Posted October 22, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
WASHINGTON, D.C. — While harrying and stalling tea party groups seeking nonprofit status, the Internal Revenue Service mailed $4.2 billion in child-credit checks to undocumented immigrants. Critics say midlevel IRS bureaucrats continue to abuse the Additional Child Tax Credit program by dispensing $1,000 checks to families in this country illegally. “The law needs
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Posted September 25, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
CORALVILLE, Iowa—The City Council of Coralville has piled up about $280 million in debt in recent years, the highest debt per capita for a city in Iowa. The $14,511 burden for each of its 19,219 residents is seven times higher than Des Moines or Iowa City. It’s enough to pay for 38
Read More →The Republican Party of Iowa voted Monday to change the date of the 2014 caucus and state convention, ending months of infighting with Democrats over different caucus dates and internal party wrangling over the date of the convention. Democrats have long settled on Jan. 21, a Tuesday, as the precinct caucus
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Posted August 30, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
Public pensions in Iowa may be in a much deeper hole than previously thought. A new Moody’s Investor Service report shows the state portion of unfunded liabilities in the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System is $2.3 billion, more than double the IPERS’ estimate of $1.1 billion. If the same holds true for
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Posted August 16, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
At this point, the White House might just be trolling conservatives. With Obamacare set to launch in less than three months and Republicans in Congress furiously searching for ways to stop the law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday that three Planned Parenthood affiliates across the
Read More →DES MOINES – Leaders of the Iowa Department of Human Services will prohibit welfare recipients from using their benefits at strip clubs and casinos and other locations, though they have no way to enforce the new rules. Officials have drafted proposed rules for how they plan to comply with a
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Posted August 12, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – A $280,000 taxpayer-funded probe into voter fraud in Iowa has yet to produce a conviction after more than a year, although 13 individuals have been charged, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. With the $99,000 that has been spent during the first, Iowa taxpayers have
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Posted August 09, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – The former leader of the Des Moines School Board misled the public multiple times about former Superintendent Nancy Sebring’s departure and the circumstances surrounding it, according to court documents and district emails obtained by Iowa Watchdog. These include board member Teree Caldwell-Johnson’s account of Sebring’s resignation and
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Posted August 07, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – A former health policy adviser to Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley who still has ties to the senator’s office is one of the targets of a federal investigation, according to Jill Gerber, a Grassley spokeswoman. Mark Hayes, now a lobbyist and shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, is allegedly
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Posted August 05, 2013in Iowa Watchdog
DES MOINES – When cheating happens in the classroom, Iowa’s top education officials are responsible for investigating the allegations and uncovering any wrongdoing. But the public in Iowa has little insight as to how state leaders investigate incidents, what material is collected and the amount of cheating taking place. They
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