Los Angeles Times
The El Paso County Sheriff’s Department in southeastern Colorado has ended car patrols of its 2,000-square-mile jurisdiction. One Ohio sheriff is putting his deputies into golf carts. Stillwater, Okla., has stopped mowing the grass on nearly half of its parkland. Cleveland is remapping its trash pickup routes to cut costs. That has helped push nearly half the states into budget deficits this year; 24 are cutting services to close the gaps, Perez said. In California, lawmakers are struggling to close a $15.2-billion deficit. More
Photo victoria
By David Cho
Accounting tactics conceal a crisis for public workers
The funds that pay pension and health benefits to police officers, teachers and millions of other public employees across the country are facing a shortfall that could soon run into trillions of dollars. But the accounting techniques used by state and local governments to balance their pension books disguise the extent of the crisis facing these retirees and the taxpayers who may ultimately be called on to pay the freight, according to a growing number of leading financial analysts. Read more
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