Golden Hammer
Golden Hammer: Feds spending millions on racially targeted obesity studies
The federal government has spent almost $1.5 million over the last five years to study obesity among pregnant women, with a specific focus on minorities.
Golden Hammer: Federal agencies end fiscal year with shopping spree
If you ever doubted that Christmas shopping really begins in September, look no further than Uncle Sam.
Golden Hammer: EPA’s fondness for high-end furniture costs taxpayers $92 million
The federal agency that has the job of protecting the environment doesn't seem to have too much concern for trees, at least the ones cut down to make furniture.
Golden Hammer: Pentagon overspends to move service members
Moving from one house to another is a big hassle and a bigger expense for most Americans, but a new federal report reveals the Pentagon has managed to one-up the nation — paying more to move service members and their families, even while doing so less often.
Golden Hammer: Federal goverment spending $1M per year on wasteful storage facilities
A new audit from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General found the agency is wasting millions of taxpayer dollars each year to lease warehouse space to store old office furniture and obsolete computers that are worth less than the space they are piled up in.
Golden Hammer: VA’s record of waste, fraud, abuse keeps piling up
The federal agency entrusted to stretch tax dollars as far as they can go to get veterans the best medical care, in fact, has a hard time spending tax dollars wisely.
Golden Hammer: Poorly monitored science research wastes taxpayers’ money abroad
Back when Bill Clinton was still president, the National Science Foundation began doling out millions of dollars to Northeastern University to perform research on nuclear particle collider technology. The work wasn't even based in America, but rather inside Europe's main nuclear research agency.
Golden Hammer: Taxpayers float bill for defective first responder equipment
Homeland Security still allows local police and fire departments to spend billions of tax dollars on faulty communications equipment that isn't "interoperable," meaning agencies can't easily communicate with each other, hampering emergency response, the department's inspector general said in a report released Thursday.
Golden Hammer: Government spent $800,000 studying dating prospects for obese teenage girls
It isn't much of a secret that overweight girls tend to have harder times getting dates to the prom, much less boyfriends. But federal officials apparently wanted scientific proof, so they spent $800,000 studying obese teenage romances.
Golden Hammer: Government spends $695,000 to teach kids filmmaking
The federal government spent more than half a million in taxpayer dollars to teach kids how to make video game-style movies that most can learn to create online for free.
GOLDEN HAMMER: Sewage plant in North Dakota wastes $760,000 in federal loans
In anticipation of massive population growth prompted by an oil boom in North Dakota, the city of Ray made plans in 2011 to expand much of its infrastructure, including building a $2.5 million wastewater treatment plant, which it completed in July 2014, according to city officials.
GOLDEN HAMMER: Transportation Department debt delinquency rate rises, record-keeping shoddy
The Department of Transportation has fallen dangerously behind on its debt collection, putting hundreds of millions of tax dollars at risk of default as Congress debates multibillion-dollar transportation legislation.
Golden Hammer: Feds spent $2 million to have wives nag men about chewing tobacco
Since 2012 the government has spent nearly $2 million on a campaign to get women to nag the men in their lives to quit using smokeless tobacco.
Golden Hammer: FEMA mismanaged New York’s terror defense grants
Neither the state of New York nor the New York City -- prime terror targets -- has defined homeland security goals or strategies for spending about $67 million in federal grant money, a new report from the Department of Homeland Security revealed this week.
Marijuana addiction drug research gets $3 million grant as Obama encourages legalization
The National Institutes of Health is dedicating $3 million to fast-track the development of drugs to treat marijuana addiction -- an estimated 4.2 million Americans are hooked on cannabis -- even as the president encourages its legalization and more states look to enact laws for its recreational use.
Golden Hammer: EPA grants given to outside science advisers while they guide agency
Several outsiders chosen to provide objective advice to the Environmental Protection Agency on clean air regulations or to police its science are simultaneously collecting research grants from the agency for work by themselves or their institutions.
Golden Hammer: Report finds feds mismanaging high-risk IT systems
In the wake of the largest data breach the federal government has ever seen, a new watchdog report concludes about a quarter of the federal government's information technology investments are in "urgent" need of attention because of poor management, oversight and maintenance.
Golden Hammer: Federal government gives $10 million to 200 dead people
The federal government paid almost $10 million in medicaid benefits to 200 dead people, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
GOLDEN HAMMER: Postal Service’s customer service problems cost business, waste money
The U.S. Postal Service's poor customer service and ineffective management is driving customers to UPS and FedEx, and adding to its fiscal woes, according to a watchdog report.
GOLDEN HAMMER: NIH funded gay smoking study with taxpayers’ money
The National Institutes of Health is using hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on grants to study the best ways to get gay people to quit smoking and abusing drugs and alcohol.