by P.D. Lesko County records revealed that between 2022-2023, Alize Asberry Payne charged $115,000 to the credit card given to her by Washtenaw County. Along with trips, workshops, conferences, and a $3,700 payment to the Detroit…

by P.D. Lesko Records show that Dr. Bellanca’s assistant’s credit card is being used to charge items previously charged to the president’s college-issued credit card, including charges for limousine services and $2,000 worth of stays at…

by P.D. Lesko In 2013, The Ann Arbor Independent published articles detailing county employee stays at Las Vegas casinos, resorts and 4-star hotels at taxpayer expense. Analysis of 3,600 credit card charges made in 2014 show no trips to…

by P.D. Lesko THE COUNTY EMPLOYEES had taken the majority of the chairs out of the waiting room and into a conference room, where a gaggle of them were gathered around a table having a meeting. The waiting room was full of people…

Washtenaw County’s former Head Start Director Patricia McGee was put on leave weeks before she retired in December 2011. A county official told a reporter in December 2011 that Ms. McGee was being investigated due to unspecified…

by P.D. Lesko THIS NEWSPAPER, UNLIKE  many in the United States, has a regular column that deals with the issues of hunger, homelessness and poverty in our city, state and nation. “Urban Exile” is not fluffy feel-good journalism. The…

ON MARCH 11 The Ann Arbor Independent published its results of an analysis of almost 14,000 credit card charges made by Washtenaw County employees between 2011 and 2014. That analysis revealed multiple charges for luxury lodging, meals out…

County Administrator Verna McDaniel says Ann Arbor Commissioners Rabhi and LaBarre asked her to prepare a report that addressed  The Ann Arbor Independent’s March 11 story that documents county employee and elected officials’ stays at Las…

WASHTENAW 14A COURT employees Colleen E. Turek and Lisa Mull have each used their county-issued credit cards to make dozens of purchases at the Ypsilanti Tim Horton’s. The most recent purchase was one for $57.42 made on February 7, 2014 by…