March 3rd, 2010 · General
This is one billion dollars. Multiply by ninety-eight.
By Gautham Nagesh – The Daily Caller 03/01/10 at 2:10 AM
In what has become an annual ritual, the nation’s top accountability officer panned the government’s handling of its finances and estimated accounting errors cost taxpayers almost $100 billion per year.
Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said Friday the federal government likely wastes about $98 billion on mistaken transactions and other improper payments. He also criticized the federal government’s inability to effectively collect taxes or secure its computer systems and pressed for action on financial regulatory reform.
“Problems in the nation’s financial sector have exposed major weaknesses in the current U.S. financial regulatory system. If those weaknesses are not adequately addressed, we could see similar or even worse crises in the future,” Dodaro cautioned.
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November 19th, 2009 · General
Winfrey will end her talk show in September 2011
By Lisa de Moraes Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 20, 2009
Oprah Winfrey, one of the most powerful people in the entertainment industry, will announce Friday that her iconic daytime talk show will wrap at the end of its 25th season.
But don’t panic — her final appearance as host of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is nearly two years away. And it’s possible she’ll move the whole shebang to the cable network she’s setting up, called, naturally, the Oprah Winfrey Network.
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November 9th, 2009 · General
WORKERS DEATHS AT ISSUE
Agency disputes inspectors’ account
By Joe Stephens and Lena H. Sun Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 9, 2009
Since the spring, Metro officials have barred independent monitors from walking along subway tracks to observe safety procedures while trains are in normal service, even if escorted by Metro employees, newly obtained records show.
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November 8th, 2009 · General
Russia’s Black Community Seeking their Place in an Often Hostile Environment
Kevin O’Flynn, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Russian reaction to President Barack Obama’s visit seemed mixed, but he serves as inspiration to the country’s little-known African-Russian community.
For Russians of African descent, President Barack Obama offers a potent symbol of triumph over the same challenges they themselves face in a country where dark-skinned people remain rare and often unwelcome.
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November 7th, 2009 · General
New novel ‘Nairobi to Shenzhen’ is patterned in part on Barack Obama Sr.
GUANGZHOU, China – President Barack Obama’s half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel — the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.
In his first interview, Mark Ndesandjo told The Associated Press that he wrote “Nairobi to Shenzhen” in part to raise awareness of domestic violence.
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Associated Press - Wed Oct 28, 4:10 PM ET
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON – House Democrats reached agreement Wednesday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America’s medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and offering a new government-run insurance option for millions.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was planning a formal announcement Thursday morning, contingent on the outcome of a meeting of House leaders Wednesday afternoon, according to lawmakers and aides. Officials said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.
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October 28th, 2009 · General
By ANNE FLAHERTY The Associated Press
Tuesday, October 27, 2009; 9:18 PM
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday embraced a House bill that would give the government unprecedented power to seize bank holding companies and other large financial firms teetering on the brink of collapse and stick their competitors with the cost.
In a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, Obama said the belief among financial executives that the government would ultimately protect them creates a “perverse incentive” for large firms to take reckless risks.
“Taxpayers simply must not be put in the position of paying for losses incurred by private institutions,” Obama wrote in the letter, obtained by The Associated Press.
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October 26th, 2009 · General
S. 1717 / Public Law 111-82
To authorize major medical facility leases for the Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2010, and for other purposes.
(Oct. 26, 2009; 123 Stat. 2140; 2 pages
Complete 2009 Public Law List (Click Here To View List and See Documents)
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Federal health experts in mid-October announced the first national prototype on how to detoxify methamphetamine labs.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency invested $1.75 million over 24 months to write the guide, which details ways to cleanse everything from carpets to pipes to clothes in structures that formerly functioned as meth labs.
Thirty states currently do not require buildings housing former meth labs be cleaned up before new residents take over. Kathy Marshall, an Illinois Department of Public Health environmental toxicologist, was one of many health experts selected by the EPA to provide input for the new federal blueprint.
“We would not recommend people try to do these cleanups on their own because of the risk of exposures to hazardous chemicals,” Marshall stated.
Nearly 67 percent of meth labs are in residential settings, notes the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Christine Byers
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