Copyright 1999 The Atlanta Constitution
The Atlanta
Journal and Constitution
April 7, 1999, Wednesday Today's News Edition
SECTION: News; Pg. 12a
LENGTH: 493 words
HEADLINE:
NATION IN BRIEF;
Legal Services exaggerated caseload
BYLINE: From our news services
SOURCE: Journal
BODY:
A
government program that pays for legal aid for the poor, a target of Republican
budget cuts, overstated to Congress the number of cases it handled in 1997 by
tens of thousands, audits and documents show.
One office reported eight
times as many new cases as it should have.
The Legal Services
Corp. says it has made significant changes in the way it counts the
people it helps and as a result expects its 1998 total to drop by more than
200,000 cases. House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas), a longtime critic,
called the overcounting ''the grossest example of Washington bureaucrats abusing
hard- earned taxpayer money.''
Legal Services reported serving 1.93
million clients in 1997. But a review of just five of the agency's 269 regional
programs found officials had overstated their caseloads by 90,000.
President John McKay acknowledges the 1997 count was ''slightly off''
and will be adjusted. He says the agency wasn't intentionally misleading and
better counting methods have been implemented. As a result, the agency expects
to report about 1.73 million cases for 1998.
Suit claims government
overcharged in cleanup
Two contractors have reportedly been accused in a
federal lawsuit of overcharging the Department of Energy by at least $ 85
million for cleanup work at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state.
Westinghouse Hanford Co. and Fluor Daniel Hanford Inc. used a computerized
accounting scheme involving wages, according to the $ 240 million lawsuit filed
in Spokane, Wash., and reported today by The New York Times. The Justice
Department has not joined the suit filed by David Carbaugh, an accountant who
worked for both contractors. Carbaugh claims his complaints to supervisors
eventually led to his dismissal by Fluor.
Anchorwoman wins
discrimination lawsuit
An anchorwoman who was demoted, then fired after she
went on disability leave has won $ 7.3 million in a discrimination lawsuit
against her former station. The jury ordered WWOR-TV in Secaucus to pay Sara Lee
Kessler, 47, for demoting her and forcing her to take a disability leave after
she injured her tailbone. WWOR attorney John D. Arsenault called the amount of
the award ''ludicrous'' and said the station would appeal. Kessler was hired by
WWOR in 1976 and became anchor of the ''News Noon'' show in 1989. She won an
Emmy for anchoring coverage of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
NAACP asks judge to curb auto ban
The NAACP and several black
college students have asked a federal judge to stop Daytona Beach's plans to
restrict car access to city beaches during Black College Reunion this weekend.
The request was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Orlando. No similar
traffic plans were enforced for the 500, 000 visitors at Bike Week or the
150,000 visitors at spring break, said Crystal Lewis, a black student at Daytona
Beach Community College. Those events are mainly attended by white visitors, she
said.
LOAD-DATE: April 8, 1999
