Where exactly does the buck stop? Senior Hong Kong civil servants are asking themselves that question after the unveiling of a new accountability system targeting department heads. They point to the deadly Tai Po fire last year as an example. An independent committee investigating the tragedy heard evidence officials gave contractors at the blaze-hit Wang…
A statutory advisory body in Hong Kong will be given new powers as early as June to investigate government department heads over “serious, widespread or systemic” problems, as part of a broader push to institutionalise accountability for top officials. A Civil Service Bureau spokeswoman stressed that the new system targeted “implementation failures” by senior officials,…
San Francisco named its first Inspector General this week, after voters created the position tasked with citywide accountability in 2024’s general election. Alexandra “Alex” Shepard, an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, was selected for the role and will start in January, according to the city Controller’s Office. The position will be…
(The Center Square) – One day before the Illinois General Assembly’s fall veto session is scheduled to begin, one of the most powerful lawmakers in state history is headed to prison. Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021 and was speaker for all but two years between 1983 and…
The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners are making plans for phase four of maintenance and facility improvements for Hamilton County Schools. At Wednesday’s meeting, commissioners discussed a resolution that would set aside $13.5 million for improvements. That allocation includes repairs at the Chattanooga School for Arts and Science and to bring a turf field to…
Charlie Kirk’s assassination has prompted many to speak out on social media, including an assistant dean of MTSU. Administrators fired Laura Sosh-Lightsy after she posted what the school called “inappropriate and callous comments” about the conservative activist’s death. The employee stated online: “Hate begets hate. ZERO sympathy.” Her post faced backlash and even caught the…
Volunteers arrange parcels as trucks loaded with humanitarian aid await entry to the Gaza Strip, Aug. 6. The pictures are heartbreaking: convoys of United Nations-marked trucks inching toward bomb-scarred cities, desperate children clamoring for supplies. These images seem to prove that the international system is, at the very least, trying to help. Yet in every…