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On Thursday, the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) acknowledged that an automated error had mistakenly attributed hundreds of deaths to the China-originated novel coronavirus that were not directly linked to the virus, adding that the department has revised the death count accordingly. “DSHS corrects COVID-19 fatality counts for the week of July 27,” the department announced in a tweet Thursday. “An automation error caused 225 fatalities to be included even though COVID-19 was not listed as a direct cause of death on the death certificate.”

Authorities can attribute dates to less than 11% of all cases. Lyndsey Rosales, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services, confirmed to Just the News this week that the state lacks dating information for the vast majority of cases it posts. "DSHS reports cases on our dashboard as local health departments and our public health regions report them," Rosales said. "We don’t attribute them to the date to when a person received a confirmed COVID-19 test result or developed symptoms." Asked if illness-onset or confirmed-test metrics existed at any level of the data collection process, Rosales suggested...

SPOKANE VALLEY-- A Spokane Valley man said the Department of Social and Health Services has revoked the license of his adult family home because he carries a concealed weapon and has a shotgun locked up in his room. Soon six elderly people that live there may be looking for a new home. Click here to read the DSHS investigation documents. According to the DSHS investigation Spencer Lowell and his father failed to provide a safe adult family home. Lowell has operated Valley Pines Retirement Home for the last three years with his father. He also carries a concealed weapon, a...

A near-unanimous state Supreme Court has swept aside an $8.3 million civil judgment against the state for the vicious beating in 1999 of a Somali refugee by a group of teenagers living in a West Seattle foster home.

The ordeal is finally over, but for the past year, a North Carolina family has been torn apart after state officials claimed family photos of a father kissing his baby's belly button were some kind of child abuse. It began when Teresa Hamaty took impromptu party snapshots of her husband, Charbel, playfully embracing their naked, newborn son, Kristoff. After dropping the film off at an Eckerd store in North Raleigh, authorities were notified. "You see the back of the baby, and like if someone is kissing the baby's belly button," Teresa told WRAL-TV. But police saw the worst and arrested...

If you want to witness Washington state lawmakers make critical decisions affecting your pocketbook or business, you once again have two choices – watch on TVW or from the public galleries in the Legislative Building. Legislators are again working in the beautiful, 76-year-old edifice that was refurbished at a cost of $120 million. Aside from the gubernatorial controversy, lawmakers will be debating answers to vital fiscal questions: 1. Will they stick with the priorities of government, or raise taxes? 2. Will they eliminate waste? 3. Will they make it easier to retain workers by reforming the costly workers’ compensation and...

On December 30, 2004, Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag officially released the Fiscal Year 2004 audit of the state's $6.1 billion (50 percent federal funds) annual Medicaid program. Among the 22 audit findings issued against the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) for its handling of the Medicaid program, the state auditor (SAO) took the highly unusual step of "disclaiming" the entire Medicaid program. SAO noted: "‘Disclaim' is a term used in auditing standards that means we cannot conclude, based on documentation and other evidence we were provided, whether all of these costs were allowable or whether all clients...

When it comes to fighting government fraud, Washington state lacks a key weapon: a state False Claims law. The federal government, thirteen states and many local jurisdictions (including Washington, D.C. and San Francisco) have adopted False Claims laws. These measures allow anyone with unique knowledge and evidence of fraud against government to act as a "private attorney general" and sue the wrongdoer on behalf of the government. These citizen fraud fighters, however, are first required to petition the government attorneys to take action before filing suit. If that government doesn't take action, the citizen then is empowered to act on...

<p>State Auditor Brian Sonntag says he cannot properly account for any of Medicaid's $6.1 billion annual budget in Washington because the program's employees deliberately obstructed an official audit. Sonntag plans to "disclaim" the entire state Medicaid system in a highly critical audit his office expects to release within two weeks. A disclaimed audit means the auditor did not get enough information to reach an opinion, because the information was either withheld or non-existent.</p>

On the basis of strict confidentiality, frustrated fraud investigators from various state agencies have contacted the Evergreen Freedom Foundation (EFF) to voice their dismay that politics often override and interfere with their ability to effectively investigate fraud committed against the state and taxpayers. Local law enforcement officials have also expressed concern that agency fraud investigations may be tainted by political pressure, resulting in less than full cooperation by state agencies. At a September 20, 2004, Senate hearing on the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) Mattawa daycare scandal, Grant County law enforcement officials testified that one way to avoid...

EPHRATA,WA -- Grant County and state officials believe state regulations could stop their ongoing investigation into day care subsidies buying drugs. In May, time will be up for prosecutors to file charges with these suspected cases under the three-year state statute of limitations for fraud. The fraud allegedly took place in May 2002. Statues for various crimes differ, as murder has no time limit and other crimes have a seven-year or 10-year state statute. "When it (the statute) runs out, it means exactly that -- it's too late to file charges," explained Undersheriff Ken Kernan. Earlier this year, Grant County...

When I catch one of my grandkids with a hand in the cookie jar, or when I catch them telling me a little fib about how they brushed their teeth even as the chocolate stains are still evident in their smiles, I am compelled to act - to hold them accountable for their actions or their inactions. Am I a mean, crotchety old grandma? Of course, not. I simply recognize that character, integrity and honesty are necessary traits for a successful and joyful life down the road. But these traits don't just affect my grandkids or our immediate family. They...

EPHRATA – At a meeting today at the Grant County Court House concerning the county's difficulty getting records from the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in the Mattawa day care scandal, DSHS Secretary Dennis Braddock made the following striking admission: "No doubt there is fraud throughout the state, but we [DSHS] do not have the staff to do major enforcement." Regarding why DSHS had not yet provided records requested from Grant County law enforcement, DSHS staff said it was due to a "communications glitch." Area legislators called today's meeting to provide Grant County law enforcement, DSHS, and local...

Police say a Pierce County foster dad charged with molesting and photographing young boys in his care posted messages in an Internet newsgroup catering to Christian pedophiles, saying he struggled "minute by minute" with his urges and describing himself as a "boylover that has devoted my life to boys and introducing the love of Christ to them." Tacoma Police Detective Richard Voce yesterday confirmed that 41-year-old Ronald Harold Young used the Internet identity "Homeanon" to write of his battle with his sexual urges for children, and counseled other struggling pedophiles in a "Christian" forum on religion and their pedophilia. Young...

PIERCE COUNTY - Prosecutors say Ronald Young, 41, used the email moniker "fosterdad" to post hundreds of pornographic pictures of his foster children on the internet. Police say Young took the photos inside his remote Pierce County home - victimizing every one of his six foster boys between the ages of 5 and 7. Court documents say "some images included the children having intercourse with an adult male." As prosecutor's charged Young with 44 counts of child rape, molestation and exploitation, detectives revealed Young admits he took pictures of his sexual acts with the boys using a digital camera and...

The 17-year-old lives in isolation, in a room created just for him. His visitors are therapists and teachers, and, of course, there are the round-the-clock guards. The cost to keep him at the state's Green Hill Training School in Chehalis: $1,000 a day, $30,000 a month. Last year, the teen became the youngest person ever to be considered for incarceration as a "sexually violent predator" at McNeil Island's Special Commitment Center. As a ward of Washington and a minor, the state has little choice but to try to treat and educate him. And until he turns 18, he cannot...

27 ex-cons worked at DSHS Staffers worked with vulnerable children, adults A background check of state employees who care for vulnerable children and adults revealed 27 people with felony convictions for assault, rape, incest and other crimes. The Department of Social and Health Services reports that 20 of the employees voluntarily quit when their criminal records were discovered. The remaining seven were transferred to non-caregiving jobs, the Seattle Times reported Saturday. ''I'm relieved we went through the process we needed to,'' said Ken Harden, DSHS assistant secretary. ''Our job here is to protect the citizens of this state. We can't...