Art Kane

Managing editor enterprise/investigations The Center Square. Author of "The Last Story: The Murder of an Investigative Journalist in Las Vegas."

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Questions are growing over whether public funds were used to influence voters through government mailers and digital campaigns in California.

More on The Center Square Daily.

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Are taxpayers funding campaigns they don’t support?
New findings in California are raising questions about how public money is used around ballot measures.

Watch on The Center Square Daily.

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

State lawmakers failed to reform the Illinois Commission on Equity and Inclusion this legislative session despite bipartisan criticism of its performance and calls to disband it.

Moreover, the seven highly paid commissioners who lead it are getting raises along with numerous other executive branch appointees, and their requested $5.6 million budget was approved.

Read more:
https://t.co/tFo6dPP5Fu

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

The chairperson of Illinois' diversity commission has been earning thousands of dollars each year from her former employer while also collecting a $155,000 salary from the state, according to recently amended financial disclosures.

The revelation was part of a flurry of corrections the Commission on Equity and Inclusion members made this year to their previous disclosures.

Read more:
https://t.co/fJdKAiJx1f

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Investigation: Sanders' anti-oligarchy tour spent $608k on elite travel
https://t.co/M6uxabvlwH

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

Atlanta's city government gave a Muslim activist group that raised money for Gaza a $35k donation – on top of $250k in federal grants to care for unhoused immigrants, a continuing investigation by @thecentersquare has found.

The Center Square has raised questions about payments to the Inner-City Muslim Action Network because, at the time, @imancentral was itself raising money for a "Benefit Concert for Gaza" held in Chicago, which benefitted another NGO that has been accused by Israeli watchdogs of aiding Hamas.

The $35K donation came from taxpayer funds in 2023, and required annual reports on how the money got spent. Those reports are nowhere to be found in @CityofAtlanta's files.

https://t.co/ZhaO2XYbLL

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

New Findings: Atlanta gave Muslim Action group a $35k donation, didn’t track how it got spent
https://t.co/3118nv5PC0

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Minnesota’s Medicaid fraud scandal is drawing renewed scrutiny, with federal officials warning that stronger controls are needed.

More on The Center Square Daily.

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Bill that tried to kill secret agreements with your tax dollars now faces its own silent death
https://t.co/TesHxx29Gj

[Esther Wickham @estherwickham_]

"We have an Education spending problem," @RyanWalters_ @Freedom4Teachrs

[Art Kane @ArthurMKane]

Honored to be a finalist with @nytimes and winner @PaulPringleLA @latimes for the https://t.co/Plzn3J7AWN awards. You can read the series that was honored https://t.co/BlM1uGAVrI.
Reader trust is key to a functioning democracy so very important program.
https://t.co/t44zT8CvHl

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

Assemblyman Josh Hoover, R-Folsom, said the irony isn’t lost on him. His idea to kill secret agreements, NDAs, is scheduled to be secretly killed rather than publicly debated, approved or voted down on the merits, @adamherbets of @thecentersquare reports https://t.co/UuXTWlOYjh

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

BREAKING: A sitting DeKalb County judge filed a will naming herself executor of her late brother's estate – and a forensic document examiner hired by a family member says the signatures on that will are not the dead man's, @thecentersquare reports.

The dispute has triggered a probate court challenge, but Magistrate Judge 𝗥𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗱 and her attorney did not respond to any of our messages seeking their side of the story. Stroud is also the chief judge of Decatur Municipal Court.

"It is my professional expert opinion," document examiner Patricia Hale wrote in her December report, "that a different person or persons authored the name of Johnny Stroud on the questioned document. Someone did indeed forge the signatures of Johnny Stroud on the questioned document."

https://t.co/GmMftOcF44

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

An investigation is uncovering rising salaries among nonprofit and university leaders, with some earning millions annually.

More on The Center Square Daily.

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

GOVERNMENT STONEWALLING WASTES MILLIONS IN CALI: California spent nearly $7M on a police transparency website, but its most recent data is nearly 2 years old, @AdamHerbets of @thecentersquare reports.

Director of research says it’s difficult to feed a transparency portal when some police departments won't be transparent. In some cases, police are withholding records or redacting officer’s names, yet releasing the phone numbers and home addresses of sexual assault victims, she said

https://t.co/z1XZZ0qp0y

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

Until Wednesday, the list of more than 70 award recipients who received a combined $57.8 million in Washington state grants did not include the names and business locations for many of the daycare providers.

The omission led to multiple media inquiries and social media posts urging transparency, at a time when potential daycare and other subsidy fraud has been in the news

https://t.co/sugY6lpYDB

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Exclusive: Minnesota Republicans say a new oversight report shows systemic fraud and a lack of action by the Walz administration.

Democratic lawmakers pushed back, arguing the report mischaracterizes state responses and was developed without bipartisan input.

Read more:
https://t.co/IEhOsM2ut2

[Art Kane @ArthurMKane]

First investigation by our new Western states investigative reporter @AdamHerbets exposes a California police misconduct transparency program that hasn't had any new reports or information since 2024. https://t.co/VGS33fcofP

[Johnny Edwards @JohnnyEdwardsX]

Private universities are not for profit?

The year Amy Gutmann left her post as president of the University of Pennsylvania, the university paid her nearly $23M, according to nonprofit filings reviewed by @jstrong712 of @thecentersquare.

That included a base salary of about $1.6M, a bonus of $1M, and a deferred compensation payment of more than $20M.

Government grants to the university exceeded $1 billion in a recent year, records show.

https://t.co/Sj2Ki0vuKU via @thecentersquare

[The Center Square @thecentersquare]

Top private universities are paying presidents and executives millions, including one nearly $23 million payout tied to deferred compensation.

The schools receive significant federal funding while maintaining tax-exempt status, fueling debate over transparency and compensation. Some institutions receive hundreds of millions to over $1 billion annually in government grants.

Read more:
https://t.co/umbV4e8tpk