LOCAL/NEWS

12/30/2009

Flight delays soar during holiday season, statistics show
While Santa may be able to fly around the world in one night, not all holiday travelers have it so easy.

12/07/2009

Changing Texas' open-meetings law could make it tougher to keep an eye on officials
Under Texas law, you have a right to know how your local government conducts its business, with a few exceptions. The Texas Open Meetings Act, on the books since 1973, says the officials who violate the law, by conducting government business outside a public meeting, can face a fine and six months in jail.

11/23/2009

First stimulus spending data is online
The first big wave of stimulus spending data, released at the end of last month, came after thousands of recipients of grants, loans and contracts entered dozens of pieces of information about their projects. Those filings are now available on the stimulus reporting site recovery.gov.

11/09/2009

Records keepers do public a service
Bless the savers, the keepers of dusty documents. While those who save most of what they collect may drive their co-workers and household members crazy, they can be invaluable resources.

09/28/2009

Citizen Watchdog: IRS form, Web sites have data on grant recipients
From Shakespeare to modern dance, dozens of arts groups in the Dallas-Fort Worth area get help from the state of Texas and the federal government.

09/14/2009

Citizen Watchdog: Price of public records has limits
Photocopies: 10 cents a page. CDs or diskettes: $1 each. Computer programming: $28.50 per hour. Access to information about the workings of your state government: pricey, according to some readers.

08/31/2009

Citizen Watchdog: Now's the time to study up on your school district
Summer break has come and gone, and another school year is upon us. So it's the perfect time to learn a bit about information available in Texas on schools and school districts.

08/16/2009

How transparent are Texas communities in spending money? It depends
How transparent is your local community when it comes to how it spends its money? In Texas, it's all over the map–literally–according to a report by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The report, released earlier this summer, examined cities, counties, school districts and other government agencies in Texas regarding the transparency of their financial reporting.

07/30/2009

When public business is conducted, Texas Open Meetings Act ensures the public's right to go
Open government means more than the government just giving the public access to information. It also means the government must give citizens access to many of its meetings.

07/13/2009

Citizen watchdog: Denied information? You've got more options
When the answer to your public records request is no, what do you do next?

06/29/2009

Variety of Web sites help you learn about food safety
E. coli in cookie dough. Salmonella in peanut products. Listeria in cheese. Those are just some of the food problems reported since June 1.

06/15/2009

Health and Human Services tool can help you compare hospitals
The Dallas Fort-Worth area is home to at least 65 hospitals. And while your choice of which one to use may be limited by your insurance provider or by where you live, you might want to check out your local options.

06/01/2009

Dallas County to get $74M slice of transit stimulus pie
New lanes on State Highway 114 in Dallas County, four bridge replacements in Kaufman County and new freeway ramps in El Paso County are among the hundreds of projects for which Texas plans to spend its $2.2 billion of the federal economic stimulus package for transportation and infrastructure.

05/11/2009

Find out whether your dentist's record is clean
A colleague once returned to the newsroom from a dental appointment, mortified that as he sat in the chair, the dentist was ready to perform the wrong procedure. Needless to say, he scurried out of the office.

04/27/2009

Statistics point to industries with opportunities in Texas
As the economy has worsened across the country, Texas and the Dallas Fort-Worth area have fared better than many other areas. In February, Texas had the 14th-lowest unemployment rate in the country. The latest D-FW unemployment rate of 6.9 percent is still nearly 2 percentage points below the national average, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

04/05/2009

IRS can verify status of enrolled agents who can represent taxpayers
It's time once again for a watchdog update. In this week's column, I'm addressing issues that readers have asked about or have brought to my attention.

03/25/2009

Obama promises greater records-openness
When it comes to accessing records held by federal agencies, the rules have changed.

03/10/2009

Make sure your tax preparer has a clean record
Get more money. Get your money quicker. Such promises, made by some tax preparers, can be enticing. However, some of those promises are empty — and some can lead to trouble with the Internal Revenue Service.

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