A government report recently pointed to an alleged key deficiency in federal efforts to ferret out the estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud billing. It indicated that private contractors paid tens of millions of dollars to investigate Medicare fraud were themselves inadequately supervised, leading to their ineffectiveness in battling fraud.
Federal monitoring of Medicare fraud called inadequate, P.1
A report of an investigation into Medicare fraud. found such problems widespread and attempted to pinpoint difficulties regulators have in attempting to monitor the field and catch bogus billing. The report was issued by the inspector general's office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Report ranks states on anti-drunk driving efforts
The advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has released its 2011 annual national report, documenting efforts across the country to combat driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The report asserts that intoxicated driving imposes over $132 billion in costs nationwide on an annual basis.
Judge shown beating daughter on video not charged
A spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in McAllen, Texas has announced that a Texas judge shown on video beating his 16-year-old daughter with his belt, had not committed any criminal offense, and therefore would face no federal criminal charges. The beating, which apparently occurred in 2004, came to light after the video of it was placed online on a website and widely viewed by the public.
Dallas man exonerated of sexual assault after 14 years imprisonment
Last Friday, a Dallas man was been exonerated of charges of sexual assault after spending 14 years in prison on a wrongful conviction. Sources said he plead no contest to the charges in 1992 as he didn't want his 7-year-old stepdaughter to go through trial.
Synthetic marijuana may cause heart problems
Three boys who admitted to smoking both marijuana and K2, an illegal synthetic marijuana, suffered heart attacks after taking the drug, revealing new fears about the dangerous of synthetic drugs.
Crack offenders enjoy early release under new sentencing guidelines, P.2
In our previous post, we wrote about the early release of inmates convicted of crack cocaine offenses. As we mentioned, the early release was the result of a 2010 law which reduces the gap between mandatory minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses.
Crack offenders enjoy early release under new sentencing guidelines, P.1
On Tuesday, roughly 1,800 prisoners convicted of crack-related offenses were released from incarceration early because of sentence reductions authorized by Congress through the Fair Sentencing Act. The law was passed last August, and had the goal of reducing the large difference in minimum sentences for crack and powder cocaine offenses. Over the summer, the U.S. Sentencing Commission voted to make the reductions retroactive.
