The former CEO of Redflex Traffic Systems has agreed to plead guilty to one count of bribery in connection with a federal corruption case brought against a former Chicago city employee and others accused of fixing the awarding of the $124 million contract the company won under the administration of former Mayor Richard Daley, which was later terminated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Karen Finley, the former CEO, faces up to five years in prison
Karen Finley and other Redflex associates were charged by federal prosecutors with paying former Chicago city official John Bills $570,000 in cash and other perks, including an Arizona condo and a Mercedes automobile in exchange for steering the lucrative red-light camera contract to the company. Emanuel replaced Redflex with ACS/Xerox, the same politically-connected company that Mayor Greg Ballard awarded a 50-year lease of Indianapolis' parking meter assets. A politically-connected consultant, Martin O'Malley, was paid $2 million by Redflex for his services and used as a conduit for funneling the bribes to Bills according to federal prosecutors.
UPDATE: The Cincinnati Enquirer has an online story following word of Finley's plea agreement in Chicago indicating an active investigation continues in the state of Ohio to determine whether Finley and other Redflex officials and lobbyists improperly influenced officials in Columbus and Cincinnati to win red-light camera contracts in those respective cities.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Mexico Sets Up Separate Entry Lines For Americans Crossing Border, Starts Charging Them Tolls
While hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and persons of other foreign nationalities gain easy access to the United States by illegally crossing the border with Mexico each year, Mexico has decided to impose additional hurdles on Americans and other foreign nationalities entering its country along the U.S. border.
Beginning yesterday, Mexican officials began herding Americans and other foreign nationals entering the country at the San Ysidro crossing to enter Tijuana from San Diego into separate lines from its own citizens and making them fill out paperwork and paying $20 tolls for 6-month border crossing permits. The country plans to impose similar requirements at other crossing points along the border with the U.S.
Mexico has decided its time to put its own house in order and take steps to prevent American criminals from entering their country to escape prosecution in the United States--a rejoinder of sorts to GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump's claim that Mexican officials are sending their worst criminals to the U.S. Business owners in Tijuana who depend on easy access for Americans to their country are not happy about the move. They fear longer lines and wait times to enter the country will harm the business they rely upon from American visitors.
Beginning yesterday, Mexican officials began herding Americans and other foreign nationals entering the country at the San Ysidro crossing to enter Tijuana from San Diego into separate lines from its own citizens and making them fill out paperwork and paying $20 tolls for 6-month border crossing permits. The country plans to impose similar requirements at other crossing points along the border with the U.S.
Mexico has decided its time to put its own house in order and take steps to prevent American criminals from entering their country to escape prosecution in the United States--a rejoinder of sorts to GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump's claim that Mexican officials are sending their worst criminals to the U.S. Business owners in Tijuana who depend on easy access for Americans to their country are not happy about the move. They fear longer lines and wait times to enter the country will harm the business they rely upon from American visitors.
Anthem To Cover Libido Drug So Women Can Get Their Sex On
Big Pharma wins again with yet another recreational drug that has zero health benefits. There's a new pink pill to treat women who claim their libido is too low not unlike the companion drugs offered to men to treat erectile dysfunction. Without insurance, a patient would have to shell out $400 a month to pay for the drug, Addyi. No worries though. Anthem, an insurance company I left because I could no longer afford the outrageous premiums, will cover the new drug. About 70% of insurance plans cover similar drugs like Ciallis and Viagra for men, which I think is equally appalling. Most people who truly have problems down there is because of some other drug Big Pharma has convinced them they need for healthy living, which is not the case about 90% of the time. The maker of Addyi says there are no side effects unless you're under the influence of alcohol, in which case the drug can cause a sudden drop in blood pressure or fainting. Then people wonder why the cost of obtaining affordable health insurance in this country is so elusive.
Muncie City Clerk Arrested, Not Jailed For Drunk Driving
You drive drunk and you go to jail, right? That's the protocol unless you're someone special. Take for example Muncie City Clerk Phyllis Reagon. Police stopped her car after motorists called to report a car driving erratically, swerving into oncoming traffic and driving up on the sidewalk. When police responded, they found Reagon behind the wheel of her vehicle stopped at an intersection. Police said Reagon was "disoriented" and "mumbling." They were unable to measure Reagon's alcohol level with a breath test so they took her to the local hospital for a blood draw. Instead of taking Reagon to jail, she was released into the custody of her son after she was cited and signed a release agreeing to appear in court. Muncie Police Chief Steve Stewart, who is also the Delaware Co. Democratic Party chair told the Muncie Star-Press his officers were just being compassionate to Reagon, presumably because she's an elderly woman and not because she's an elected Democratic Party official.
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
Ballard Got State Lawmakers To Approve Backdoor Property Tax Increase This Past Session
The Indianapolis City-County Council has rejected repeated attempts by Mayor Greg Ballard and Republican council members to increase local property taxes on homeowner by eliminating the local homestead credit on property tax bills. Current law permitted the City-County Council to use revenues raised from the county option income tax increase to provide additional property tax relief to homeowners. The local homestead credit costs about $10 million annually in COIT revenues, although not all of that money translates into property tax relief. Most homeowners have already reached the 1% property tax caps so a substantial amount of the credit provides additional revenues to other local taxing districts like schools. According to fellow blogger Pat Andrews, $2 million goes to homeowners for relief, while the $8 million balance goes to schools, IndyGo, the library district and the Health & Hospital Corporation to lessen the impact of property tax caps.
Like has happened on so many occasions in the past, when Mayor Ballard can't get his way with the council, he simply goes behind its back and gets the state legislature to give him what he wants. HB 1485 contained a poison pill that prohibits the City of Indianapolis from using COIT revenues to fund the local homestead credit. If City-County Council members want to continue the homestead credit, it will have to find another tax to raise to pay for it. The law takes effect on January 1, 2017. "By upending the current funding source, the Republican controlled State Legislature is reaching into what will likely be a Democrat controlled Mayor's office and forcing it to RAISE TAXES to maintain the status quo," Andrews writes at Had Enough Indy. "Of course, if a Republican were to somehow win the election, the Legislature left itself a year to 'correct' course so that no such dilemma would have to be faced by a Republican," she adds.
It's just the latest in a long running example of what a fraud Mayor Ballard turned out to be. I beat myself up every day thinking what a fool I was to believe in him and to work my tail off to help get that low-life piece of scum get elected to office. If there were any justice in this world, federal prosecutors would be hauling his sorry ass off to prison today instead of Jared Fogle. The number of felonies he's committed over the past two terms in office and the long-term fiscal cost to Indianapolis taxpayers is too great to measure at this late point. How can federal prosecutors just ignore the latest scandals involving Blue Indy and Vision Fleet? The mayor's actions in both of those transactions are unprecedented and have and will continue to detrimentally harm the City for years to come. How can we have faith in our government when those responsible for holding public officials accountable for their misdeeds refuse to do their job?
Most Indianapolis lawmakers, by the way, voted to approve HB 1485 on final passage whether they knew what was in it or not. It passed the House by a vote of 64-19 and the Senate by a vote of 41-7.
Marion County lawmakers voting "Yes" on HB 1485:
Sen. Breaux (D)
Sen. Miller (R)
Sen. Merritt (R)
Sen. Schneider (R)
Sen. Waltz (R)
Rep. Bartlett (D)
Rep. Behning (R)
Rep. DeLaney (D)
Rep. Frizzell (R)
Rep. Kirchhofer (R)
Rep. Speedy (R)
Rep. Summers (D)
Marion County lawmakers voting "No" on HB 1485:
Sen. Delph (R)
Sen. Taylor (D)
Sen. Young (R)
Rep. Macer (D)
Rep. Moed (D)
Rep. Shackleford (D)
Rep. Pryor (D)
Rep. Porter (D)
Rep. Hale (D)
Not voting: Rep. Forestal (D) & Rep. Bosma (R)
Like has happened on so many occasions in the past, when Mayor Ballard can't get his way with the council, he simply goes behind its back and gets the state legislature to give him what he wants. HB 1485 contained a poison pill that prohibits the City of Indianapolis from using COIT revenues to fund the local homestead credit. If City-County Council members want to continue the homestead credit, it will have to find another tax to raise to pay for it. The law takes effect on January 1, 2017. "By upending the current funding source, the Republican controlled State Legislature is reaching into what will likely be a Democrat controlled Mayor's office and forcing it to RAISE TAXES to maintain the status quo," Andrews writes at Had Enough Indy. "Of course, if a Republican were to somehow win the election, the Legislature left itself a year to 'correct' course so that no such dilemma would have to be faced by a Republican," she adds.
It's just the latest in a long running example of what a fraud Mayor Ballard turned out to be. I beat myself up every day thinking what a fool I was to believe in him and to work my tail off to help get that low-life piece of scum get elected to office. If there were any justice in this world, federal prosecutors would be hauling his sorry ass off to prison today instead of Jared Fogle. The number of felonies he's committed over the past two terms in office and the long-term fiscal cost to Indianapolis taxpayers is too great to measure at this late point. How can federal prosecutors just ignore the latest scandals involving Blue Indy and Vision Fleet? The mayor's actions in both of those transactions are unprecedented and have and will continue to detrimentally harm the City for years to come. How can we have faith in our government when those responsible for holding public officials accountable for their misdeeds refuse to do their job?
Most Indianapolis lawmakers, by the way, voted to approve HB 1485 on final passage whether they knew what was in it or not. It passed the House by a vote of 64-19 and the Senate by a vote of 41-7.
Marion County lawmakers voting "Yes" on HB 1485:
Sen. Breaux (D)
Sen. Miller (R)
Sen. Merritt (R)
Sen. Schneider (R)
Sen. Waltz (R)
Rep. Bartlett (D)
Rep. Behning (R)
Rep. DeLaney (D)
Rep. Frizzell (R)
Rep. Kirchhofer (R)
Rep. Speedy (R)
Rep. Summers (D)
Marion County lawmakers voting "No" on HB 1485:
Sen. Delph (R)
Sen. Taylor (D)
Sen. Young (R)
Rep. Macer (D)
Rep. Moed (D)
Rep. Shackleford (D)
Rep. Pryor (D)
Rep. Porter (D)
Rep. Hale (D)
Not voting: Rep. Forestal (D) & Rep. Bosma (R)
FEDERAL INDICTMENT: FOGLE PAID FOR SEX WITH TEEN VICTIMS IN NEW YORK HOTEL
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| Fogle leaving the federal courthouse (IndyStar/Charlie Nye Photo) |
A shocking federal indictment detailing former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle's sexual encounters with young victims in exchange for cash are laid out in a federal court filing made public today by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana as Fogle made his first court appearance to plead guilty to both receiving and distributing pornographic images produced by Russell Taylor, the former executive director of his nonprofit organization, The Jared Foundation, and traveling outside of Indiana to engage in sex with minors.
According to the first count of the federal complaint concerning the receipt and distribution of child pornography, Fogle was aware Taylor had secretly-recorded twelve minor victims while they were in his home. Taylor then shared videos of those secretly-recorded encounters with Fogle, as well as other child pornography Taylor had acquired depicting children engaged in sexually-explicit acts. Some of the victims depicted in those videos and images were as young as six years of age. The complaint charges that Fogle received and reviewed the videos approvingly instead of reporting Taylor to the appropriate authorities, resulting in there being more victims. Fogle is charged with sharing those videos and images with other persons.
The second count of the complaint charges Fogle with traveling to New York City to have sex with two minor girls, ages 16 and 17, at the Plaze Hotel on November 3, 2012 and November 4, 2012. The victims shared nude images of themselves with Fogle prior to the encounter. Fogle is accused of returning to New York on January 11, 2013 and paying to have sex with the 16-year old girl at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. The second count of the allegation for traveling to engage in sex with a minor states that Fogle repeatedly solicited pay-for-sex opportunities with minors after first engaging in pay-for-sex encounters with adult escorts after confirming they weren't undercover police officers.
The first count of the indictment carries a prison term of 5 to 12 years, while the second count carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison according to a plea agreement obtained by Fox 59 News. Federal prosecutors are seeking up to a 12-year prison sentence but no less than five years and $1.4 million in restitution to pay $100,000 to each of the 14 victims, in addition to a fine of up to $250,000. Fox 59 News also reports that Fogle's wife, Katie, has filed for divorce. Fogle is being placed on home detention pending the acceptance of the plea agreement and his sentencing.
TMZ has posted a copy of the federal indictment here. The plea agreement can be viewed here.
Tuesday, August 18, 2015
Ashley Madison Hackers Publish Data, Shows Lots Of Government/Military E-Mail Accounts
Last month, a group calling itself Impact Team leaked data it claimed it hacked from Avid Life Media, a company that operates several online adult playground sites, including Ashley Madison, Cougar Life and Established Men. The hackers claimed to have accessed the identity of the website's customers, including financial, personal and profile information. On Tuesday, the group uploaded 35GB of data to the Internet. Among the records were over 15,000 customer accounts using either a .gov or .mil e-mail address.
A full list of the accounts using either a government or military e-mail address can be accessed here. Advance Indiana found eight customers had used indy.gov e-mail addresses, the e-mail domain address used by Indianapolis city workers. There were six customers identified as using bloomington.in.gov, the e-mail domain address used by Bloomington city workers. Four accounts used monticelloin.gov, the e-mail address used by Monticello city workers. Carmel employees' e-mail address, carmel.in.gov., showed up on two accounts. There was a single account using in.gov, which is used by Indiana state workers.
Whitehouse.gov showed up on 44 accounts. There were 104 accounts with va.gov e-mail address used by Virginia state workers and 73 accounts using the ky.gov e-mail address used by Kentucky state workers. The State Department's e-mail address, state.gov, showed up on 33 accounts. It should be pointed out that Avid Life did not require users to verify e-mail addresses so the reliability of some of the data may be in doubt.
UPDATE: Specific e-mail accounts have been uploaded to the Internet here. It includes specific government e-mail addresses of Internet users at Bloomington, Franklin, Greenwood, South Bend, Terre Haute, Indianapolis and agencies of state government, including the Attorney General, Department of Correction and the Teacher's Retirement Fund, among others. I can't verify their authenticity.
A full list of the accounts using either a government or military e-mail address can be accessed here. Advance Indiana found eight customers had used indy.gov e-mail addresses, the e-mail domain address used by Indianapolis city workers. There were six customers identified as using bloomington.in.gov, the e-mail domain address used by Bloomington city workers. Four accounts used monticelloin.gov, the e-mail address used by Monticello city workers. Carmel employees' e-mail address, carmel.in.gov., showed up on two accounts. There was a single account using in.gov, which is used by Indiana state workers.
Whitehouse.gov showed up on 44 accounts. There were 104 accounts with va.gov e-mail address used by Virginia state workers and 73 accounts using the ky.gov e-mail address used by Kentucky state workers. The State Department's e-mail address, state.gov, showed up on 33 accounts. It should be pointed out that Avid Life did not require users to verify e-mail addresses so the reliability of some of the data may be in doubt.
UPDATE: Specific e-mail accounts have been uploaded to the Internet here. It includes specific government e-mail addresses of Internet users at Bloomington, Franklin, Greenwood, South Bend, Terre Haute, Indianapolis and agencies of state government, including the Attorney General, Department of Correction and the Teacher's Retirement Fund, among others. I can't verify their authenticity.
Jared Fogle Will Plead Guilty To Child Porn Charges According To Report
ADMITS TO HAVING SEX WITH MINORS AND DISTRIBUTING CHILD PORN
Fox 59 News is reporting the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana will announce tomorrow a plea agreement with former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. According to the report, Fogle will plead guilty to illegally possessing child pornography.
Several law enforcement agencies raided Fogle's Zionsville home in July just months after Russell Taylor, the former executive director of Fogle's nonprofit corporation, The Jared Foundation, was arrested and charged with multiple federal charges for the making and possession of child pornography.
Fogle's attorney, Ron Elberger, declined to comment to Fox 59 News on this new development. Elberger has previously stated that his client was innocent and that nothing was found on his computers or in his home when law enforcement raided it last month.
UPDATE: Details of the plea agreement are emerging as Fogle arrived at the federal courthouse in downtown Indianapolis this morning for his initial court appearance after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Various news reports confirm Fogle will plead guilty not only to receiving and distributing child pornography but also for having sex with minors. Fogle reportedly received the child pornographic images from Russell Taylor, the long-time executive director of his nonprofit foundation. Fogle could face many years in prison as part of the plea agreement. More to come.
Fox 59 News is reporting the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana will announce tomorrow a plea agreement with former Subway spokesman Jared Fogle. According to the report, Fogle will plead guilty to illegally possessing child pornography. Several law enforcement agencies raided Fogle's Zionsville home in July just months after Russell Taylor, the former executive director of Fogle's nonprofit corporation, The Jared Foundation, was arrested and charged with multiple federal charges for the making and possession of child pornography.
Fogle's attorney, Ron Elberger, declined to comment to Fox 59 News on this new development. Elberger has previously stated that his client was innocent and that nothing was found on his computers or in his home when law enforcement raided it last month.
UPDATE: Details of the plea agreement are emerging as Fogle arrived at the federal courthouse in downtown Indianapolis this morning for his initial court appearance after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Various news reports confirm Fogle will plead guilty not only to receiving and distributing child pornography but also for having sex with minors. Fogle reportedly received the child pornographic images from Russell Taylor, the long-time executive director of his nonprofit foundation. Fogle could face many years in prison as part of the plea agreement. More to come.
BMV's Unqualified Political Hack CFO Demoted
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| Harold Day |
The Indianapolis Star says the BMV has demoted its top financial officer, Harold Day, and replaced him with Jeff Moon, a CPA who most recently served as chief financial officer at Adayana, a local management consulting firm.
Day, the husband of Perry Township Trustee Susie Day, possessed no college degree or any other qualification for the top job he held at the agency other than being a loyal foot soldier in the Republican Party with ties to people with the political pull to land him the job as BMV's CFO. Day was among top officials at the agency who were made aware the agency was illegally charging higher fees than set by statute but chose to ignore the issue when brought to their attention.
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