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Data reveals no-bid contracts for hurricane clean up
Eric Lipton and Ron Nixon of The New York Times used federal contract data covering hurricane response to show that “more than 80 percent of the $1.5 billion in contracts signed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency alone were awarded without bidding or with limited competition … provoking concerns among auditors and government officials about…
Read MoreDisaster plans lacking in Hudson Valley area
Greg Bruno of the Times Herald-Record in Middletown, N.Y., looked into disaster plans for communities of the Catskills and Hudson Valley, finding that three-quarters of them would be unprepared. “Of the 75 communities that provided their plans for review, only 25 percent are updated or specific enough to be useful in a catastrophe, according to…
Read MoreGetty museum had clues it was buying looted pieces
Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino of the Los Angeles Times report the J. Paul Getty Museum, the world’s richest art institution, knew as early as 1985 that “three of their principal suppliers were selling objects that probably had been looted and that the museum continued to buy from them anyway.” The Times obtained Getty documents…
Read MoreNavy contracted for planes in CIA operation
Seth Hettena of The Associated Press reports the Navy issued contracts for planes “reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture.” The AP says documents from the Department of Defense, obtained through a FOIA request, involve more planes (33) than previously reported. While there was “scrutiny in 2001, but what hasn’t…
Read MoreMissteps, fraud have plagued FEMA
Megan O’Matz, Sally Kestin, John Maines and Jon Burstein of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel continue the paper’s investigation into FEMA. “The handling of aid to victims of Hurricane Katrina is only the latest in a series of missteps and fraud that has plagued this tax-funded government agency. The Sun-Sentinel took a look at 20 recent…
Read MoreNonprofits mislead about destination of donations
Kelby Hartson Carr of The Times in Munster, Ind., looks into the accuracy of IRS 990 forms filed by nonprofit organizations. After an examination of all 990s filed for “fiscal year 2003 by nonprofit agencies based in Lake County, Porter County and Chicago’s south suburbs,” the paper found that 70 percent that raised public donations…
Read MoreCounty loses money to court-appointed attorney fees
Dave Moore of the Denton (Texas) Record-Chronicle finds Denton County might have paid more than $350,000 more that it was required in court-appointed attorney fees. “The source of most of the non-mandatory legal bills to the county has been 393rd District Court Judge Vicki Isaacks, who has been appointing those attorneys mostly for children in…
Read MoreLax oversight contributes to high foreclosure rate
Geoff Dutton and Jill Riepenhoff of The Columbus Dispatch investigated Ohio’s high foreclosure rate, “a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight.”. The newspaper analyzed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, obtained U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit reports of homebuilders through the federal Freedom of…
Read MoreSan Diego land inventory flawed
Brooke Williams and Danielle Cervantes of the San Diego Union-Tribune compiled data on the city’s land holdings, finding that “the city’s inventory of real estate assets, worth billions of dollars, is seriously flawed. A roster of 4,430 parcels the city supplied omits some property, and it also lists land the city has never owned, land…
Read MoreFunds for workers could drive agencies to bankruptcy
Troy Anderson of the Los Angeles Daily News found that “California’s largest public agencies face setting an extra $108 billion aside in the coming years to pay for promised retiree pensions, health care and workers’ compensation claims.” Experts say the estimate is conservative and that some public agencies might face bankruptcy in the future.
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