New Legislation Would Revoke Tax-Exempt Status of Nonprofits Funding Hamas, Other Terrorists

Proposed new legislation would revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit organization that is providing material support for terrorist groups.

The bipartisan bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. David Kustoff, R-Tenn., and U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., comes out of the House Ways and Means Committee, which unanimously approved the legislation last week.

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Biden Energy Department Ill-Prepared to Combat Fraud as it Spends Billions on Infrastructure

The U.S. Energy Department faces major management challenges ranging from hacking vulnerabilities to foreign espionage and could create “massive new risks to the taxpayer” as it spends tens of billions of dollars in new spending from President Joe Biden’s signature infrastructure initiative, the agency’s internal watchdog warns.

The Office of Inspector General offered a stark assessment of the department under Secretary Jennifer Granholm, pointedly warning losses from fraud in the current infrastructure spending could mirror that seen during the COVID pandemic, where taxpayers now lost an estimated $200 billion government wide.

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The Biden Administration’s Record of Caring for Veterans Raises Alarm

Early in the debt ceiling crisis, the Biden administration tried to scare veterans into believing Republicans might cut their benefits, which did not happen. But the administration’s own treatment of the nation’s warriors suffers from glaring failures ranging from lax security to benefits delayed by unwarranted tests.

The failures were laid bare in a series of reports and memos made public by the Department of Veterans Affairs’ internal watchdog, the Office of Inspector General, shortly before Memorial Day and reviewed by Just the News.

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Internal Memos Call into Question National Archives Narrative to Congress on Trump Documents

For months, the National Archives and Records Administration has insisted it had nothing to do with the federal criminal investigation into memos containing classified markings that were found at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate since it referred the matter to the FBI in February 2022.

“When NARA identified items marked as classified national security information within the 15 boxes, NARA referred this issue to the DOJ,” acting Archivist Debra Wall wrote Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), now the House Intelligence Committee chairman, on August 16. “Since that time, the DOJ has been exclusively responsible for all aspects of this investigation, and NARA has not been involved in the DOJ investigation or any searches that it has conducted.”

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Commentary: The Border Isn’t Just a Crisis, It’s Also a Grift

There was a time not long ago when Americans would read news stories about obscene levels of corruption in other countries and feel justified in a sense of superiority. Things might not be perfect here, but at least we weren’t that bad. No more. We have now reached the point here where it is that bad. We have surrendered the right to look down our noses at any other country.
One of the most glaring examples of this today can be found in the crisis raging at the U.S.-Mexico border. There have been endless videos of hordes of migrants traversing the Rio Grande and walking into the United States, but that is just a part of the total picture.

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Senator Joni Ernst Commentary: EcoHealth Can’t Be Trusted with Taxpayer Money – or Bats

Nearly two years ago, I requested an investigation by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) into EcoHealth Alliance —the shady organization that funneled taxpayer money into China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) to conduct risky research on coronaviruses.

The investigation came after we learned that EcoHealth was spending our tax dollars on dangerous experiments in Wuhan, China, and was not disclosing information about those projects to the public, as required by law.

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Chicago School Audit Finds Nearly 500 Sexual Complaints Filed in 2022

Chicago school officials this week revealed that the school system recorded nearly 500 sexual complaints over the last year, with investigators stressing their inability to respond to a majority of all complaints they receive.

The Chicago Board of Education Office of Inspector General said in its 2022 annual report that it received 470 “sexual allegation” complaints over the course of FY2022.

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Inspector General: ‘DHS Could Do More to Address Threats of Domestic Terrorism’

Alejandro Mayorkas

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security “could do more to address the threats of domestic terrorism,” the Office of Inspector General concluded in a newly published report. The findings come after DHS has acknowledged that at least 50 people on the terrorist watch list have entered the U.S. illegally through the southern border since President Joe Biden has been in office.

The OIG found that DHS doesn’t have “staff dedicated to long term oversight and coordination of its efforts to combat domestic terrorism” and unless it puts in place “a cohesive long-term approach,” the agency charged with preventing terrorism “may not be able to proactively prevent and protect the Nation from this evolving threat.”

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Ten Michigan Churches to Share in $1.24M Energy Efficiency Grant

Ten Michigan church congregations, each of low-income nature, will share in a $1.24 million grant award for energy-efficiency upgrades.

Federal money will be appropriated through the Sacred Spaces Clean Energy program to “advance environmental justice and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy said in making the announcement Wednesday.

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Small Business Administration Spends $14.8 Million in Questionable Costs for Underutilized Small Business Portal

U.S Small Business Administration

This week’s Golden Horseshoe is awarded to the Small Business Administration for lax oversight of a $25 million grant for the creation of a COVID-19 relief small business portal that ran up $14.8 million in questionable costs for an underutilized hub, according to a report by the agency’s Office of Inspector General.

The SBA’s Office of Entrepreneurial Development (OED) received $25 million through the CARES Act to create a portal to help small businesses during the pandemic. An $18.6 million grant was awarded for the Resource Partner Training Portal program, but the intended results were not achieved. A combination of a failed marketing strategy to let small businesses know of the portal’s existence and unsupported or unallowable invoices led the inspector general to question $14.8 million in costs.

“SBA did not did not ensure the grant recipient developed and implemented an effective marketing and outreach strategy to ensure the hub successfully achieved the legislative purpose of the CARES Act,” Inspector General Hannibal “Mike” Ware stated in the report.

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Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency Warned Twice Before Errors, Emails Show

Emails show that in May 2020, the federal government warned Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance (UIA) about its lax jobless aid qualification questions. Despite a second warning as early as Jan. 6, 2021, the UIA still didn’t fix its mistakes.

The unheeded warnings are now costing nearly 600,000 Michiganders stress as well as potentially thousands of dollars to repay Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits erroneously paid out.

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State Senate Ignores Millions of Dollars Disability Fraud in Tennessee

A bill that would make it a requirement for the state to cooperate in investigations of millions of dollars of disability fraud occurring within Tennessee was ignored this week by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Disability fraud can involve exaggerating or faking an illness or disabilities, filing multiple applications, concealing work or other activities, all of which cost the state and the federal government millions of dollars every year.

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Tennessee Officials Charge Even More People with TennCare Fraud

  The number of people state officials have charged with TennCare fraud continues to grow, meaning state taxpayers still subsidize alleged waste, fraud, and abuse out of the program. This, according to two press releases the Tennessee Office of Inspector General released this week. Authorities charged a Wilson County woman with TennCare fraud in both Wilson and Davidson counties because of the woman’s alleged doctor shopping for controlled substances. OIG officials said that woman, Datha Kimberly Robertson, 26, of Lebanon, used TennCare to doctor shop for the painkiller Oxycodone. A Wilson County indictment accuses her of three counts of fraudulently using TennCare to doctor shop. “Upon posting bond, Robertson was arrested for the second time in Davidson County, where she faced an indictment charging her with two counts of TennCare fraud for doctor shopping for the painkiller Hydrocodone; and, one count of obtaining a controlled substance by fraud,” according to the press release. “Authorities say that during a six-week period, Robertson had five visits to a hospital emergency room, doctor’s offices and urgent care.  In each of the incidents, she used TennCare to obtain controlled substances, while failing to disclose that she’d received previous similar drugs.  The charges in both…

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Five Alabama Residents Arrested for Allegedly Getting TennCare Benefits

  Tennessee officials announced Monday they indicted five Alabama residents on charges of passing themselves off as Tennessee residents so they could qualify for TennCare. No one who lives out-of-state may legally qualify for these benefits. All five people fraudulently reported to Tennessee officials that they and their minor children were state residents so they could qualify for TennCare, according to a press release from the Tennessee Office of Inspector General. Authorities charged the five people, all from Bridgeport, Ala., with TennCare fraud and theft of services: • Bradley Parker, 45 • Amber Parrish,  23 • Robin Miller, 31 • Cassandra Henry, 29 • Jacqueline Shrum, 32 District Attorney General J. Michael Taylor is prosecuting, according to an OIG press release. These five arrests bring the total number of people arrested for TennCare fraud to 3,100 since the OIG began investigating and pursuing this type criminal activity, according to a press release. Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman Lola Potter told The Tennessee Star Monday the number of TennCare fraud arrests is on the decline. According to Potter’s information, Tennessee had the following number of TennCare fraud arrests the previous four years: • 249 arrests in 2015. • 286 arrests in…

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Tennessee Officials Announce a Slew of New TennCare Arrests

Tennessee officials have announced the arrests of five people charged with TennCare fraud. According to press releases state officials put out this week: • Authorities charged a Sullivan County woman with TennCare fraud in connection with the sale of prescription drugs obtained through the state’s health care insurance program, according to a press release. The Office of Inspector General with the assistance of the Kingsport Police Department, arrested Pamela A. Mendenhall, 50, of Kingsport. Authorities accused her of using TennCare to obtain the painkiller Oxycodone, then selling a portion of the drugs on three separate occasions. Authorities charged her with three counts of TennCare fraud, sale and delivery of Oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a park, sale and delivery of Oxycodone within 1,000 feet of a school and maintaining a dwelling where controlled substances are used or sold. Mendenhall allegedly obtained the prescriptions through Medicare Part B, which TennCare partly pays for. • Authorities charged a Shelby County woman with TennCare fraud involving doctor shopping, which involves visiting multiple doctors in a short period of time to obtain controlled substances, a press release said. The OIG, with the assistance of the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, announced the arrest of Cassundra Woodman, 28, of…

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Woman Charged with TennCare Fraud for Sixth Time

Authorities in Tennessee this week arrested and charged a Florida woman with TennCare fraud — for the sixth time. That woman, Desiree McIntyre, 29, of Ocala, Fla. faces three counts of TennCare fraud in Sullivan County by doctor shopping, according to the state’s Office of Inspector General. That particular offense involves using TennCare to visit multiple doctors in a short period of time to obtain prescription drugs. Despite saying she was from Florida, state officials said McIntyre lived in Tennessee at the time of the alleged incidents. Her previous arrests occurred outside of Sullivan County. “McIntyre was indicted in Cocke and Davidson Counties in October and November 2017, when she was accused of doctor shopping for Hydrocodone, Oxycodone and Hydromorphone, which is another strong pain medication sometimes sold as the brand drug Dilaudid,” said officials with Tennessee’s Department of Finance and Administration, in a press release. “McIntyre’s first three arrests occurred in May, July and August of 2012, in Cocke, Sevier and Hamblen Counties, resulting from simultaneous investigations. Those charges involved doctor shopping for Hydrocodone and Oxycodone, using TennCare as payment.” McIntyre, state officials went on to say, pled guilty in her first three arrests. Authorities ordered her to serve…

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Inspector General Report Says Metro Nashville Should Repay FEMA $413K From 2010 Flood Grant Funds

A report from the Office of Inspector General says Nashville-Davidson County owes the Federal Emergency Management Agency $413,074 in grant money from the May 1, 2010 flood, NewsChannel 5 said. The Inspector General report is available here. The city estimated that it cost the city and its residents $1.5 billion. Nashville was declared a federal state of emergency three days after the rivers began rising, WVLT said. According to the Inspector General’s report, “We determined the County was not fully aware of Federal grant administration requirements and FEMA Public Assistance Program guidelines. Specifically, for the projects we reviewed in the second phase of our two-phase audit, the County mostly accounted for FEMA funds project by project, as required.” The report continued, “However, the County did not always follow regulations and guidelines when spending the funds. As a result, we identified $413,074 in project costs that FEMA should disallow. These costs consist of $402,552 in contract charges not supported by adequate documentation and $10,522 in duplicate costs. Additionally, FEMA has not finished reviewing insurance proceeds and allocating them to the County’s projects although doing so could reduce FEMA’s project costs under this grant.” “We reviewed $365,684 of contract costs the County…

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