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Jul 9, 2024
Topline: Up to 90% of claims submitted for the pandemic-era Employee Retention Tax Credit show an “unacceptable level of risk” of containing errors or deliberate fraud,...
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Jul 8, 2024
Topline: The single largest recipient of city money in Portland, Maine last year was a motel recently shut down by a cockroach infestation, according to a review of spending records...
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Jul 5, 2024
Topline: President Joe Biden and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have proudly been touting the $6.1 billion grant the U.S. will provide for Micron Technologies to build computer chip...
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Jul 4, 2024
Topline: In 2008, Congress went against the Pentagon’s wishes and forced it to buy a surveillance blimp the military didn’t even want.
The project ended up costing at...
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Jul 3, 2024
Topline: The IRS has appointed a new “taxpayer experience officer,” whose salary is paid by – who else – taxpayers themselves.
The agency hasn’t...
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Jul 2, 2024
Topline: It’s a bit difficult to run for reelection with only $95,000 in campaign cash on hand, but Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) found a way around that issue.
He billed taxpayers...
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Jul 1, 2024
Topline: Pharmaceutical and healthcare companies paid a total of $710 million in third-party royalties to the National Institutes of Health in 2022 and 2023, according to records...
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Jun 28, 2024
Topline: Under new rules passed with bipartisan support last July, federal lawmakers can charge their food and housing to taxpayers based on self-reported numbers. What could go...
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Jun 27, 2024
Topline: Government lobbying and Congressional earmarks often lead to wasted money, but in 2008 they combined to create a scenario where U.S. troops could have potentially lost their...
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Jun 26, 2024
Topline: Ever hop the turnstile at the subway station?
Ethics aside, it’s not such a head-scratching decision. Those who do, want to save a few bucks when they can.
But the New...
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Jun 25, 2024
Topline: EcoHealth Alliance — the nonprofit that sent taxpayer funds to the Wuhan lab researching bat coronaviruses before the pandemic — has received $94.3 million from...
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Jun 24, 2024
Topline: A councilwoman in Louisville, Kentucky was found guilty of defamation this April, but not before she billed city taxpayers $108,000 for her legal defense.
Key facts:...
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Jun 21, 2024
Topline: California voters may soon have a more direct voice in approving their sky-high tax rates — unless Gov. Gavin Newsom and other top Democratic lawmakers have something...
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Jun 20, 2024
Topline: There are plenty of proven methods for conducting demographic surveys. Questionnaires and systematic census interviews work just fine.
Asking Americans to run around Vermont...
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Jun 19, 2024
Topline: The Department of Energy spent $1.4 billion to fund 654 carbon capture research projects from 2018 to 2023, but some were risky and might have been scientifically...
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Jun 18, 2024
Topline: An Arizona police department will soon have spent $314 million in the past 11 years to fix discriminatory practices in its traffic patrols, but the agency is somehow still...
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Jun 17, 2024
Topline: Mike Pence’s failed presidential campaign amassed over $1.3 million in debt, and now he’s forcing taxpayers to help foot the bill.
The Federal Election...
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Jun 14, 2024
Topline: Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars flow into Harvard University, Brown University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, but that didn’t stop the three schools from...
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Jun 13, 2024
Topline: Fixing a bad haircut or a poor paint job is easy. Undoing the renovation of an entire building is less simple — unless the federal government steps in with half a...
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Jun 12, 2024
Topline: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spent nearly $1.8 billion more than was allocated in its annual budgets between 2014 and 2023, according to a new report from the...
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Jun 11, 2024
Topline: Nevada voters would have had a chance to avoid paying for a new Major League Baseball stadium in Las Vegas, but the state’s Supreme Court banned such a referendum from...
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Jun 10, 2024
Topline: The University of North Carolina spends an estimated $90 million each year on 686 employees who in one way or another push diversity, equity and inclusion into their...
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Jun 7, 2024
Topline: San Francisco spends $5 million each year on its “Managed Alcohol Program,” which provides free beer and vodka to homeless addicts, according to the San...
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Jun 6, 2024
Topline: Most residents of Lexington, Kentucky never wanted a sidewalk on Tates Creek Road. They said foot traffic was “non-existent.”
But after 12 years of trying,...
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Jun 5, 2024
Topline: Northwestern University — one of the only colleges to negotiate with and appease pro-Palestinian protesters this spring — has received $4.14 billion in U.S....
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Jun 4, 2024
Topline: The IRS has never been the most popular government agency, but a new audit report says their customer service is so poor it could lead to tax returns being filed incorrectly...
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Jun 3, 2024
Topline: A Delaware employee stole $181,000 from the state’s Department of Labor early last year, but the public didn’t find out until this April. The truth was only...
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Jun 2, 2024
As Dr. Fauci wraps five decades in government having become its highest-paid bureaucrat, he should consider ticking those boxes again. For old times’ sake.
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May 31, 2024
Topline: The General Services Administration spent $1.2 billion last year on 340 contracts for maintenance in public buildings around the country, but a recent inspector general...
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May 30, 2024
Topline: The 2020 U.S. Census was the first to be conducted online, but not for a lack of trying — $810 million worth of trying, to be exact.
The Census Bureau spent five years...
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May 29, 2024
Topline: The U.S. government spent $17.2 billion to give “emergency” internet service to 23 million people during the pandemic. The lockdowns are long over, but Congress...
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May 28, 2024
Topline: Taxpayers are asking Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) to put his money where his mouth is — or rather, give back the money.
Kelly’s family-owned car dealership recently...
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May 27, 2024
Topline: Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner claimed his city had a $420 million surplus before leaving office in December.
That’s not the case. In reality, the city is...
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May 24, 2024
Topline: Most hard-working Americans can’t afford to spend $21 to $31 on dinner every day. If they did, they’d likely expect to get steak or lobster for their money.
Yet...
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May 23, 2024
Topline: The federal government spends money to maintain over 1,300 national hiking trails that are easily accessible to all Americans — but it also spent hundreds of thousands...
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May 22, 2024
Topline: Indiana University paid $3.3 million to employees researching “human sexuality” at its controversial Kinsey Institute in 2023, according to payroll records...
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May 21, 2024
A new report reveals a diversity apparatus of shocking size.
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May 21, 2024
Topline: The Oklahoma attorney general is calling on Secretary of Tourism Shelley Zumwalt to resign after state auditors questioned roughly $27 million of federal funds spent under...
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May 20, 2024
Topline: New York State recently approved $90 million in tax credits to support local journalism, adding to the $8 billion the state already spends annually on business-specific tax...
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May 17, 2024
Topline: Weeks after a now-former National Public Radio senior editor eviscerated the station for what he called “advocacy” against former President Donald Trump, GOP...
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May 16, 2024
Topline: In 2005, the federal government gave a $500,000 grant to music education group B InTune and directed them to report back a year later on how the money was spent.
Government...
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May 15, 2024
Topline: Student governments at three of the four largest public universities in New York passed resolutions in April urging administrators to “Boycott, Divest and...
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May 14, 2024
Topline: The General Services Administration plans to spend $85 million to $95 million on renovations at a border crossing site in Maine, but the station is barely even being...
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May 13, 2024
Topline: Residents of Dolton, Ill. have called Tiffany Henyard “America’s worst mayor,” and opinion writers at the Chicago Tribune called Henyard’s salary...
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May 10, 2024
Topline: Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders once stood behind one of the world’s most visible podiums as former President Donald Trump’s press secretary.
Apparently she...
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May 9, 2024
Topline: In 2008, the U.S. Department of Transportation stopped Rep. Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) from investing $5.6 million to build a parking garage in a vacant office building named...
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May 9, 2024
Troubling grants and contracts classified in the federal database funded anti-Israel curriculums, professorships, and tuition.
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May 8, 2024
Topline: California spent $24 billion in the past five years to address its homelessness crisis, but no one is sure if the huge investment had any impact.
Key facts: A new state...
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May 7, 2024
Topline: No politician relishes the idea of being criticized in public, but most accept it as a basic part of free speech.
But a mayor in New Mexico recently banned the public from...
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May 6, 2024
Topline: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that an upcoming shipbuilding project will cost $6.2 billion to $7.8 billion, roughly two to three times more than the Navy claimed...
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May 3, 2024
Topline: The federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion to fraud every year, according to a new study from the Government Accountability Office.
Key facts: The...
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May 2, 2024
Topline: The now defunct National Drug Intelligence Center received a $39 million budget from Congress in 2008, years after officials across Washington had already identified the...
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May 1, 2024
Topline: The City of Denver is considering revising its ethics code after a councilwoman’s spending spree of over $15,000 was ruled “reckless” but not a...
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Apr 30, 2024
Topline: The Statue of Liberty is supposed to be a symbol of democracy and freedom, but a new inspector general report claims that millions of dollars of taxpayer money are being...
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Apr 29, 2024
Topline: A San Francisco nonprofit showed “gross fiscal noncompliance” and “wasteful practices” after receiving $240 million in grants, loans and subsidies...
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Apr 26, 2024
Topline: The assistant city manager in Austin, Texas stopped working four months before his retirement but kept collecting his taxpayer salary anyway, netting $85,000 at the end of...
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Apr 25, 2024
Topline: An instance of San Diego Unified school district spending a $3 million federal grant on employee bonuses instead of low-income students was just the start of a trend for San...
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Apr 24, 2024
Topline: The ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus opposed this year’s $1.7 trillion federal budget, urging lawmakers to vote against the bill and trigger a government...
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Apr 23, 2024
Topline: The Chinese government refuses to repay over $1 trillion of decades-old bonds held by private American citizens, even though the U.S. is still making payments on its more...
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Apr 22, 2024
Topline: Two former California transit employees used $50,000 of taxpayer money to build secret apartments inside two train stations, allegedly for their own personal...
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Apr 19, 2024
Topline: Three times during 2022, the Navy accidentally spent more in Ukraine than was approved, totaling $399 million in excess spending.
Key facts: A new inspector general audit...
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Apr 18, 2024
Topline: When a federal grant makes national headlines for being wasteful, the government usually gets the hint and caps spending on the project.
But in 2008, the National Science...
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Apr 17, 2024
Topline: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) has spent $210,000 of taxpayer money on 11 private flights since 2020, according to public records reviewed by the Daily Beast.
Key facts:...
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Apr 16, 2024
Topline: A group of eight Democratic progressive U.S. House members known as “The Squad” have filed $224 million of earmarks in the federal budget since 2023 to fund pet...
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Apr 15, 2024
Topline: An ice skating rink in Maryland Heights, Missouri recently received its fifth subsidy from the city to keep it from being seized by a bank, costing taxpayers more than $2...
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Apr 12, 2024
Topline: Washington D.C. gave $10,800 to a new mother to help her deal with poverty, but she spent most of the money on a five-day vacation in Miami, according to the Washington...
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Apr 11, 2024
Topline: In 2008, the City of Detroit was offered perhaps the best construction contract imaginable: two companies offered to pay the city $300,000 for the opportunity to demolish...
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Apr 10, 2024
Topline: Development on the Red Line transit system in Baltimore has been paused and restarted by several governors since 2008. Now it’s finally being built, but it will likely...
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Apr 9, 2024
Topline: A National Institutes of Health program expected to cost $241 million over nine years prioritizes “diversity, equity and inclusion” over merit when awarding...
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Apr 8, 2024
Topline: It will take an extra $175.3 trillion to keep Medicare and Social Security intact for when today’s children reach old age, according to OpenTheBooks’...
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Apr 5, 2024
Topline: The 75 largest cities in America were collectively $288 billion in debt at the end of fiscal year 2022, according to think tank Truth in Accounting.
Key facts: The new...
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Apr 4, 2024
Topline: The federal government spends millions each year to help zoos throughout the country care for their animals.
But in 2008, the federal Department of Transportation spent $5...
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Apr 3, 2024
Topline: The United States has sent $2.6 billion of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan since August 2021, some of which wound up in the hands of the Taliban terrorist organization,...
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Apr 2, 2024
Topline: The federal government mistakenly paid $1.3 billion to dead people in fiscal year 2023, according to U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s reporting on improper...
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Apr 1, 2024
Topline: A California school district used $2 million of taxpayer funds to train high schoolers to fight for racial and social justice, according to records obtained by The Free...
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Mar 29, 2024
Topline: A relatively new program in New York State will use $39.5 million of taxpayer funds to match small donations to political campaigns for state offices, expanding them up to...
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Mar 28, 2024
Topline: Ice worms are so tiny that a dozen of them could fit on one fingertip. That makes them incredibly difficult to find in the wild — even with the help of $325,000 in...
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Mar 27, 2024
Topline: Families in Houston are still being overcharged for their water bills, but Public Works Director Carol Haddock seems to have another, slightly more narcissistic...
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Mar 26, 2024
Topline: The federal government has given $324 million since 2020 to projects that have created a podcast, including some with questionable topics, according to a recent...
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Mar 25, 2024
Topline: The University of Virginia spent an estimated $20 million to pay its 235 “diversity, equity and inclusion” employees last year, according to payroll records...
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Mar 22, 2024
Topline: The U.S. debt held by the public is expected to more than double during the next 26 years until it reaches an “unsustainable” amount, according to a new study...
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Mar 21, 2024
Topline: Critics of government spending often claim there are bigger fish to fry than the issues our tax dollars support.
That was not the case in 2008, when the federal government...
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Mar 20, 2024
Topline: Two new kinds of boats being built for the Coast Guard are years behind schedule and will cost a combined $12.9 billion more than expected, according to a new report from...
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Mar 19, 2024
Topline: A California school spent $250,000 in federal funds to hire a teacher training service called Woke Kindergarten, but after two years, student performance got even worse,...
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Mar 18, 2024
Topline: The Smithsonian Institution received $7.5 million to respond to Covid-19, but the museum and research complex spent some of those funds on unrelated items and potentially...
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Mar 15, 2024
Topline: The federal government spent $236 billion on improper payments in 2023, according to a recent audit from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Medicaid and Medicare...
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Mar 14, 2024
Topline: In 2008, a 450-foot segment of the Tampa Riverwalk in Florida was supposed to be completed with private funding.
That was until businessman Donald Trump sued to stop the...
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Mar 13, 2024
Topline: The San Antonio Police Department’s latest safety campaign spent over $127,000 to coax residents’ guns out of their hands, and ended up purchasing toy and BB...
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Mar 12, 2024
Topline: The U.S. Navy spent $4.3 million last year on recruitment efforts using Esports and video games, including paying officers to play Fortnite with teenagers, according to...
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Mar 11, 2024
Topline: New York State’s subsidies for film producers cost $700 million last year but didn’t boost revenue nearly enough to cover their cost, according to a review...
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Mar 8, 2024
Topline: Schools in Maryland have been using grant funding to hire consultants to teach them how to use the grant funding, according to a new report from the state Inspector...
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Mar 7, 2024
Topline: In 2008, Congress sent stimulus checks to most Americans to try and avoid the impending recession. The move made news around the country — but apparently not enough...
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Mar 7, 2024
Topline: The federal government spent $236 billion on improper payments in 2023, according to a recent audit from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Medicaid and Medicare...
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Mar 6, 2024
Topline: The Department of Defense doesn’t know how it will use artificial intelligence in its daily operations, despite receiving $1.8 billion for that purpose in this...
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Mar 5, 2024
Topline: The National Institutes of Health is paying $214,000 for three researchers to create a “transgender voice training” app, according to Fox News.
Key facts: The...
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Mar 4, 2024
Topline: The City of Denver announced $5 million in budget cuts to help pay for free shelter for migrants from the southern border, with more budget cuts expected.
But according to...
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Mar 1, 2024
Topline: The U.S. government has given $1.2 billion to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency since April 2021, according to a report from OpenTheBooks.com.
UNRWA exists to...
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Feb 29, 2024
Topline: Taxpayers spent $2 million to feed their senators lunch in 2008, as Capitol restaurants posted their worst-ever net loss that year and dipped into emergency funds.
Senators...
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Feb 28, 2024
Topline: The Washington Wizards and Capitals have agreed to move to a new arena in Alexandria, Virginia, which would cost taxpayers an estimated $1.4 billion — even though the...
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Feb 27, 2024
Topline: State governments spent $38.5 billion to increase Medicaid payouts in 2022, but there is little oversight of how the money is being used, according to a U.S. Government...
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Feb 26, 2024
Topline: Red Way Airlines opened for business in June 2023 and went bankrupt less than three months later. In that time, it managed to suck up $3.7 million in pandemic relief money...
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Feb 23, 2024
Topline: The United States Agency for International Development plans to give up to $1.5 million in grants to U.S. universities to study the relationship between “gender and...
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Feb 22, 2024
Topline: In 2008, the Federal Communications Commission announced that all TV stations would be required to broadcast using digital signals instead of analog — and decided to...
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Feb 21, 2024
Topline: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy used a state expense account to buy almost $12,000 of snacks and drinks at stadium events in 2018 and 2019, including almost $1,000 at a Taylor...
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Feb 20, 2024
Topline: An expansion of Affordable Care Act subsidies was supposed to cost $64 billion for three years. But Obamacare plans are now so cheap that demand has skyrocketed, and the...
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Feb 19, 2024
Topline: The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission received $15,837 from a federal grant while claiming an individual volunteer worked up to 66 hours in a single day, according to a...
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Feb 16, 2024
Topline: Nassau University Medical Center on Long Island, New York is in danger of going bankrupt, but that didn’t stop it from doling out pensions that rank among the highest...
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Feb 15, 2024
Topline: In 2008, the Department of Justice earmarked $517,000 — $754,000 in today’s money — for the Cleveland Botanical Garden’s “Green Corps,” a...
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Feb 14, 2024
Topline: A $7,500 federal tax credit meant to help those in poor or rural areas buy electric vehicle chargers is now applicable to parts of huge cities like New York and Los Angeles,...
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Feb 13, 2024
Topline: The Department of Defense spent $53.2 million on items including exercise machines and acrylic paint and then categorized them as expenses caused by the pandemic, according...
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Feb 12, 2024
Topline: California’s prison system received $34 million to institute reforms related to staff misconduct allegations. Although new rules were put forward, the process never...
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Feb 9, 2024
Topline: Tens of thousands of laptops and iPads were lost or stolen from Chicago Public Schools in the 2021-22 school year, amounting to $23 million in missing property.
Key facts:...
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Feb 8, 2024
Topline: In 2008, a school district in Cleburne, Texas used $367,000 in federal funds — about $536,000 in today’s money — to buy an inflatable alligator, an...
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Feb 7, 2024
Topline: The Department of Defense has failed to properly track $1 billion worth of weapons provided to Ukraine, according to an internal audit released on Jan. 10 by the DOD...
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Feb 6, 2024
Topline: The federal Office of Refugee Resettlement spent $20 billion over the last two years on “refugee and entrant assistance” for those entering the country legally...
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Feb 5, 2024
Topline: A long-delayed and over-budget proposed high speed rail between Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth pitched as a wholly private enterprise, has now received $500,000 from the...
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Feb 2, 2024
Topline: Maine is spending $3.5 million to build apartments for illegal immigrants, where 60 families will live rent-free for two years.
Key facts: Five entirely new buildings are...
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Feb 1, 2024
Topline: An all-expenses paid trip to the Galapagos Islands probably sounds like a dream come true to most Americans, albeit an unrealistic one.
Yet that’s exactly what five...
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Jan 30, 2024
Topline: You might expect that your tax dollars are being used to fund public universities, and that elite, private institutions are able to hold their own with little government...
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Jan 29, 2024
Topline: The Environmental Protection Agency isn’t traditionally associated with ranged weaponry, but the federal government has spent almost $620,000 since 2018 to buy guns,...
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Jan 26, 2024
Topline: The U.S. Postal Service is investing $9.6 billion in electrifying its delivery fleet, including procuring charging stations.
While the Postal Service completed tests and...
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Jan 25, 2024
Topline: On Sept. 10, 2001, then-Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld promised to end what he called “a matter of life and death” — billions of dollars of wasteful...
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Jan 24, 2024
Topline: A federal Covid-era lending program faces millions in losses, with past-due payments growing as small business borrowers face increased interest payments on the variable...
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Jan 23, 2024
Topline: The Buffalo Bills broke ground on a $1.6 billion new stadium last June, and New York taxpayers are on the hook for $850 million of those funds, the largest-ever public...
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Jan 22, 2024
Topline: President Joe Biden’s administration has already spent more than $7 million on “sue-and-settle” attorney fees, twice as much as former President Donald...
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Jan 19, 2024
Mayor Eric Adams’ administration had 293 “special assistants” on the payroll during his first full fiscal year in office, even more than his predecessor who was...
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Jan 18, 2024
In 2008, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Institute in California, or SETI Institute, collected $9.4 million in federal grants — $13.4 million in 2024 dollars...
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Jan 17, 2024
The last two U.S. presidents supported cutting funding for the National Heritage Areas created by Congress, and doing so would save $29 million, according to Citizens Against...
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Jan 16, 2024
Two TV series targeting teens, “13 Reasons Why” and “Euphoria” — one of which was linked to a spike in teen suicide and the other is considered soft...
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Jan 15, 2024
The Social Security Administration is perpetrating a scam on some of society’s most vulnerable — recently widowed senior citizens — and withholding millions of...
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Jan 12, 2024
The Internal Revenue Service’s program that administers Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers paid almost $10.9 million in erroneous retroactive tax credits to individuals...
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Jan 11, 2024
In 1983, the Federal Aviation Administration landed a $47 million default on the taxpayer — $132 million in 2023 dollars — to bail out bankrupt airlines.
For this...
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Jan 10, 2024
As Israel fights a war against the terrorist group Hamas, the Biden administration has funded $100,000 for 200 adolescent Palestinian girls and young women to participate in weekly...
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Jan 9, 2024
The Southern Illinois University School of Medicine briefly employed its first poetry professor this fall, university records show.
Why would a medical school need to offer poetry?...
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Jan 8, 2024
The Veterans Health Administration gave energy vendors $68 million in prepayments that didn’t comply with federal law, a new audit found.
The prepayments totaled $10 million in...
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Jan 5, 2024
Of the $325 billion given to states and local governments to help cover costs stemming from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, less than half of that has been spent. And instead...
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Jan 4, 2024
In 1986, the Department of Agriculture gave $1.1 million — over $3 million in 2023 dollars — to the contractor running its Food and Nutrition Service for low-income...
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Jan 3, 2024
The spokesperson for Loudoun County Public Schools makes more than a quarter of a million dollars. — more than the Virginia governor, the White House Press Secretary, and many...
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Jan 2, 2024
The federal government gave almost $2 billion to abortion advocacy groups and providers between 2019 and 2021, according to a Government Accountability Office report.
Planned...
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Jan 1, 2024
If Congress voted to eliminate the Market Access Program — what Citizens Against Government Waste called “the federal government’s most blatant examples of...