Where is the Money Going?

School District to Pay Nearly $400,000 in Legal Costs after Losing Fight to Ban Boobie Bracelets

The Easton Area School District imposed a ban four years ago on students wearing breast cancer awareness bracelets that read: “I ♥ Boobies! (Keep a Breast)” Two students, Brianna Hawk and Kayla Martinez, challenged the prohibition with the help of the ACLU, twice winning in federal court. Once the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the district’s appeal, the ACLU negotiated a settlement of $385,000 with the school district to pay the lawyers who worked on the case. read more

Navajos Gain Largest Native American Settlement with U.S. Government over Mismanagement of Natural Resources

Before this year is up, the Navajo Nation will receive more than half a billion dollars from the federal government to settle the government’s historical mismanagement of tribal resources. The $554 million wraps up an eight-year-old lawsuit that Navajo leaders filed claiming the federal government spent decades, going back to 1946, managing leases to oil, gas, timber and other natural resource companies without getting a fair return for the tribe. read more

CDC Funds Group that Helps Hollywood Present Health and Health Insurance Issues Accurately

When television writers or screenwriters need some expert advice for a medical storyline, they turn to Hollywood, Health, and Society, a private group of experts funded by the federal government’s leading health research agency. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides up to half a million dollars a year to Hollywood, Health, and Society, which has been advising the entertainment industry for 13 years. read more

California Pensions to Dump $4 Billion Hedge Fund Investments; Rockefeller Charity Drops Oil

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) has decided to divest its investment portfolio of all hedge funds, a total of 24 plus six “funds of funds.” The total comes out to about $4 billion out of CalPERS’ total assets of $300 billion. The amount may not be that significant compared to the overall investing CalPERS does, but the pension fund’s sheer size makes any decision noticeable among investors. read more

Secret Donors have Spent more than $60 Million on Current Election Campaign

Nonprofit groups that aren’t supposed to have politics as their primary purpose have reportedly put $63 million into ads and other efforts to influence the outcome of the 2014 midterm races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), which tracks electoral spending. Mother Jones’ Andy Kroll pointed out that this amount nearly matches the $69 million in dark money that was spent during the entire 2008 presidential campaign. read more

House Votes to Block Easy Disclosure of Corporate Financial Statements

Lawmakers embraced an important change that would force the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to exempt public companies making less than $250 million a year from filing their financial statements electronically. read more

Increased Purchases of Guns Ends up Funding Wildlife Research…and Shooting Ranges

This year, North Carolina alone has collected nearly $20 million in the revenues generated by gun and ammo sales—a three-fold increase since 2007. The money has allowed state officials to expand the number of public shooting ranges from one to four, with three more in development. The tax revenue has compensated for cuts in state spending and provided funds for new roads, signs and parking lots. read more

Average U.S. Household Earned an Extra 50 Cents a Day Last Year

The average American household made more money last year, new federal data shows. But don’t go shopping for Beverly Hills real estate quite yet—the boost amounted to only 50 cents a day. Of course, that’s just an average. Corporate CEOs are doing much better than last year, while economic gains haven’t made their way to the middle class because of such developments as the decline in union membership and the number of workers being replaced by machines. read more

Treasury Dept. Ignores Fraud Charges and Awards Comerica 5 more Years of Providing Benefit Cards to Elderly and Disabled

The Center for Public Integrity found that an “aggressive” marketing campaign by Comerica and the Treasury Department resulted in a million Americans being sent “Direct Express” benefit cards—used to distribute Social Security and disability payments—to people who didn’t need or request them. This resulted in a financial gain for the bank, given that card fees are much higher than direct deposit into an account, which many of the card recipients already had. read more

Outsourcing Special Ops: $2.5 Billion a Year Industry

More than half of that $13 billion in spending, says Black, went to just eight companies: Lockheed Martin, L-3 Communications, Boeing, Harris Corporation, Jacobs Engineering Group, MA Federal, Raytheon and ITT Corporation. “Among the most expensive individual transactions,” wrote Black, “[were] radio communications from Harris Corporation; translation support in classified locations from Shee Atika LLC; procurement of drones equipment from Aerovironment Inc.” read more

Walmart Forces Employees to Buy New Uniforms…at Walmart

The new dress code mandates that workers don a collared blue or white shirt and black or khaki pants. There’s the Walmart vest, too, which the company provides. But everything else must be paid for out of employees’ pockets. Many workers have expressed frustration and outrage over the new policy, given that full-time personnel make on average only $27,000 a year. The retail giant also employs a significant number of part-time help, who make even less money. read more

Only 28% of American Workers are Employed by Companies Less than 16 Years Old

Only 28% of the U.S. workforce is currently employed by companies less than 16 years old, according to the Brookings Institution. Back in 1992, the figure was 40%. The authors concluded that the trend toward older businesses is “disturbing” because newer firms tend to be responsible for more innovations than older companies. read more

Big Battle in the Soda Tax War

In what may be the biggest battle yet in the fight to pass a tax on soft drinks, voters in Berkeley, California, will decide in November whether to adopt a one-cent-per-fluid-ounce tax on soda companies. But the industry, which has successfully defeated every soda tax effort in the country so far, is determined to keep Berkeley from becoming the first community to take this big step. read more

U.S. Government Okays Huge For-Profit Immigrant Detention Center

The South Texas Family Detention Center, which will be located 70 miles outside San Antonio, would be operated by the nation’s largest private prison company, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA). The land that ICE hopes to lease currently stands as a fenced campus capable of housing 680 people. Additional buildings would be constructed to handle the 2,400 detainees. read more

Fatherhood Helps a Man’s Career; Motherhood Hurts a Woman’s

The gender pay gap, which had been shrinking for 25 years, has stalled since 2003. Women who have never been married earn 96% of what men earn, but for married women the number is only 77%. The problem is worst among low-income women. They have fewer benefits, less access to child care and so are more likely to cut their hours or quit work altogether after having a child. read more

Federal Judge Details BP’s Gross Negligence in Deepwater Horizon Disaster

U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in Louisiana tagged BP with the bulk of the responsibility for the disaster that killed 11 workers and dumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In liability terms, Barbier found BP was 67% responsible, while Transocean, which owned the oil rig, and Halliburton Co., which performed cement work on the ruptured well, were tagged for only 30% and 3%, respectively. read more