Minnesota GOP attacks undermine checks and balances These ongoing attacks on watchdogs must be put to an end.
By Julie Blaha Text size Copy shortlink:
Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, R-Nisswa, is threatening to cut the attorney general s office budget for enforcing an executive order. That s not mere politics as usual it s the kind of bad faith that threatens the integrity of America s checks and balances.
Too many lawmakers, when faced with losing a vote fair and square, are not learning from the defeat and moving on. Instead, they attempt to end-run the system by hobbling the decision s oversight or enforcement.
Dec 18, 2020 The Mississippi State Parole Board is defending one of its members, a Meridian resident, after a state auditorâs report said she was reimbursed more than $47,000 for travel expenses that are not meant to be reimbursable.
The Office of the State Auditor said in a report released on Thursday that Mississippi Parole Board member Betty Lou Jones was reimbursed $47,321 for travel expenses that are not reimbursable.
Jones
This finding is part of a larger report which documents widespread misspending by the Mississippi Department of Corrections from July 1, 2017 to Dec. 31, 2019.Â
Logan Reeves, a spokesperson for the auditor s office, said the report states that there are audit findings of illegal expenditures that made their way to Jones, but that does not mean that those expenditures are criminal.
Rogelio V. Solis/ AP file
In this Sept. 17, 2018 Associated Press file photo, Pelicia Hall, Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner speaks before a meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee Fiscal Year 2020 hearing in Jackson, Miss.Â
Rogelio V. Solis
By Brittany Brown  Mississippi Today Dec 18, 2020
Rogelio V. Solis/ AP file
In this Sept. 17, 2018 Associated Press file photo, Pelicia Hall, Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner speaks before a meeting of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee Fiscal Year 2020 hearing in Jackson, Miss. Rogelio V. Solis Former Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Pelicia Hall and her administration mishandled thousands of dollars in public funds, according to a report the state auditorâs office released on Thursday.
SALT LAKE CITY â Questions raised in a critical state audit partially focused on the selection process for the firms tabbed last year to get cannabis growing licenses didnât keep them from getting their paperwork renewed for another year.
The Cannabis Production Establishment Board this week unanimously renewed the growing licenses for the eight firms, including True North, one of the firms mentioned, though not by name, in last monthâs audit. The board, part of the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, or UDAF, met Monday, approving the eight licenses with little comment.
UDAF spokeswoman Caroline Hargraves noted the guidelines governing the license renewal process, in part that licensees must show they are producing cannabis at the levels outlined in their operating plans. Utah lawmakers legalized marijuana for medical use in 2018 and the growers supply the dispensaries that provide medical cannabis to patients. But she didnât respond to additional queries.
By Mike Johnson on 2020-12-17 13:26:00
Former WWE developmental talent Brett DiBiase admitted today in court that he was guilty of making fraudulent statements for the purposes of defrauding the government according to reporter Anya Wolfe of
Mississippi Today:
BREAKING: Brett DiBiase is pleading guilty to making fraudulent statements. He is the former pro wrestler charged within what @MSStateAuditor calls the largest public embezzlement case in state history. His luxury drug rehab stay was allegedly paid for with #TANF welfare dollars. pic.twitter.com/pf1FtC2h4G Anna Wolfe (@ayewolfe) December 17, 2020
The charge deals with $48,000 he received under a contract with @MS DHS for work he didn’t complete.