Chemical Safety Board investigations languish

The Center for Public Integrity reports that the U.S. Chemical Safety Board operates with a sluggish investigative pace and short attention span. A former board member told CPI that the agency is "grossly mismanaged."

"The number of board accident reports, case studies and safety bulletins has fallen precipitously since 2006," according to an analysis by the Center for Public Integrity. "Thirteen board investigations — one more than five years old — are incomplete."

As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester  | The New York Times
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency that many Americans love to hate and industry calls overzealous, has largely ignored the slow, silent killers that claim the most lives.

Corporations, pro-business nonprofits foot bill for judicial seminars | Center for Public Integrity
Conservative foundations, multinational oil companies and a prescription drug maker were the most frequent sponsors of more than 100 expense-paid educational seminars attended by federal judges over a 4 1/2-year period, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation.

Back-door school handouts | Chicago Tribune
Rolled into the usual state aid sent to districts, the subsidies are all but hidden and have been skyrocketing, starting at $46 million and increasing more than 1,000 percent in the years since lawmakers approved them, state data show. At its peak in 2008, the program cost taxpayers $805 million, with the majority of school districts not getting a penny.

Old gas pipelines: A danger under our feet | Detroit Free Press
Crisscrossing Michigan are more than 3,100 miles of old wrought- and cast-iron natural-gas pipelines -- the type federal regulators consider the most at risk of corrosion, cracking and catastrophic rupturing. The state's two largest utilities have replaced less than 15% of these pipelines -- 542 miles -- in the past decade.

Title loans hurt poor, critics say | Arizona Republic
More than 430 auto-title-lending branches have been licensed in Arizona since 2009, the year after voters rejected payday lending, state figures show. By comparison, from 2000 to 2008, about 160 title-lending branches were licensed with the state. The rise of title lenders has rekindled a debate over whether these kinds of high-interest loans ultimately help or take advantage of low-income borrowers.

Lame-duck Cravaack handed out large raises to his staff | Star Tribune
Former U.S. Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.) awarded his staff some of the largest salary increases in Congress last year as he left after one term in office. For the first three quarters of 2012, the Minnesota Republican’s staff payroll averaged a little over $197,000. In the final three months of the year, it shot up to $354,000, an 80 percent increase. For decades, departing members of Congress have awarded large bonuses and salary increases to longtime staff, but these raises were of a magnitude typically awarded by senior members of Congress.

For Boston cabbies, a losing battle against the numbers | The Boston Globe
Boston’s cabbies can be a surly lot, but consider what they endure. A Globe investigation finds a taxi trade where fleet owners get rich, drivers are frequently fleeced, and the city does little about it.

Athlete charities often lack standards | ESPN
An "Outside the Lines" investigation of 115 charities founded by high-profile, top-earning male and female athletes has found that most of their charities don't measure up to what charity experts would say is an efficient, effective use of money.

Parolee GPS ankle monitors: Major flaws found in vendor's system | Los Angeles Times
The electronic ankle monitors California used for several years to monitor more than 4,000 high-risk sex offenders and gang members were so inaccurate and unreliable that corrections officials said that the public was “in imminent danger.”

Santa Clara County workers ignored red flags in Shirakawa case | San Jose Mercury News
A trail of embarrassing inaction at numerous levels of county government enabled the years-long crime spree of disgraced former Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr., who will be sentenced in the coming weeks for perjury and misuse of public funds.

Many Low-Income Students May Fail Because of Reading Law | Oklahoma Watch
Among thousands of Oklahoma students who could be held back in third grade for failing a state reading test next year, a disproportionate share will likely be low-income children, anOklahoma Watch analysis of state data found.

Making the grade: Inside the college admissions process | Philadelphia Inquirer
During the last month, on two occasions, The Inquirer has spent a total of about eight hours in the room with Lehigh staff members as they made sometimes difficult and agonizing decisions. It was a window into a highly competitive, emotionally charged process, often kept secret. The Inquirer agreed not to identify applicants.

There’s no argument that Mexico-based crime organizations dominate drug smuggling into the United States. But the public message that the Border Patrol has trumpeted for much of the last decade, mainly through press releases about its seizures, has emphasized Mexican drug couriers, or mules, as those largely responsible for transporting drugs.

It turns out that the Border Patrol catches more American citizens with drugs than it does Mexican couriers, according to an analysis of records obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Dozens of Internet sweepstakes cafes are owned and operated by people who are in so much financial hot water that they couldn’t land a job at an Ohio casino. The pseudo gambling parlors have flouted a decades-old state law that requires businesses to register with the secretary of state. And most cafe owners snubbed an affidavit requested by the Ohio attorney general’s office last year to obtain more information about owners and their businesses; most provided little more than a street address. The Columbus Dispatch investigated the backgrounds of both the businesses and the names of owners supplied to the attorney general’s office last summer on “affidavits of existence” and found a trail of red flags. For two years, state lawmakers have wrangled about what to do about such establishments, which now are entrenched and unregulated in the state. 

According to an analysis from California Watch, nearly 1 in 10 teachers lack the necessary credentials for their positions. Using data from the state Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California Watch found more than 32,000 school employees lacked proper authorization between 2007 and 2011. According to the report, "The problem is greater at low-performing schools, where students are overwhelmingly low-income and Latino. The average rate of improperly assigned teachers at these schools was 16 percent over the same period."

Center for Investigative Reporting/Esquire
The Shooter
"The man who shot and killed Osama bin Laden sat in a wicker chair in my backyard, wondering how he was going to feed his wife and kids or pay for their medical care."

The Tampa Bay Times
Public schools lose millions to crooks and cheaters
“Axson's case points to a larger problem with mandated tutoring in Florida: The program pays public money to people with criminal records, and to cheaters and profiteers who operate virtually unchecked by state regulators.”
Lobbying preserved millions for Florida tutoring companies
"Every year for nearly a decade, private tutoring companies have made millions in Florida because the federal government required school districts to hire them. That was in danger of changing last February, when the state won freedom from mandated private instruction for poor children in the state's worst schools.But the tutoring industry wasn't letting go without a fight."

KPNX 12 Phoenix
Raked Over the Coals
Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran exposed unethical conduct by members of the Phoenix Fire Department’s Fire Investigations Unit. Arson investigators are caught trying to manipulate the arson dog while investigating a house fire. The Phoenix Fire Department boasts the highest arson clearance rates in the country. Did they arrest a woman for arson with faked evidence? Arson investigators, under oath, testified the arson dog is far superior than any crime lab. But they never showed this video to the Grand Jury. And the City of Phoenix refuses to talk about it. Barbara Sloan says they’re trying to railroad innocent people into prison.

The Center for Public Integrity
Current gun debate may not help beleaguered ATF
"So for now, the bureau remains systematically hobbled by purposeful restrictions, flimsy laws, impotent leadership and paltry budgets. And it’s not at all clear there’s anything on the horizon that would change that situation."

Milwaukee Journal Constitution
ATF's Milwaukee 'Fearless' storefront had little to ward off burglars
“Who would imagine the thieves would have unfettered access to the place for three days, propping open the door with a shoe and returning the next day with a moving truck to finish the job?”

USA Today
Ex-House members spend campaign money after they depart
"Former House members are spending their leftover money to pay for everything from luxury cars to foundations that bear their names, a USA TODAY review of new campaign-finance reports shows. The practice is legal but raises questions among government watchdogs about whether these accounts are used as political slush funds."

The News Tribune
Army won't release details of report on Madigan hospital
"Army leaders insist they have fixed flaws in Madigan Army Medical Center’s behavioral-health department that resulted in the misdiagnoses of hundreds of patients. But they have refused to release reports that could substantiate their findings and shed light on what happened at the Army hospital last year."

The Star Tribune
Minnesota is a hotbed for radioactive gas radon
"More than 40 percent of Minnesota home radon tests conducted in the past 13 years show unsafe levels of the radioactive gas, according to a Star Tribune analysis of state records. Yet Minnesota has no mandatory radon testing of homes, schools or day care centers; no requirement that homeowners test for radon before selling a house; and weaker real estate disclosure rules than some leading states."

ProPublica
Will Democrats sell your political opinions to credit card companies?
"For years, state Democratic parties have been gathering information about individual voters' political leanings. They have noted down the opinions voters shared with canvassers — which candidates they said they supported or their positions on policy issues. Now, the record of what people told Democratic volunteers may go up for sale — and not just to political groups.

The Sacramento Bee
Guns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood
“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.” 

The Denver Post
Denver's 911 call review shows a pattern of problems
In nearly 240 of the calls reviewed for performance, police officers never received crucial scene information from the dispatchers or call takers. This included situations where they failed to notify officers that suspects were armed and had been violent in the past.

KIROTV
Crime inside NFL stadiums hidden from police
A months-long investigation by KIRO-TV in Seattle (CBS/Cox Media Group) found that many local police departments are helping the NFL’s cause, by either failing to create crime reports or underreporting incidents that occur in the stands and nearby parking lots during football games.

The Omaha World-Herald
Sheehy steps aside after phone records reveal 2,300 calls to 4 women
“A monthlong investigation by The World-Herald uncovered a secret life during that travel, involving 2,300 phone calls to four women, other than his wife, during the past four years.

The Dallas Morning News
Chronic Condition
“Parkland Memorial Hospital is the nation's largest healthcare facility ever forced into federal oversight to remedy patient-safety dangers. How did the landmark Dallas County public hospital reach this precipice? The problems have been years in the making.”

The Seattle Times
Boeing 787’s problems blamed on outsourcing, lack of oversight
“Company engineers blame the 787’s outsourced supply chain, saying that poor quality components are coming from subcontractors that have operated largely out of Boeing’s view.”

Mother Jones
To Recruit Cops, the NRA Dangles Freebies Paid for by Gun Companies
“Free memberships and insurance, steep discounts on gear. How could an officer say no?”

The Los Angeles Times
A fatal toll on concertgoers as raves boost cities' income
Struggling local governments welcome large music events staged by L.A.-based promoters, but reports reveal a tragic pattern of drug overdoses.

Austin American-Statesman
Crime lab backlogs weighing down court system
A mounting backlog of samples awaiting testing at the Austin Police Department crime lab is causing unprecedented delays in the resolution of criminal cases, preventing some from going forward for at least six months and stressing an already bustling county judicial system, documents obtained by the American-Statesman show.

University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics threw away 355,000 servings of food worth $181,600 last year, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The hospital prepared roughly 3 million total servings of food in 2012, not counting patient meals. The Gazette found that the hospital's dining room serving doctors and nurses from operating rooms threw away 32 percent of its food.

Analyzing state education data, The Morning Call found that only 28 percent of Pennsylvania charter schools met an adequate yearly progress rating, compared to 49 percent using a more lenient calculation implemented by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and later rejected by the U.S. Department of Education.

"President Obama has indicated a move towards strengthening federal gun control measures, but the reality is that the majority of gun legislation in the US is enacted at the state level. That has brought broad variations across the country, with states taking different approaches to issues ranging from sales, permits, licensing, self-defense and carry laws." Use The Guardian's interactive app to view gun laws on a state by state basis.