Headlines
1. 23 LI school districts have private lawyers on rolls
2. RI Supreme Court denies Carcieri’s request
3. TX: Perry still backs sale of lottery
4. IL: School contractor faces fire at hearing
5. CA: County psychiatric hospital to use private security firm


News Summaries

1. 23 LI school districts have private lawyers on rolls
Twenty-three school districts — nearly one-fifth of all the school
districts on Long Island — improperly reported private attorneys as
employees, which helped the attorneys earn public pensions totaling
more than $342,082 a year, plus health benefits worth thousands more, a
Newsday review of records has found. Newsday
2. RI Supreme Court denies Carcieri’s request
The state Supreme Court has denied a request from Governor Carcieri to
meet with Chief Justice Frank J. Williams over the issue of privatizing
some state jobs. Instead, the justices ordered interested parties,
including the governor, the speaker of the House and the president of
the Senate to file briefs on the privatization issue by May 9. The key
question is the constitutionality of the 2007 anti-privatization law,
which Carcieri is challenging, suggesting that the labor-backed statute
interferes with his constitutional ability to administer appropriations
and to carry out the day-to-day functions of the government. Providence Journal
3. TX: Perry still backs sale of lottery
Although Gov. Rick Perry’s proposal to turn the Texas lottery over to a
private contractor fizzled out last year, he still supports the idea
because he thinks it could generate billions of additional dollars for
health or education programs, his spokesman said Wednesday. Star-Telegram
4. IL: School contractor faces fire at hearing
Aramark, the contractor that cleans and feeds dozens of suburban
schools, was in the hot seat Thursday. The Illinois House Elementary
and Secondary Education Committee held a hearing in Chicago on a litany
of complaints against Aramark from workers, parents and union
officials. Thursday’s hearing focused on a report released this month
by the Service Employees’ International Union, which is trying to add
100,000 Aramark workers nationwide to its membership rolls and 2,000 in
the Chicago area alone. The report, titled "Failing Grade: How
Outsourcing Vital School Services to Aramark Corp. is Shortchanging
Illinois Kids," alleges Aramark pays low wages, provides few benefits
and does not adequately clean schools or feed suburban schoolchildren. Daily Herald
5. CA: County psychiatric hospital to use private security firm
The Alameda County Medical Center’s board of trustees voted unanimously
Tuesday to switch to a private firm for security at its psychiatric
facility. The move means that beginning May 1, Alameda County sheriff’s
deputies would no longer provide security there, a decision that upsets
some hospital employees, according to a hospital union official. The Argus