Orange County Register

A great big hurrah for our colleagues at The Los Angeles Times and ProPublica.

After revealing that the California Board of Registered Nursing “often takes years to act on complaints of egregious misconduct, leaving nurses accused of wrongdoing free to practice without restrictions.” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  booted most members of the board on Monday, “citing the unacceptable time it takes to discipline nurses accused of egregious misconduct.”

The investigation makes your hair curl. Nurses who had abused patients - in just about every way you can imagine  - ”continued to work unrestricted for years despite documented histories of incompetence, violence, criminal convictions and drug theft or abuse.” Many of those nurses had clean records even though they had been suspended, fired, disciplined by another licensing board or restricted from practicing in other states.

This is the kind of work that makes California safer.

Other watchdog news of note:

• The New York Times reports: “The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney.”
• The Orlando Sentinel reports: “More Than 70 Caseworkers Lied About Efforts to Protect Children.” They lost track of at least six children, and 14 were left in unsafe homes.
• The Charlotte Observer reports: An analysis of national mortgage data found that “as the credit spigot dried up in 2008, blacks and Hispanics were more likely to be denied mortgage loans than whites.” Nearly half of African American and Hispanic applicants were denied loans for the purchase or refinance of a home; while less than a quarter of whites were turned away.
• OC Register colleague Sarah Tully reports: 48 percent more people in Orange County collected food stamps in May than two years ago. That translates to 121,362 residents - just about enough to fill three Angel Stadiums.
• And, as always, for nationwide watchdog news of note, poke around the web site of Investigative Reporters and Editors. 

• Phantom resignation letter presumes appointment to empty seat; election would be too pricey, district says
• LWV board will weigh changes to recall ballot Tuesday
• Sheriff finds “missing footage” in jail beating lawsuit
• Why OC sheriffs attended Michael Jackson’s funeral
• Stuck with decades-worth of spent nuclear fuel? Sue!
• ‘What a bargain!’ (Or, the quarter-million-dollar water exec update)
• Thousands of public pools in California are still unsafe
• LWV calls police on rebel Mike Curtis after he refuses to leave meeting
• Is toll road agency shielding a criminal? Spooked driver in ‘whodunnit?’ says yes
• Watchdog roundup: Paintings, doctors, livers, for sale…?
• Anaheim police chief’s gun disappears. Twice.
• Dog fancier objects to ‘gonad police’ and Snip-the-Roamers bill
• A quarter-million dollars: Average compensation for water district GMs
• Seniors’ recall election may end up in court - before it even happens!
• Why TrueBallot won’t conduct LWV election, in its own words
• LWV’s take on why TrueBallot won’t be election czar
• State slaps water district with $204,000 fine
• ‘Mandatory spay-neuter doesn’t work!’ Or…does it?
• High-flying water board member resigns amid turbulence
• Controversial pet spay-neuter law gets closer to governor’s desk
• California’s $3 billion stem-cell experiment suffers from appearance of self-dealing
• Showdown on statewide spay/neuter law for pets slated for Tuesday
• Airplane whisks OC water official to ceremony in, er, Riverside
• OC air marshal - fired for revealing bad plan - is denied whistleblower protection
• Some water officials use office for personal gain, report says
• Tax prep giant must stop deceptive ads and pay more than $1 million
• Fair gets slapped for promotional cartoons
• No, San Onofre is not closing down any time soon!
• County pays $250,000 in sheriff car accident
• Charitable giving down more than $6 billion as economy tanks
• Saddleback College defends senior fitness classes
• Is college cheating state for seniors’ fitness classes?
• All systems go for contentious, first-ever, recall election in Laguna Woods Village
• LWV weighs in with official statement on first-ever recall election
• Candidate OKs $10 million for execs of bankrupt bank
• Secret extremist agenda: To outlaw dogs as pets, says spay/neuter law critic
• Grand jury: Street’s big bet ‘imprudent’
• As OC Fair graduates from cattle drive to film production, some are outraged
• OC Fair executives accept gifts worth thousands
• Great Park tries to keep contamination info under wrap
• Drought-induced building freeze not necessary - yet, officials say
• Is ’severe drought’ just a chance to hike water rates? Residents wonder 

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