Jim McElhatton

Raid an ill wind for doctor, a donor to Menendez

Prominent Florida eye doctor and political donor Salomon Melgen has never tried to hide his ties to politicians. In fact, he markets them.

January 31, 2013

Foreign bids called critical to A123 sale

The prospect of Massachusetts-based high-tech battery-maker A123 Systems landing in the hands of a Chinese competitor has angered some lawmakers, but a group of highly paid lawyers — including a former Senate staffer who earned more than $1,000 per-hour — kept the sale from falling apart amid mounting criticism on Capitol Hill.

January 30, 2013

Florida doctor pays politicians, not taxes

A Florida eye doctor who owes millions of dollars in back taxes to the federal government but who managed to shower Sen. Robert Menendez and other politicians in Washington with campaign donations had his offices raided by the FBI on Wednesday.

January 30, 2013

Chinese firm gets U.S. OK to take over troubled high-tech battery firm

The federal government approved a deal allowing a U.S. battery maker backed with tens of millions of dollars from the federal stimulus program to be purchased by a Chinese competitor, officials announced Tuesday.

January 29, 2013

Food inspectors see problems with computer system

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has hailed its new automated inspection system as a "data-driven" approach to protecting the nation's food supply, but inspectors say systematic failures keep them stuck in front of office computers while potential public health hazards go unchecked.

January 28, 2013

Mapping a picture of Earth’s minute particles from the sky

In a little conference room in an airplane hangar in Northern Virginia, about a half a dozen government scientists spent much of this past weekend analyzing the air around and above the nation's capital as hundreds of thousands of people arrived to celebrate President Obama's inauguration.

January 21, 2013

Homeless people in park along inaugural parade route forced to move

A dozen or so people, many homeless, regularly camp out in and around a small D.C. park between the Canadian Embassy and the federal courthouse a short walk from where President Obama takes the oath of office Monday.

January 20, 2013

D.C. tax lien on Google simply a $300,000 goof

While Google makes billions of dollars per year in profits, the company — for a few days anyway — found itself among a list of local scofflaws hit with tax liens filed by the D.C. government.

January 17, 2013

Lobbyists work both sides on A123 sale

Lobbyists are swarming on both sides of the pending sale of a U.S. battery-maker backed by more than $100 million in federal grants that soon could be in the hands of a Chinese competitor.

January 15, 2013

Watchdog looks at cost of ‘flat rate’ ads for USPS

A recent audit into Postal Service advertising expenditures for fiscal 2011 has uncovered millions of dollars in questionable costs as postal officials pushed hard to publicize shipping products in the face of sharply declining first-class mail volume.

January 14, 2013

Solyndra consultants pursue pay for tax work

With its bankruptcy case ended and its failure faded from headlines, solar panel maker Solyndra LLC appears set to receive a big reduction in years worth of overdue property tax bills, potentially setting up tax consultants with a hefty seven-figure payday.

January 9, 2013

Citigroup tenure lucrative for Lew

Jack Lew, President Obama's presumed choice to lead the Treasury Department, has close ties to Wall Street, receiving more than $900,000 in bonus cash from a division of Citigroup Inc. just as the company was getting bailed out by U.S. taxpayers.

January 9, 2013

Money-back guarantee eyed on Energy Department loans

A House Republican announced plans Tuesday to introduce a bill to make sure that companies backed by federal Energy Department loans or grants pay the money back if they're going to be taken over by a "non-allied foreign nation."

January 8, 2013

Dormant liberties agency awakens to tasks

A presidentially appointed panel charged with ensuring federal laws don't impede Americans' civil liberties has nothing to show for itself in recent years, failing to meet even once during a five-year span because vacancies had left the board dormant for so long.

January 7, 2013

Creditors want help with A123 sale to Chinese

Creditors of a bankrupt U.S. battery maker that went broke after winning a multimillion-dollar federal grant want permission to hire a lobbying firm to keep the proposed sale of the company to a Chinese competitor on track.

January 2, 2013

Securities industry ban asked for executive

A Washington-area executive accused in a lawsuitof bilking millions of dollars from a charity founded more than 200 years ago by Dolley Madison is facing a lifetime ban from the securities industry.

December 25, 2012

Ex-Marine jailed in Mexico on gun charge is back in U.S.

A 27-year-old Florida man who served tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps is back on American soil after four months spent in a Mexican jail cell.

December 24, 2012

FEC pressed to probe Dish TV chief

A watchdog group wants federal election regulators to investigate whether the head of a major satellite-television company forced company executives to donate to prominent Democratic campaigns in recent years.

December 20, 2012

Dick’s pulls some guns; investing firm sells stock in arms

Even amid reports of many Americans scrambling to buy guns, a major sporting goods chain suspended sales of some of its semi-automatic guns Tuesday while an investment firm moved to sell off a company whose rifle was reportedly used in last week’s attack at a Connecticut elementary school.

December 18, 2012

Failed bidder for battery maker A123 appeals decision to sell to Chinese company

An American company that lost out in its bid for the assets of a failed, federally backed battery maker is appealing a judge's decision last week selling the company to a Chinese competitor.

December 17, 2012