Colorado lawmakers’ expense reimbursements are being used to increase lawmakers’ pension payments. Increased pensions are costing taxpayers as much as $99,000 annually. Lawmakers are entitled to daily per diems or expense reimbursements; a standard procedure. However, reimbursements are being paid as salary per diems rather than expense per diems. Salary per diems are treated like […]
According to local media, Russia is preparing to dump the dollar in a move which could be bad news for the strength of the greenback. Russia Today reported this week that President Putin has drafted a bill which would ban both the dollar and euro from being used in trade amongst “Eastern bloc” countries (Russia, […]
Chicago Public Schools started classes this week without being certain how it would fund itself until the end of the school year. The district originally calculated that it was $1.1 billion shy of its budget. After layoffs, school closings, loans, and contract negotiations, the district has been able to cover approximately half of the shortage. […]
The FAA has taken its serious stance on drones to new heights, approving a permit for a paper airplane to fly in commercial airspace. The authority granted a Section 333 exemption (which allows unmanned aerial systems “to operate safely in the national airspace system” ) to the smartphone-controlled PowerUp 3.0 paper airplane. The petition for […]
US stock markets have been showing further losses, allegedly over concerns about the possibility of a Federal Reserve rate hike this month. According to Koen de Leus from KBC, who spoke to the BBC, said “China is the catalyst for stock market selloffs, but the real reason …is the nervousness about the first US rate […]
The federal government will dole out $211 million over the next four years to protect the sage grouse, a chicken-like bird native to western North America. This comes on top of the nearly $300 million pumped into conservation efforts for the bird since 2010, and thanks to some matching funds from private partners, more than […]
A report conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency into the cause of a Colorado mine spill at the inactive Gold King mine on August 5 shows that regulators failed to take into account the potential for toxic blowout. The EPA caused the release of 3 million gallons worth of sludge into rivers in Colorado, New […]
In the latest Medicaid debacle, planned Texas cuts are on hold after the HHSC was forced to “start over”, as a proposal to cut therapy services for special needs children met with massive opposition. On the eve of a legal decision which may have seen the commission subject to a temporary restraining order to prevent […]
In July, the Federal Reserve indicated that it would soon raise interest rates for the first time since 2006, and many analysts began expecting the move as soon as September. But the major emerging-markets downturn and rapid increase in the value of the dollar over the past month have thrown this time line into question, […]
An audit released by Tennessee comptroller Justin Wilson appears to show several city employees failing to pay property taxes. The audit, which is from the financial year ending June 2014, but was released on August 9, says it found that back in 2011 “several city employees owed real estate taxes at year end.” The report […]
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