Free Republic

WASHINGTON – More than $98 billion in taxpayer dollars spent by government agencies was wasted, much of it on questionable claims for tax credits and Medicare benefits, representing an increase of $26 billion from the previous year. In all, about 5 percent of spending in federal programs in fiscal year 2009 was improper, according to new details of a government financial report that were released Tuesday. Saying the overall error rate was similar in 2008, officials attributed the $26 billion jump to some changes in how to define improper spending as well as an increase in overall spending due to...

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama called on Congress Wednesday to approve $250 payments to more than 50 million seniors to make up for no increase in Social Security next year. The White House put the cost at $13 billion. The Social Security Administration is scheduled to announce Thursday that there will be no cost of living increase next year. By law, increases are pegged to inflation, which has been negative this year. It would mark the first year without an increase in Social Security payments since automatic adjustments were adopted in 1975.

Even a federal judge can wind up having problems with lenders and banks these days. A small Northern California community bank this week sued San Jose U.S. District Judge James Ware in Santa Clara County Superior Court, accusing him of failing to make payments on an $80,000 boat he purchased nine years ago. The lawsuit, filed by Butte Community Bank, alleges that Ware owes more than $58,000 — and the bank is seeking a court order to seize the boat. So now the veteran federal judge finds himself facing the prospect of being a civil defendant in a courtroom instead...

Ethics charges numbers 18 and 19 have now been filed against Governor Sarah Palin; the first two to be filed after her resignation announcement. Still, the media is wondering why! That fact astounds me. When will they “get it”? At the rate of two new filings per week, they still have time for seven more before her resignation becomes effective. Zane Henning filed his second charge against Governor Palin on July 6 alleging that Governor Palin violates the state’s ethics law by collecting a per diem when she stays in her Wasilla home instead of the Governor's Mansion in Juneau....

BAGHDAD — The Government of Iraq (GoI) is on schedule to assume responsibility for paying all Sons of Iraq (SoI) security volunteers, and is working to pay back-wages to members of the group who are owed money due to a legislative oversight, Coalition authorities said. “Time and again, the Government of Iraq and the Coalition have demonstrated a commitment to the Sons of Iraq through their actions, and that’s borne out here,” said Maj. Gen. John Johnson, deputy commanding general for operations, Multi-National Corps – Iraq. Once SoI pay is on track, GoI and Coalition authorities will shift attention to...

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela's state oil company is behind on billions in payments to private oil contractors from Oklahoma to Belarus, some of which have now stopped work, even as President Hugo Chavez funnels more oil revenue to social programs. Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, says unpaid invoices jumped 39 percent in the first nine months of last year — reaching $7.86 billion in September. And that was when world oil was selling for $100 a barrel. With prices plummeting by more than half, PDVSA is trying to renegotiate some contracts. ... Oil accounts for 94 percent of Venezuela's...

As State Controller, John Chiang is responsible for ensuring the State has sufficient funds to meet its financial obligations. With no signs of an economic recovery in sight, it is critical that the Governor and the Legislature enact a sound budget solution that provides much-needed cash by February 1. If not, the State will be $346 million in the red at the end of February, and $5.2 billion in the red in April. In order to preserve cash for education, debt service and other payments that are deemed by the State Constitution, federal law or court rulings as having first...

Starting in May, the Treasury will begin sending economic stimulus payments to more than 130 million households. To receive a payment, taxpayers must have a valid Social Security number, $3,000 of income and file a 2007 federal tax return. IRS will take care of the rest. Eligible people will receive up to $600 ($1,200 for married couples), and parents will receive an additional $300 for each eligible child younger than 17. Millions of retirees, disabled veterans and low-wage workers who usually are exempt from filing a tax return must do so this year in order to receive a stimulus payment....

The Santa Ysabel casino overlooking Lake Henshaw opened in April to much fanfare, but it has been hampered by a bad economy, wildfires and torrential rains that closed roads leading to it. The San Ysabel Band of Diegueño Indians, which owns the 349-slot gambling hall in North County, has fallen $410,144 behind in payments to the county for sheriff's deputies, prosecutors, ambulance service, fire protection and treatment for problem and pathological gamblers. “It hasn't been what we expected,” Santa Ysabel Tribal Chairman Johnny Hernandez said. “Look at what we've been through. “You just have enough money to keep yourself open....

When Jennifer and Bobby Post traded in their 2001 Chevy Suburban last year for a shiny new Ford F-350 turbo diesel with an extended cab, it seemed like a great deal. Even though they still owed $9,500 on their SUV after the trade-in value, they didn't have to put a penny down. The dealership, near the Posts' home in Victorville, made it easy; it just added the old debt to the price of the new truck and gave the couple a seven-year, $44,276 loan. The Posts were a little worried about taking on such a long obligation, but they couldn't...

One widow has more than $2 million but walks or rides the bus everywhere, terrified of drawing attention. Another millionaire widow stopped going to 9/11 support groups because she feared that families of police officers and firefighters might betray her. A widower has enough money to start a business building houses, but cannot buy himself a home. One of the 9/11 widows in the office of her lawyer. “I can’t dream very high, because I have no papers,” one says. All three lost a husband or a wife when the World Trade Center collapsed. Like thousands of others, they were...

MIAMI (March 17) - A growing scandal over teachers who paid to get credit for courses they never took has cost nearly three dozen educators their jobs, and hundreds of others were being investigated. The Miami-Dade County School Board voted 5-4 on Wednesday to fire six teachers and accept resignations from 26 others. The punishments stem from a scam run by former high school teacher William McCoggle, who claimed to offer continuing-education classes through a private company. McCoggle pleaded guilty to fraud in November, admitting he did little more than sell transcripts, requiring no tests, homework or other academic work....

Federal budget cuts to child-welfare services may cost California hundreds of millions of dollars over the next decade and could short-circuit efforts to keep thousands of children with family members, local county welfare officials and policy experts say. The cuts, advocates say, are a direct effort to sidestep a federal court decision that helped open up payments to thousands of relatives who are caregivers in several Western states. These cuts could immediately affect the care of some 4,000 to 5,000 children in California alone, according to the advocates. "If the state can't backfill for the lost funds, I think it...

Watchdog Group Accuses Sen. Florez of Extensive Election Law Violations Including Questionable Payments to Wife Thu Oct 13, 1:43 PM ET To: State Desk Contact: Ken Boehm of NLPC, 703-237-1970; Web: http://www.nlpc.org Dean Florez WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- In a formal complaint filed Wednesday with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, a national ethics watchdog group detailed scores of violations of California's Political Reform Act by State Senator Dean Florez of Shafter. Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), which filed the complaint, said, "Sen. Florez has filed campaign reports riddled with errors and...

Potentially affecting taxpayers in Arizona and at least 12 other states, thousands of tax payments and other correspondence sent to the Internal Revenue Service were dumped into San Francisco Bay in an automobile accident. Approximately 30,000 estimated quarterly tax payments sent to an IRS post office box in San Francisco in early September were ejected into the bay from a contract courier vehicle involved in the Sept. 11 accident, the IRS said in a "problem alert" statement issued Friday.

MOSCOW, August 23 (RIA Novosti) -- Ukraine must pay cash for Russian natural gas, a Russian minister said Tuesday during a meeting on energy cooperation with a Ukrainian delegation. "We want to abandon barter practices and transition to monetary payments for the supply and transportation of Russian gas [for Ukraine]," Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko said. "We would like to ensure the transparency of the supply and transportation of gas and establish relations that resemble those we have had with Europe for decades." The Ukrainian delegation, headed by Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov, proposed keeping the existing...

CHICAGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors investigating corruption at a state pension fund have subpoenaed records concerning $4.5 million in fees a Washington-based investment firm is paying the new treasurer of the Republican National Committee, government sources confirmed Tuesday. The subpoena calls for documents related to the fund, the Carlyle Group and Robert Kjellander, said sources familiar with the investigation who spoke only on condition of anonymity, saying prosecutors want details of the probe kept secret. Kjellander, a lobbyist who headed President Bush's re-election campaign in three states, was named the RNC's treasurer over the weekend. Illinois Teachers Retirement System officials...

A convicted alien smuggler was sentenced April 14 to 12½ years in prison for dragging a man to death over a smuggling fee dispute last summer, following an investigation federal agents and local police in Houston, TX. Rafael Garcia-Flores, 37, a Mexican national, had smuggled three illegal aliens into the United States in early July 2004. While collecting the fees for his smuggling services in the parking lot of a Houston shopping center, Garcia-Flores announced that the fee had increased from $1,500 to $1,800. In an argument that ensued over the $300 discrepancy, Garcia-Flores brandished a pistol and then accelerated...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations on Friday warned that a proposed congressional bill linking U.N. reform with tens of millions of dollars in U.S. dues would be "counterproductive." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is pushing his own reform package, which would include some of the most sweeping changes in the 60-year history of the United Nations. Officials here worry that the congressional action would interfere with his efforts. "The secretary-general's position on the use of withholding as a tool for reform is pretty clear," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. "He feels it's counterproductive, particularly at a time when reform...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A U.S. congressional committee has drafted a bill that threatens to withhold tens of millions of dollars in dues from the United Nations unless the world body conducts wide-ranging reforms, possibly setting the stage for a funding battle like the one that plunged the U.N. into financial crisis a decade ago. The "United Nations Reform Act of 2005" targets a panoply of issues that have troubled critics of the United Nations, particularly Republicans, for years. Among other things, it would seek to cut funding for programs seen as useless and bar human rights violators from serving...