Only in Albany can you be nominated to head the Public Service Commission, which oversees utilities, and start doing work for the government - while still working for a private sector energy company! The state inspector general released a report explaining how this actually happened with former PSC nominee Angela Sparks-Beddoe last year. Sparks-Beddoe was President for Energy East, a utility in Saratoga Springs, when Spitzer nominated her early last year. She was still working......

Video of "Meat and You: Partners in Freedom" from The Simpsons episode, Lisa the Vegetarian After the Humane Society revealed a tape of mistreatment of cows at the nation's "No. 2 supplier of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program," burgers and other beef products were temporarily yanked off NYC schools' menus. The U.S. Department of Agriculture had put an "administrative hold" on all products from Hallmark Meat Packing Packing in Chino, CA......

It's an Albany power play! During a State Senate meeting about the whole Troopergate mess, it turns out the state inspector general could have given Attorney General Cuomo the power to subpoena Spitzer aides, but didn't. The State Inspector General's office had been conducting its own investigation into the various allegations about the state police being used to discredit State Majority leader Joseph Bruno, but ended it, because the inspector general reports to Spitzer's chief......

Many businesses have strict policies about accepting "gifts" from vendors, but when you work for a public agency, scrutiny is extremely intense. amNew York found an intriguing connection between an MTA executive's favorite charity and law firms that get business from his division. It turns out that five law firms have donated thousands of dollars to a charity where Wallace Gossett, director of the Transit Authority's torts division (think lawsuits where people sue after falling......

Congress is all about fraud stemming from September 11 relief efforts this week. A House oversight subcommittee has been discussing a number of programs which people not eligible for relief were able to apply for - and get relief. Sound familiar? Yes, it's just like what happened this past year after Hurricane Katrina. One notable example would be a program that gave people the option to buy new air conditioners, since their old ones would......

Politicians whose states and cities were cut out of Homeland Security funding found more fuel for their anger after the release of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General's report. The report criticized the DHS for having petting zoos, ice cream parlors, tackle shops, donut shops and flea markets on the list of terrorist targets. Senator Charles Schumer foamed at the mouth, "It's the most idiotic procedure. A sheriff in a small town in the......