Waste of the Day: NJ School Cut Audit Budget

By Jeremy Portnoy,

Open the Books

Topline: The fox is guarding the henhouse at Montclair Public Schools in New Jersey.

After the district’s annual audit uncovered seven “deficiencies” with its financial records, school officials slashed the budget for a follow-up investigation into “potential irregularities such as fraud, waste, and abuse,” according to Montclair Local.

Key facts: The annual audit found that the district overspent its budget by $13.6 million across 39 different spending categories last year. Auditors identified duplicate expenses, missing invoices, contradictory account balances in the school’s accounting records.

The audit suggested that some school employees could be unable to do their job properly. Auditors recommended the district ensure “staff are appropriately trained to utilize the financial software” that tracks spending. They also said payments due to the Internal Revenue Service were calculated “by the Business Administrator of the District at that time, who does not appear to have the qualifications necessary to perform the calculation.”

After the findings were released, the school board voted to reduce the budget for the next audit from $500,000 to $250,000. The school also plans to eliminate 32 teaching jobs to try and close its nearly $20 million budget deficit, caused by the $13.6 million in overspending, plus other revenue losses and increased expenses projected for next year.

Superintendent Ruth B. Turner argued the school would have had to lay off more staff if it did not reduce the audit price. However, the budgetary resources for some of Montclair’s staff never existed in the first place.

The district used one-time Covid-19 relief funds to hire staffers “to address social-emotional learning” and “restorative justice,” according to the Montclair Pod. Now that the relief funds have expired, there is no money for the increased payroll.

There were 330 people making six figures at Montclair last year, according to payroll records obtained by Open the Books. Two people made more than $200,000.

Critical quote: Sheila Weinberg, CEO of the public finance watchdog group Truth in Accounting, told Montclair Local the issues facing the school district are “not common.”

“The implications are serious,” Weinberg said. “Spending beyond available resources increases the risk of financial instability, misallocation of funds and challenges in meeting future obligations.”

Summary: New Jersey’s taxpayers deserve true financial oversight that cannot be handicapped by the officials being investigated.

https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2026/05/01/waste_of_the_day_nj_school_cut_audit_budget_1178395.html

Zelensky ‘involved up to his neck’ in corruption – ex-Ukrainian diplomat

Leaked tapes expose “just the tip of the iceberg” of a vast corruption network and a “power grab” in Ukraine, Andrey Telizhenko has said

Published 1 May, 2026 10:11 | Updated

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky is deeply implicated in corruption schemes and a broader power struggle in Kiev, former Ukrainian diplomat and ex-Prosecutor General’s advisor Andrey Telizhenko told RT on Thursday.He added that the recordings published by Ukrainian media as the “Mindich tapes” are exposing the early stages of a wider network of financial wrongdoing.

Earlier this week Ukrainian media published transcripts of the covert recordings from an anti-corruption probe, indicating that businessman Timur Mindich,widely described as close to Zelensky, effectively ran the weapons firm Fire Point despite public denials. The materials show him discussing funding, contracts, and foreign investors with then Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, now head of the National Security and Defense Council.

The head of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry Public Oversight Council, Yury Hudimenko, said the recordings suggest “at least five to six crimes” that could be proven in court, pointing to potential links between the two.(I’ve always said from day one, Ukraine is the mafia for Europe.)

The councilwarned that Fire Point could be barred from state contracts if the link is confirmed. The company has been promoted by Zelensky abroad as a flagship defense project, while national media.have long referred to Mindich as “Zelensky’s wallet.”The transcripts point to close links between the businessman, the firm, and figures in the president’s inner circle. A certain “Vova” – the familiar form of Vladimir – is mentioned several times in the recordings.

“Zelensky’s name is in there… this is just the beginning of his involvement,”Telizhenko said.

“He’s involved… up to his neck in money‑laundering schemes,” he claimed, adding that people like Mindich and [Sergey] Shefir, Zelensky’s business partner and former top aide,”are working by his side.”

Telizhenko said the developmentsreflect a broader struggle, claiming “the British are controlling the situation,” and “investing into the military industrial complex of Ukraine.”London has pledged a record packageof more than 120,000 drones for Ukraine this year.

He described the situation in Kiev as “a power grab,” claiming that “Zelensky is right in the hotspot of it,” and predicting that “he’s going to be done. He will have nowhere to go.” Telizhenko insisted that “The West is trying to leak and destroy Zelensky, get him out of power==.”

Commenting on continued foreign support for Kiev, he claimed thatWestern Europe is “involved in this corruption scheme right from the beginning,” adding that that they “are going to continue to push the money, because they are making profit from this.”

The EU’s actions have drawn criticism from Russia and some of the bloc’s members. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated in December thatBrussels did not want to expose Ukrainian corruption because it was “also riddled with a similar corruption network.”

Addressing the scale of alleged corruption, Telizhenko tinsisted that “this is just the tip of the iceberg […] There’s not only $100 million… there’s billions and billions,” he said, claiming that“there’s around $120 billion that were laundered throughout this war just from what I know.”

Telizhenko said more revelations could follow, saying “within the next couple of weeks, we’re going to see more tapes with Vova… more and more come up.”

https://www.rt.com/russia/639331-zelensky-involved-in-corruption-up-to-his-neck/

>>24561412. Zelensky is totally targeted and fucked

House Funds DHS, Ending 75-Day Standoff

4/30/26

The House ended a 76-day standoff over funding the Department of Homeland Security (DHS),reopening most of the agency’s operations after weeks of gridlock.

The lower chamber passed the Senate DHS funding bill on Thursday after House Speaker Mike Johnsonreversed course and brought the Senate-passed spending measure covering most of the department’s appropriations through Septemberto the floor, according to a CNN

The vote came after the DHS funding measure had been stalled in the House for more than a month, as Speaker Mike Johnson declined to bring it for a vote over objections to language he said would defund law enforcement.

Johnson’s opposition reflected broader sentiment among Republicans, many of whom had written off the bill as effectively dead after the Senate passed it unanimously in March.

But the speaker withdrew his opposition this week followingsignals from the White House backing the Senate’s version and urging swift passage.

Responding to questions about his handling of the bill, Johnson told CNN’s Manu Raju in a video posted to X, “I just got off the phone with the president, OK? I met with Leader Thune two hours ago.He knows exactly what we’re doing,” adding, “We’re all working on the same team. We’ll get the job done.”

Johnson acknowledged he had concerns about certain provisions but stressed, “I’m not defying the White House,” according to the video posted by Raju.

The Trump administration had been using existing funds since early April to cover back pay and a new pay period for DHS employees — but warned that money was running out, according to a Fox News Digital

Republicans are in the early stages of drafting a separate party-line reconciliation package aimed at funding immigration enforcement agencies, primarily Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

This is separate from the bill passed today, which covers non-immigration functions= such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Secret Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and other offices, according to a Politico report.

https://dailycaller.com/2026/04/30/house-mike-johnson-dhs-ice-fema-cisa-white-house-trump-administration/

How can Democrat House member and Senate members think it’s ok to endanger the people, for politics. When is going to stop. It’s just evil.

“Get Your Hand Out Of My F*cking Face!': CNN Panel Goes Off The Rails

Scott Jennings debates retards

1:40

https://rumble.com/embed/v772ewu/?pub=4