By Yaël Ossowski | September 25, 2015 | Watchdog.org The city of Erie is in desperate times, and a consultant hired to map a positive future isn’t optimistic. “The plan I am trying to write…
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Erie’s 10-year ‘comprehensive plan’ consultants cost over $100,000
By Yaël Ossowski | September 18, 2015 | Watchdog.org Hoping to leap into the future, Erie will spend over $100,000 to pay consultants to draw up a 10-year comprehensive plan to revitalize the city and…
‘Vicious political campaigning’ backfired on MO unions
By Yaël Ossowski / September 15, 2015 / Watchdog.org They say it takes extraordinary circumstances to get ordinary people into politics. For Mary Hill, a registered nurse, that extraordinary moment came when union activists began…
Onetime supporter says ethics board devolved into ‘lapdog, not a watchdog’
By Yaël Ossowski | September 10th, 2015 | Watchdog.org The effort to reform politics in the city of Tallahassee in the form of an appointed board was not only undermined by mistakes but also devolved…
National ethics group broke state laws to acquire signatures
By Yaël Ossowski | September 1, 2015 | Watchdog.org Wherever it campaigns for political ethics reform, the activist group Represent.us seems plagued by legal and ethical challenges of its own. Earlier this week, Watchdog.org reported…
Anti-corruption group’s ethics boards face ethical problems
By Yaël Ossowski / August 31, 2015 / Watchdog.org Just eight months after it was created to eliminate corruption in local government, the Tallahassee Ethics Board seems to have ethics problems of its own. At…
Western Pennsylvania school districts brought down by pension debt
By Yaël Ossowski / July 31, 2015 / Watchdog.org A frank assessment from Moody’s rating agency this week has given several Pennsylvania school districts sour financial notes, and western PA’s schools top the list….
Rand Paul’s ‘Economic Freedom Zone’ a fix for western PA?
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org Rand Paul wants troubled cities declared “Economic Freedom Zones,” with targeted tax cuts and reduced regulation to promote growth and spur jobs. So-called Economic Freedom Zones — known as Zones…
Erie stocks up on prison gear after shootings, but leaves community without answers
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded Erie, Penn., $600,000 to revitalize its crime-troubled Little Italy neighborhood, and another $300,000 to help combat violence throughout the city. The money…
Obama’s ‘girl power’ foreign policy boosts UN aid
By Yaël Ossowski | Watchdog.org The U.S. government’s ‘girl power’ foreign policy has been signed into law, boosting support for a UN aid project to empower girls in developing countries. Just last month, President Barack…