Obamacare ‘navigators’ will cost taxpayers millions

By   /  May 20, 2013  /  Health Care, News, Wisconsin  /  No Comments

Where is due north with Obamacare? Tens of thousands of 'navigators' costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, will try to help consumers find their way through the Affordable Care Act.

By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON — Federal health bureaucrats know applying for health insurance through the federal health care exchanges won’t be easy.
If it were, there wouldn’t be the need for tens of thousands of taxpaye- backed “navigators,” new positions that soon will be created to help steer consumers through the rough waters of Obamacare.
The [...]

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IRS, White House check in on Watchdog

By   /  May 15, 2013  /  National, News  /  No Comments

AP photo

By Ryan Ekvall, Matt Kittle and Will Swaim | Watchdog.org
The Internal Revenue Service reviewed Watchdog’s news website in record numbers late last year, Watchdog.org’s analytics show.
The IRS’ interest in Watchdog.org content comes as news reports revealed that IRS officials were looking more closely at conservative nonprofits. The agency declared that activity “inappropriate” and limited to fairly [...]

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White House, IRS show interest in Watchdog in December

By   /  May 15, 2013  /  National, News  /  30 Comments

AP photo

 
By Will Swaim and Ryan Ekvall | Watchdog.org
President Barack Obama’s executive staff reviewed Watchdog’s news website in record numbers at precisely the moment when Internal Revenue Service visits to the same site spiked, Watchdog.org’s analytics show.
A similar report reveals that the Executive Office of the President and IRS were the source of a similar December traffic [...]

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Latest audit finds more trouble at embattled WEDC

By   /  May 1, 2013  /  economic development, Featured, Legislature, News, State Government, Wisconsin  /  No Comments

A newly released audit shows the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. is riddled with accountability problems and, in some cases, did not follow state statute.

MADISON – Another audit, another finding of incompetence and waste at the state’s top job creation agency.

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WI lawmakers take easy-stuff-first approach

By   /  April 24, 2013  /  Featured, News, State Government, Wisconsin  /  1 Comment

FISCAL MATTERS: The Legislature's budget-writing panel, the Joint Finance Committee, began its work in earnest this week, beginning debate on Gov. Scott Walker's $68 billion biennial budget proposal.

By Ryan Ekvall | Wisconsin Reporter
MADISON – With Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal in hand and the all-day public hearings finished, the Joint Finance Committee will begin deliberations Thursday on how to spend some $68 billion over the next two years.
Be prepared, however, for a long slog.
Most of the contentious talk surrounding Walker’s budget centers [...]

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