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Getting ripped off is a homeowner's nightmare, especially when it comes to home improvements. And that's exactly what happened for residents in Knox and Hancock counties in Illinois, where several individuals say they were the victims of a scheme by fraudulent garage builders. According to investigators in the area, homeowners met with the owners of Sturdy Building, based in Moulton, Iowa. The contractors told the homeowners they would perform work for them, but only after they signed a contract and put down 20% of the costs up front. The Knox County Sheriff's Office released a statement explaining the scheme. "The work is never started or completed," they said, "and the suspects keep the 20% down payment." Sturdy Building, owned by Jeremy and Amanda Lawson, received a Better Business B...

After car companies recalled more than 12 million cars in October due to potentially dangerous air bags, many consumers and retailers have expressed concern at the confusing nature of the situation. Notably, the United States government has yet to issue a statement, despite the fact that there may be as many as 25 million faulty vehicles in the U.S. alone. However, one of the largest used car dealership chains in the nation is taking a stand: the CEO of AutoNation has announced that the company will not be selling cars included in the recall. The recall targets millions of vehicles in the U.S., Europe and Asia that use airbags made by the Takata Corporation, an auto-parts company based in Japan. The faulty airbags reportedly explode with unusually powerful force when their chemicals are t...

The notion that many American citizens disapprove of and mistrust their government is, unfortunately, not uncommon. But the notion that employees of the federal government also lack faith in their leaders may come as a surprise. Nevertheless, as the Washington Post reports, the nationwide 2014 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, which was released at the end of October, found that morale among government workers is at a five-year low. While the majority of Americans employed at various government agencies still believe that their work is important, the survey found that these employees are increasingly frustrated with their senior leaders. And as Federal Times reporter Andy Medici notes, statistics comparing employee morale between 2011 and 2014 are indicative of how quickly this frustrati...

A recent audit of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General turned up some concerning things. According to the audit, the OIG did very little to prevent Medicaid fraud. OIG screening is designed to prevent the hiring of individuals who have committed fraud or other crimes that make them unfit to provide federal health care services. Unfortunately, the audit of the Texas OIG revealed that it took an average of over three years for the Texas office to close cases, and only a tiny percentage of fraudulent or erroneous payments were recovered. According to the audit, the Texaz OIG identified $1.1 billion in Medicaid overpayments between 2012 and 2013, but only $5.5 million was recouped in that time period. This implies poor screening policies and possib...