Interesting tweet from Tesla Whistleblowers' attorney just now. SEE PIC
Interesting development $tsla hired an attorney who contacted my client Hansen tday directly, asking for info already provided by him to $tsla long ago. Worse she left a VM saying she was "independent" and "neutral." Yeah right
LOL.
Do they not know legal ethics in Ca?
Creepy…
Senators used to relax in the nearly forgotten marble tubs now hidden in the U.S. Capitol Building's basement.
There are secret marble bathtubs waiting to be discovered by those lucky enough to have an insider connection on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
The tubs were installed in the late-19th century. As reconstruction of the iconic Capitol Building was drawing to a close in 1858, a senator approached one of the engineers carrying a request from himself and 13 other colleagues: they wanted bathtubs. At the time, most senators camped out in boarding houses without indoor plumbing during the months Congress was in session.
As a result, six large Italian marble tubs were installed in the basement, the floor beside them covered in polished Minton tiles. By 1860, they were in full use and soon became a sought-after destination for politicians seeking a spot to relax, socialize, and write and memorize their big speeches. Senators would also share their luxurious tubs with guests, as a chance to indulge a hot soak was a rare privilege. According to the Senate’s website, one user accidentally insulted a female visitor after inviting her to go down into the basement to bathe. She reportedly fled the building.
However, the rise of indoor plumbing eventually rendered the bathtubs obsolete. By 1890, all but two were removed. They fell into disrepair and were eventually forgotten.
The two surviving tubs were rediscovered during an excavation in 1936, to much confusion. Architects and political staffers struggled to solve the mystery of the basement bathing vessels until a man named Abraham Lincoln Goodall stepped forward and offered his account of using the tubs as a boy. His memory helped historians piece together the forgotten past of the mysterious marble tubs.
Now, those who are guests of Capitol Hill staff can head down into the boiler room that houses the tubs. To get there, find the security office, wind past some twisted stairs, and go into the bathroom that has since been converted into a boiler room. Make sure you knock and check for a light. Security officers still use the running water, only now for toilets.
Know Before You Go
Currently not open to the public, however any Congressional staffer (including interns) can take guests. Most staff have heard there are bathtubs but are uncertain of their location. Be prepared for for crazy looks when you ask "can you take me to the Senate Bathtubs?"
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/senate-bathtubs
KEK! The Sarah Sanders bad lip reading video was just on Fox
Arkansas DHS in trouble for reporting errors and other discrepancies related to $126 million in expenses.
The state Department of Human Services will create a unit to work with outside auditors and address any problems they discover, the department’s director told lawmakers Monday.
At a meeting of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee’s Medicaid Subcommittee, Human Services Director Cindy Gillespie also apologized for not attending the panel’s last meeting, in July, in which other department officials briefed lawmakers on the department’s response to an audit that flagged reporting errors and other discrepancies related to $126 million in expenses.
“We are taking this extremely seriously,” Gillespie said. “We have a lot of work ahead.”
Some legislators complained about Gillespie’s absence from the July meeting and a meeting in April of the full committee.
“If you come to these meetings, I think you can learn a lot from them,” Sen. Linda Collins-Smith, R-Pocahontas and a vice chairman of the subcommittee, said Monday.
The discrepancies were
discovered during an annual review by legislative auditors of programs receiving federal money.
The bulk of the questioned costs resulted from reports to the federal government showing Medicaid spending amounts that didn’t match information in the department’s financial management system.
The audit also found al-
most $28 million the state could owe to the federal government because of expenses lacking proper documentation or shouldn’t have been allowed under federal rules.
Gillespie said the amount owed “will come substantially down” after the department supplies the needed documentation.
“We don’t anticipate a budget issue around it,” she said.
Although she took over as director in 2016, Gillespie said she didn’t realize until she was briefed on the audit findings several months ago the department hadn’t been correcting problems discovered in previous audits.
“I had almost nothing to say” during the meeting when she learned about the findings, Gillespie said. “I was livid.”
Next month, she said she plans to reallocate positions within the department to create an office of internal controls to make sure such findings are addressed and serve as a liaison between outside auditors and the department.
The office will include a director and two or three other staff members. It won’t require any new funding, she said.
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2018/aug/21/dhs-address-cost-discrepancies-work-auditors/
SEE PICS FOR RELATED Q POST
More Audit issues…this time with Seneca County, NY…
Auditors find issues with Seneca County finances
The Board of Supervisors Tuesday heard a verbal report from Randy Shepard and Ken Pink of Bonadio, hired for the audit.
They promised to keep in close contact with Finance Officer Michael Reynolds, R-Covert, and the full board as the audit work continues and more discrepancies are uncovered and dealt with. A written report will be produced when the audit is done.
“This report will not be favorable,” predicted outgoing County Manager John Sheppard, whose last day will be Sept. 4.
Randy Shepard said when he began looking at the financial records in mid-June, County Finance Director Brandi Deeds had resigned.
“I found discrepancies and we’ve worked to reconcile them. There were issues with accounts payable and the grant money received by the county was not being reconciled back to January 2017,” he said. He said state and federal governments require such reconciliation.
The months of January and February 2017 have been reconciled and auditors are moving forward month by month, working with the Finance Department staff.
“It’s unfortunate, but I’ve done this before. We’re looking at a deadline of Sept. 30 to get much of this done. We may not meet it and I can’t promise we will, but we will try. The county may lose funding if it files too late,” Shepard said.
“We’re also looking for malfeasance and red flags. We haven’t identified any yet, but we will keep looking,” Shepard said.
Pink said auditors have removed opportunities for malfeasance and believe the risk of finding it are greatly reduced.
Reynolds asked how much past the Sept. 30 deadline the work may take.
“We will put the resources here to meet the deadline. It’s hard to say when we’ll be done after we get the information assembled. The audit team will work to reconcile these accounts, training your staff at the same time,” Shepard said.
“What do you need to reconcile? Cash accounts? Accounts payable?,” asked Lisa Hochadel, D-Waterloo, a finance committee member.
“All accounts. We want go make sure all expenditures are properly recorded in accounts where they should be,” Shepard said.
Supervisor Cindy Lorenzetti, D-Fayette, said when the 2017 and 2018 discrepancies were found, she asked Shepard
why the attorney general or state comptroller were not notified.
Shepard said the process calls for them to notify the county manager of the problems first. “If there is evidence of fraud or malfeasance, then we would go higher up,” he said.
Lorenzetti asked if the county would be fined for not filing the audit by Sept. 30. Shepard said no, but said state and federal governments could withhold funds for not meeting guidelines. She also asked how the county was paying for the additional audit work being done by Bonadio.
Sheppard said about $60,000 was budgeted for the audit, but there is more funding available in the finance department budget because of unfilled vacancies.
“What has happened since the end of 2016 to cause this chaos?,” asked board chairman Bob Shipley, R-Waterloo.
Shepard said procedures the county has been using were outdated and ineffective, with little internal controls in place. “But were they adequate in 2016?” Shipley asked.
Shepard said Bonadio had a baseline of data for 2016 to do an audit, but did not look beneath those numbers.
^^^SUSPICIOUS!!!
He said they are looking beneath the basic data for 2017 and 2018.
Shepard said information for the 2016 audit was reliable “even if it is inefficient.”
“But why did we do okay in 2016? What changed for 2017?” Lorenzetti asked.
She did not get an answer. Hochadel said Bonadio should work with the board to make changes “so this doesn’t happen again.”
In other action, the board went into executive session to discuss the “medical, financial, credit or employment history of a particular person or corporation or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, dismissal, suspension or removal of a particular person or corporation.”
Sheppard’s resignation was the topic. The board met alone for about 35 minutes and then called in Personnel Director Kathy Corona, County Attorney Frank Fisher and Assistant County Attorney Christopher Folk. That closed-door session lasted another 23 minutes.
The board adjourned without taking any action, but Shipley said an interim county manager may be announced at a special board meeting Tuesday.
Board members Greg Lazzaro and Lee Davidson were absent.
https://www.fltimes.com/news/auditors-find-issues-with-seneca-county-finances/article_4c8a735e-5097-52ba-b9f8-1f1a324e92b7.html