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Al's Morning Meeting

Home > Al's Morning Meeting
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Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
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A dozen sites
I'm diggin'


1. "She's like a moose going after a cabbage." A fun piece watching the Palin speech with locals in Alaska.

2. Track Hannah with these storm tools I created on Ning.

3. Stay on top of Hannah with this site that includes radar, satellite, tracking maps, warnings and more.

4. The coolest storm tracking site I have seen in a while.

5. The site watches TV and Web mentions of candidates. It also monitors Tweets and more.

6. Instead of scheduling meetings by e-mail, everybody can work out a time and date online.

7. Here are tons of GREAT tools that will help you find anything on flickr.

8. Vloggerheads fights back against YouTube chaos.

9. YouTomb is where videos go after they're booted off YouTube.

10. The evolution of voting in America is shown by interactive mapping.

11. I have never seen anything like this amazing "Swan Lake" performance. [Flash]

12. This is my current home page.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them.


Inspector General Report Uncovers Feds' Serious Blunders
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Public Defenders Strained
Every six months, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) drops a report to Congress detailing what investigators have been up to. The report, which was just filed, reveals some juicy information.

The following excerpts/highlights are taken from various parts of the report (the full links are at the bottom of this page.)

--"An FBI special agent, without authorization, arranged for the use of an FBI undercover real estate company to conduct a private real estate transaction -- the sale of a $1.3 million home -- that benefited her personal friends."

--"An investigation by the OIG's Dallas Field Office led to the arrest and guilty plea of a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) chaplain for sexual abuse of a ward. Our investigation determined that on multiple occasions the chaplain, a Catholic priest, engaged in sexual acts with inmates who attended his Bible study class or who served as a clerk for the Religious Services Department at the prison. During an OIG interview, the chaplain admitted to multiple sexual acts with multiple victims and subsequently resigned his position with the BOP. Sentencing is pending."

--"A joint investigation by the OIG's Fraud Detection Office, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, and U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations led to an agreement by Sioux Manufacturing Corporation (SMC) of Ft. Totten, North Dakota, to pay $2 million to settle allegations that it knowingly provided substandard woven Kevlar cloth for use in military combat helmets. Investigators determined that from approximately 1994 to 2006 SMC sold finished armored cloth (Kevlar) to Federal Prison Industries, Inc. (UNICOR), which used the Kevlar to manufacture Personnel Armor System Ground Troops helmets and sold the helmets to the Defense Logistics Agency."

--An investigation into federal prisons in Florida found "... a scheme in which the five defendants established a medical clinic that was used to defraud the Medicare program by billing Medicare for HIV infusion therapy treatment that it was not providing. The clinic received approximately $2 million in fraudulent Medicare proceeds."

--Investigators found people who work in law enforcement were stealing money: "The investigation determined that the grantee, while serving as ombudsman for the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department in Indiana, stole $57,916 in [Bureau of Justice Assistance] grant funds and $30,914 in general funds belonging to the Sheriff’s Department. The grantee had applied for the federal grant funds without the knowledge of county officials, then withdrew the funds from a special projects account and deposited them into his personal bank accounts. The grantee used the funds for personal expenditures, including jewelry, clothing, furniture, and a trip to Florida."

The point I am trying to make is that these routine reports are loaded with great story leads. Here are additional links related to the overall report:

Posted by Al Tompkins 7:02 AM June 5, 2008
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An Equallly Important Story... ...might be that these people were exposed by the system.... More.
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