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Taxpayer money used to defend city official
David Josar of The Detroit News used records obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act to find that “Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie has spent more than $100,000 in taxpayer funds on a team of private lawyers and advisers to defend her in a lawsuit that accuses her of mismanagement and fraud in the handling…
Read MoreSecrecy hides those who prey on children
Andrew Wolfson of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reports that “Kentucky shrouds its juvenile courts behind some of the strictest secrecy laws in the nation, requiring the public to accept on faith that it is being protected from dangerous children — and that innocent children are being protected from dangerous adults.”
Read MoreMayor withholds crime stats
The mayor of Jackson, Miss., has refused to release the city’s crime statistics to the City Council. “Under the prior administration of Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., the crime statistics were released to media and published every Monday in The Clarion-Ledger‘s metro-state section.”
Read MoreManhattan homeowners pay lower taxes
Josh Barbanel of The New York Times used local tax and real estate data to show that “average taxes on Manhattan co-ops and condos are lower than they would be if they were taxed the way some of the most heavily taxed houses are. But it is prewar co-ops that have the greatest tax advantage.”…
Read MoreKillers buried among military heroes
Richard Lardner and Doug Stanley of The Tampa Tribune report at least 50 veterans who committed homicides in civilian life are interred at Florida National Cemetery, “the final resting place for tens of thousands of military veterans,” according to the paper’s analysis of cemetery and prison records. The paper reports Congress is expected to pass…
Read MoreCalif. county unprepared for disaster
Bob Cuddy, Sarah Linn and Leslie Griffy of The Tribune reviewed San Luis Obispo County’s disaster documents to show that the county was vulnerable in case of a major disaster. "While the county, home to Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, gets high marks for its planning, Hurricane Katrina showed that plans are one thing, implementing…
Read More‘High hazard’ dams unregulated and in need of repairs
Eric Hand, Todd Frankel and Jaimi Dowdell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch examined the state of dams in Missouri and Illinois, following the failure of a dam in southeastern Missouri. They found that hundereds of dams in Missouri and Illinois lack plans for handling emergencies, are regulated by cash-strapped state offices that make intermittent inspections…
Read MoreOSHA fines minimal, despite serious safety violations
Mike Casey of The Kansas City Star examined OSHA’s inspection database for the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Mo., to show that low fines for workplace deaths or injuries are common even when OSHA cites employers for a serious violation. The investigation found that in 80 such fatal and injury accidents, half of the fines…
Read MoreLoophole allows sex offenders to disappear
Christine Willmsen and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times analyzed court records, sex offender registries and check-in logs to show that hundreds of sex offenders register as homeless — making their whereabouts unknown. This results in law-enforcement officials not having any way of tracking them, and residents often being unaware of potential threats. The investigation…
Read MoreFEMA program in New York ‘dreadfully flawed’
Russ Buettner, Heidi Evans, Robert Gearty, Brian Kates, Greg B. Smith and Richard T. Pienciak of the Daily News in New York used FEMA data to show that the federal government’s $21.4 billion program to help New York recover from the 9/11 terrorist attacks was dreadfully flawed. "New Yorkers by the tens of thousands received…
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