By Paul Soutar | Kansas Watchdog

WICHITA — The Wichita City Council approved a $2 million payment to the city’s convention and visitors’ bureau,GO Wichita, despite objections to the lack of transparency in how GO Wichita handles taxpayer money.

By Steven Allen Adams | West Virginia Watchdog

CHARLESTON — West Virginia is opening the doors of state government to more sunshine.

Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, acting as governor, and State Auditor Glen Gainer III announced a new transparency website at a press conference Wednesday.

The website, http://transparencywv.org, will put budget and spending information in one place. [...]

By Frank Keegan – By the time the Government Accounting Standards Board nudges state and local governments into being honest about what taxpayers really owe on pensions, it will be too late. So bond lawyers are gearing up to force transparency sooner.

By Frank Keegan — It’s not how many. It’s which. That is the great unknown chilling municipal bond markets. Felonious accounting practices by state and local governments make it impossible for investors to determine the one factor that makes munis attractive: Bonds are supposed to be a sure thing.

By Jon Miltimore Watchdog.org
Nine groups representing state and local government employees slammed a House bill Wednesday that would penalize state and local governments that failed to meet disclosure and accounting requirements for public pension systems.