Posted January 04, 2013in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Want a job that fully covers health premiums? How about one that pays more money if you work a later shift? And provides stipends for clothes and shoes? And what about work that gives pay raises of as much as 15 percent even as other companies slash
Read More →DES MOINES – A federal and state probe into spending by Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz has gone nowhere nearly four months after a state lawmaker requested it, according to officials. The inquiry centers on $280,000 Schultz is paying a Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation staffer to hunt down voter fraud in
Read More →
Posted December 11, 2012in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — Overtime costs for state employees has skyrocketed, putting Iowa taxpayers on the hook for an additional $9.4 million in worker costs compared to five years ago, according to an Iowa Watchdog analysis of state figures. Overtime expenses in fiscal 2011 reached $24.3 million – a 63 percent
Read More →
Posted December 07, 2012in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – The Iowa Department of Human Services inappropriately claimed $211,500 in medical costs for more than 400 low-income patients enrolled in programs that provide medical care to people who don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid, a newly released federal report says. Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and
Read More →
Posted December 05, 2012in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — Desmund Adams, a Democratic candidate for state senator in District 22, had been accused of whipping his son with a leather belt, according to court documents, though a jury found him innocent of the charges. Adams’ son, who was 11, was staying with him in March 2007, court records
Read More →
Posted November 30, 2012in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Special education spending in Iowa has reached record levels in recent years, during a time when enrollment has dropped and test scores remain stagnant, an Iowa Watchdog analysis of state records shows. Iowa doled out $743.4 million in special education money — a figure based on the
Read More →
Posted November 20, 2012in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – Officials at the University of Iowa Hospital submitted bills to Medicare riddled with errors, sought reimbursement for treatments that were never given and overstated the number of procedures performed, according to a newly released report from the U.S. Inspector General’s Office. Federal investigators reviewed 321 outpatient and
Read More →
Posted November 20, 2012in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — Iowa’s congressional candidates this election cycle spent more money than ever to expand their campaigns online, according to Federal Election Commission spending reports. But is anyone paying attention? The state follows a national trend in which the Internet has transformed the way politicians market themselves to voters,
Read More →
Posted November 06, 2012in Featured Story, Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES — Outside spending for presidential and congressional campaigns have skyrocketed across the country this election cycle to more than $1 billion, including the nearly $32 million that has flowed into Iowa, according to figures from the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan group that tracks political spending. Outside spending groups
Read More →
