Forensics Talk

"PHA chief accused of 'serial predatory sexual misconduct' involving female employees"

philly.com 

  By CATHERINE LUCEY, WENDY RUDERMAN & BARBARA LAKER
Philadelphia Daily News

luceyc@phillynews.com 215-854-4172

"BACK IN APRIL, an attorney for a female employee at the Philadelphia Housing Authority dropped a bombshell on top city and state officials.

The attorney accused PHA Executive Director Carl R. Greene of "serial predatory sexual misconduct" against female staffers and called for an immediate investigation into Greene's "well-known" and repeated violations of federal and state laws that prohibit workplace sexual harassment.

John M. Elliott, of the politically connected Elliott Greenleaf & Siedzikowski law firm, sent copies of his April 21 letter to Gov. Rendell, Mayor Nutter, City Controller Alan Butkovitz, city Inspector General Amy Kurland, City Council President Anna Verna, PHA board chairman John Street and four other PHA commissioners.

The response?

"We never got a single response to anything that was written," said Elliott, who is representing Elizabeth Helm, 29, a PHA architect who lodged a sexual-harassment complaint with both the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on April 30. . . " Read More

"A New Report Ranks U.S. Last Among 7 Industrialized Countries On Health System Performance "

Health Law Prof Blog

   "Even though the US health care system is the most expensive, a new Commonwealth Report ranks the US last on measures of health system performance in five areas: quality, efficiency, access to care, equity and the ability to lead long, healthy, productive lives in comparison to Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. According to a new ScienceDaily Report:

[w]hile there is room for improvement in every country, the U.S. stands out for not getting good value for its health care dollars, ranking last despite spending $7,290 per capita on health care in 2007 compared to the $3,837 spent per capita in the Netherlands, which ranked first overall.

Provisions in the Affordable Care Act that could extend health insurance coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans have the potential to promote improvements to the United States' standing when it comes to access to care and equity, according to Mirror Mirror On The Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally 2010 Update, by Commonwealth Fund researchers Karen Davis, Cathy Schoen, and Kristof Stremikis. The United States' low marks in the quality and efficiency dimensions demonstrate the need to quickly implement provisions in the new health reform law and stimulus legislation that focus on realigning incentives to reward higher quality and greater value, investment in preventive care, and expanding the use of health information technology.

"It is disappointing, but not surprising that, despite our significant investment in health care, the U.S. continues to lag behind other countries," said Commonwealth Fund President and lead author Karen Davis. "With enactment of the Affordable Care Act, however, we have entered a new era in American health care. We will begin strengthening primary care and investing in health information technology and quality improvement, ensuring that all Americans can obtain access to high quality, efficient health care. . . " Read More

 

36% of Physicians Don't Believe in Reporting Impaired Colleagues

Health Law Prof Blog

"It is unfortunate, but not surprising, that 36% of physicians state that they may not report an impaired colleague. Researchers from the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital surveyed 1,891 doctors in various specialties in Physicians' Perceptions, Preparedness for Reporting, and Experiences Related to Impaired and Incompetent Colleagues.

The reasons given for a failure to report include a belief that someone else will report, fear of retribution and a belief that reporting will not make any difference. According to the WSJ Health Blog, “[t]he authors also noted that physicians who belonged to one- or two-person practices, are a racial or ethnic minority or who graduated from non-U.S. med schools were less likely to report a physician colleague. Those at hospitals or med schools were most likely to do so."'

Blagojevich: The Retrial and More From the Jurors .... "Hopelessly Confusing"

Talk Left   

The Politics of Crime

By Jeralyn, Section Corruption Cases
Posted on Thu Aug 19, 2010 at 08:37:00 AM EST

" The Washington Post has an editorial today opposing the retrial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. It labels the verdict an "extraordinary rebuke" to the Government:

With moral thunder in December 2008, the aggressive prosecutor declared that the state's chief executive was nabbed "in the middle of what we can only describe as a public corruption crime spree." Mr. Fitzgerald added, "The conduct would make Lincoln roll over in his grave." Yet on Tuesday, 20 months later, a federal jury was unmoved. In an extraordinary rebuke, Mr. Blagojevich was convicted on only one of 24 counts against him."

"It ends:

Mr. Fitzgerald is entitled under the law to drag the ex-governor back into court. He has the resources to do so and the motivation: The Blagojevich brand of politics is repugnant, beyond any doubt. It perverts democracy and puts moneyed interests over the common good. But the prosecutor took his shot and lost. He should stand down before crossing another fine line -- the one that separates prosecution from persecution . . ."Read More

Hot Summer Crime: Beware of Credit Card Skimming!

Law.com Legal Blog watch

Trend Watch: Credit Card Skimming

"Based on a flurry of different reports last week, the hot crime of the summer may be credit card "skimming."

First, Seattle PI reported that you now have another thing to worry about when you stop at a Wendy's (beyond possibly getting your ass kicked in the drive-through line). In Seattle, at least, one enterprising Wendy's worker allegedly attempted to supplement her income by using a credit card skimmer to steal credit card information from at least 135 customers, leading to $75,000 in known fraudulent activity in those customers' accounts.

King County detectives believe the employee used a hand-held skimmer to lift credit card information. A search of her home and car "uncovered 14 Playstation 3 consoles, as well as several skimmers, a credit card encoder and credit card stock," and she reportedly had a skimmer on her person when she was arrested July 21 at the Wendy's restaurant. . . "Read More

Appeals Court Limits Use of GPS To Track Suspects

Washington Post

By Spencer S. Hsu

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 7, 2010

 

"A federal appeals court ruled for the first time Friday that police cannot use a Global Positioning System device to track a person's movements for an extended time without a warrant, clearing the way for the Supreme Court to decide the privacy impact of the new surveillance technology in products such as cellphones and vehicle-navigation systems. . .

In striking down the drug conviction of Antoine Jones, former co-owner of a District nightclub called Levels, the D.C. court said the FBI and District police overstepped their authority by tracking his movements round-the-clock for four weeks, placing a GPS monitoring device on his Jeep after an initial warrant had expired. " Read More

Whistleblower Claims “Culture of Corruption” Among Inspectors Partly to Blame for BP Gulf Disaster

Fraudblawg

June 10, 2010

"For more than two decades, Bobby Maxwell supervised Minerals Management Service (MMS), a division of the Interior Department and the primary federal agency overseeing safety inspections in the more than 3,500 oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Speaking to CNN, he described the agency’s relationship with oil companies as “a culture of corruption… hunting trips, fishing trips, drug use.” He described the inspections process as nothing more than a formality — “a checklist they would run through quickly, check things off, say things like ‘Hi, Joe. Hi, John. See you at this weekend’s fishing tournament.’ ” Maxwell told CNN’s Abbie Boudreau that no one is asking the hard but appropriate questions about MMS’s inspections process on BP’s failed oil rig:

“What types of inspections? Who did them? Did they give them any waivers? Was the equipment adequate? Did they think they needed a second blowout preventer? Did they demand BP put it in? MMS is responsible for that, too,” said Maxwell.

The long-term environmental effects of the BP disaster are impossible to guage at this point, but watchdog groups on the ground on the coast and in the air over the marshes believe that sludge has already reached much further into the fragile marine and estuarine environments than BP is willing to admit . . . "Read More

Federal Appeals Court in NY Rules Against ACORN

Associated Press

By TOM HAYS     
Associated Press Writer

   " NEW YORK (AP) -- A federal appeals court on Friday threw out a decision that had barred Congress from withholding funds from ACORN, the activist group driven to ruin by scandal and financial woes.

The ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reversed a decision by a district court judge in Brooklyn that found Congress had violated the group's rights by punishing it without a trial.

Congress cut off ACORN's federal funding last year in response to allegations the group engaged in voter registration fraud and embezzlement and violated the tax-exempt status of some of its affiliates by engaging in partisan political activities.
 Fueling the outrage was a video that caught three employees allegedly advising a couple posing as a prostitute and her boyfriend to lie about her profession and launder her earnings.

ACORN responded with a lawsuit accusing Congress of abusing its power with what amounted to a "corporate death sentence."

The appeals court disagreed, citing a study finding that ACORN received only 10 percent of its funding from federal sources ..." Read More  

 

Forensics Talk on Hiatus

Readers, due to both recent family members' health issues, requiring my full attention, followed by PC technical difficulties, Forensics Talk is currently on hiatus. I hope to have the difficulties resolved and the blog site up-dated again within the next two weeks. I appreciate your patience. Thank you.