Business Gears Up to Battle Obama Workplace Rule
Paulson Book Details GE Chief's Private Concerns
During the financial crisis of 2008, General Electric's leaders assured the public that the company's credit situation was stable. But then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, in his new book, says he was alarmed by what GE's leaders told him privately.
Chase Denied Loan Mods for Now Forbidden Reason
The cases of homeowners denied loan modifications because their hardships were not "permanent" occurred before Treasury barred such denials. Despite that, those homeowners are still in limbo, and some face the possibility of foreclosure.
Congressional Fundraising Stays Out of the Limelight at Super Bowl
Was it the two feet of snow that blanketed Washington during the days leading up to the Super Bowl? Or was it the unintended consequence of our Super Bowl Blitz, a two-week telephone survey that ProPublica conducted with the help of its readers, trying to find out which members of Congress would be attending this year’s big game?
In any case, at least two Super Bowl fundraising events scheduled by members of Congress were scrubbed at the last minute or moved to undisclosed locations. Invitations to those parties, which had been circulated two or more weeks before the game, promised Super Bowl tickets to contributors who gave either of the lawmakers $5,000.
Police Lose Track of Sex Offenders in Chicago Area
This is one of our editors' picks from our ongoing roundup of Investigations Elsewhere.
In Chicago and its surrounding counties, sex offenders are flouting a law that requires them to register both their home and work addresses with local authorities – and getting away with it, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The Tribune found that as of mid-January, nearly 800 sex offenders had been missing for a month or more. But warrants had been issued for just 135 of them.
Police still search for missing offenders without warrants, but the Tribune calls those efforts "hit-and-miss." A lack of manpower and the limitations of working without a warrant hobble such efforts. For instance, Chicago police enter "investigative alerts" into their computer system, but those are rarely seen by other departments. In January, an eight-week sweep for offenders netted 40 arrests, but that level of effort is apparently rare.
Cara Smith of the Illinois attorney general’s office told the Tribune: "No one would disagree that a warrant for every offender would be terrific. It's just not that easy."
According to the report, authorities say that sometimes warrants aren’t issued "because the law isn't clear on who can issue them."
But, the Tribune counters, "even in cases where the law allows warrants to be issued, they often aren't."
Agencies Open to the Public – Some Not So Much
Last Saturday was the deadline for federal departments and agencies to launch their open-government Web pages under a directive issued by the White House Office of Management and Budget. Our Transparency Tracker clocked the progress of some of those pages and found that while many agencies posted their new pages, there were some stragglers. We found no open-government sites for the CIA, the Federal Election Commission or the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
For those agencies that did make the deadline, the quality of pages ranged from the minimal -- “Here’s Our Open-Government Site” -- to detailed pages providing plenty of links to data and other materials.
Business Gears Up to Battle New Obama Workplace Safety Rule
This story was co-published with Politico.
As the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the White House are trying to minimize their differences, a brewing battle at OSHA over a workplace injury reporting rule illustrates how tough that could become given the administration's pro-labor leanings.
While bureaucratic clashes over subtle rule changes like this one are usually waged outside the public's view, they can have big ramifications for business and workers.
At issue is a regulation that would force employers to identify when a workplace-related injury or illness is considered a musculoskeletal disorder (MSD), a term broadly used to describe ailments caused by repetitive stress, like carpal tunnel syndrome or strains from frequent heavy lifting.
Paulson Book: Behind the Scenes, GE’s Top Exec Confided Credit Woes
This story was co-published with The Washington Post.
As the financial crisis worsened toward the end of 2008, CEO Jeffrey Immelt and other leaders at General Electric repeatedly assured the public that there was no need to worry about the company’s ability to access credit markets and refinance its massive debts as they came due.
But in private conversations that alarmed then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Immelt laid out a different picture of GE’s credit situation, according to Paulson’s new book about the crisis.
Super Bowl Fun: Snap Your Congress Member
Are you one of the lucky folks attending the giant football fiesta set for Sunday in Miami? If so, ProPublica’s got a mission for you.
The culmination of the NFL season is also a well-oiled junket for our nation’s political big shots. We’ve been gathering intelligence on which public officials are planning to be there, yet some remain as non-committal as a bad boyfriend.
So we’re asking for your help. If you spot Big Game—lawmakers, lobbyists or other Washington power brokers—in or around the Big Game, snap their pictures and send them to us. Think Gawker Stalker meets C-SPAN.
Which Pols Are Heading to the Super Bowl and Other Results of ProPublica’s Super Bowl Blitz
While campaign finance laws may have dampened some of the political world’s Super Bowl frolicking, at least four lawmakers are going to the Super Bowl and most of them are apparently using the event to host fundraisers, where they can collect campaign contributions and party with lobbyists and big donors over mojitos or martinis.
We’re qualifying this information with the word “apparently” because we learned from our Super Bowl Blitz that politicians don’t like to talk about their Super Bowl plans. ProPublica and more than 15 news organizations, local reporters, and a bunch of die-hard constituents contacted almost three-quarters of Congress and got answers from at least half of Congress in little more than a week. We and our readers asked two simple questions: Did you go to the Super Bowl last year? Are you going this year?
Unemployment Insurance Borrowing Now Greater Than During 1980s Recession
If you’ve been following our coverage of the nation’s unemployment insurance system, you may have concluded that things are pretty bad. (See our interactive feature showing whether your state’s fund is in the red.)
But what about some historical perspective?
It’s official, recession hounds: The 26 states with insolvent unemployment insurance trust funds have now borrowed more than they did during 1981 and 1982, the last time there was a severe recession in the U.S., and oft-used benchmark for when things are Officially Really Bad.
Administration Signals It Won’t Push Legal Limits of Terrorism Detention
Feb. 5: This post has been corrected.
The five-page letter (PDF) that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued this week defending the decision to treat the Christmas Day bomber suspect as a criminal suspect, rather than as a wartime captive, offered new insight into the Obama administration's view of the limits of preventive detention.
The letter suggests that the administration sees virtually no legal foundation for holding terrorism suspects arrested on U.S. soil in preventive detention and has very little interest in trying to create any.
Ongoing Investigations
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Buried Secrets: Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
Staffing levels at agencies that police oil and gas wells have not kept pace with the rapid expansion of drilling in 22 states.
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New Orleans: Chaos in the Streets & in Police Ranks Too
After Katrina, New Orleans cops shot 10 civilians, at least four of whom died, according to interviews and documents.
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Contractors in Iraq Are Hidden Casualties of War
Civilian contractors face costly and protracted battles to receive care from a federally supervised insurance system.
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When Caregivers Harm: Unwatched Nurses
Nurses with serious infractions can work in new locales because states fail to tell each other what they know about them.
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Strained by Katrina, Hospital Faced Deadly Choices
A two-year investigation reveals what happened to some patients who died at Memorial Medical Center after Katrina.
- ★ Unregistered Sex Offenders Roam Free in Chicago - Chicago Tribune
- ★ Day Cares, Parents Use Kids for Profit - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
- Instructor Highlights U.S. Division on Muslims in Military - Dallas Morning News
- Safety Agency Missed Signs in Toyota Recalls - AP
- Toyota Has a Pattern of Slow Response on Safety Issues - New York Times
- Toyota’s Powerful DC Friends - AP
- Auto Ratings May Not be Reliable with Problems Like Toyota’s - Wash. Post
- Survey: Ex-New York Police Supervisors Manipulated Crime Data - NY Times
- Beverage Industry Douses Tax on Soft Drinks - Los Angeles Times
- Report: ‘No Strategic Value’ to Afghan Outpost Where 8 Died - McClatchy
- Testy Exchange With Goldman Helped Push AIG to Edge - New York Times
Are Government Web Sites Open?
See if agencies are meeting the mandate for making open-government Web sites.
Lobbyists Help Smooth the Way for a Tax Break for Foreign Rum Maker
Explaining Obama’s Proposed ‘Budget Freeze’
DHS Asked to Investigate Air Marshal Allegations
Paulson Book: Behind the Scenes, GE’s Top Exec Confided Credit Woes
Unemployment Insurance Borrowing Now Greater Than During 1980s Recession
Is Your State's Unemployment System in Danger? See how your state ranks when it comes to its unemployment system.
Track the progress of the stimulus with our interactive tools:
Stimulus Spending ProgressHow quickly are federal agencies spending? Updated weekly.
Recovery TrackerFind stimulus projects happening near you. (Updated: Dec. 2009)
Every taxpayer dollar, every recipient and every program...all translated into English.
Who's getting your taxpayer money? Check out our recipient list.
History of U.S. Gov't Bailouts: See How Past Gov't Bailouts Measured Up
Search for players in the foreign lobbying game in our interactive database, a joint project with the Sunlight Foundation.
What Health Care Reform Means for: ‘Young Invincibles’
What Health Care Reform Means for: Medicaid Recipients
What Health Care Reform Means for: Those Already Insured
What Health Care Reform Means for: The Underinsured
What Health Care Reform Means for: Medicare Programs
What Health Care Reform Means for: Small Businesses
What Health Care Reform Means for: The Uninsured
Read documents and information about the 41 Gitmo detainees whose lawsuits seeking freedom have been decided by federal judges. More than 150 similar lawsuits are pending.
Check out our chart of the fallen banks, the federal agency overseeing each one, and the major public enforcement that occurred against the bank prior to its collapse. It’s all sortable.
Use our ChangeTracker to keep a tab on changes made to White House Web sites. And steal our code to make your own.
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