of precautions, lab results suggest that harmful chemicals are finding their way into residents’ bloodstreams.”
Read MoreJoin us in Columbus for an Election Watchdog Workshop
IRE is bringing its Election Watchdog Workshop to Columbus, OH on August 24-25. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need to cover the 2012 elections. Get in-depth tips and strategies to follow the campaign cash as well as help your audience track the behind-the-scenes battle for influence, backgrounding candidates, making sense of the new world of…
Read MoreWill other states follow CA and suspend sunshine laws to save money?
OMB Watch reports that “the California legislature, as part of its Budget Act of 2012 (passed in June), suspended the state’s open meetings law for the next three years in an effort to cut state expenditures.“
Read More“Churning” is more common than thought, report finds
Ken Bensinger and Elizabeth Frank of the Los Angeles Times have found that “from mid-2008 to this April, 862 licensed used-car dealers in California — about 1 in 8 — sold at least one vehicle three or more times“, a practice that is known as churning. Bensinger and Frank used DocumentCloud to display their findings.
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