Grand Rapids city manager traveled extensively on taxpayer’s dime
Grand Rapids City Manager Mark Washington traveled to Belgium and various points in the United States in 2024 at a cost of $21,102, according to credit card receipts Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained through a records request.
In 2024 the city’s comptroller flagged some of Washington’s spending as irregular. Shortly thereafter, comptroller Max Frantz alleged in a December 2025 lawsuit, the city stripped him of 13 employees, many of his duties, and $1.3 million in funding.
While in Belgium, Washington stayed at Duke’s Palace, a five-star hotel, to attend the International City/County Management’s Association’s Global Exchange in May 2024. He spent $2,888 on the Belgian trip.
The 8,000-mile-round trip benefited the city, a Grand Rapids spokesman told CapCon. Click here to read more.
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Audit pins $37M in questionable child care payments on weak oversight, missing records
OLYMPIA, Wash. — A day after a state audit estimated $37 million in questionable payments to subsidized child care providers, KOMO News is pressing for answers about which providers triggered the estimate and what happens next.
At the center of the audit is the Department of Children, Youth and Families, which distributes federal funds to child care providers.
The audit marked the first time in five years that state auditors were able to conduct a review using documentation they could track, though they again flagged oversight problems at the agency. Click here to read more.
Georgia man receives settlement after home was stolen through deed fraud
ATLANTA - An 87-year-old Georgia man will receive settlement payments after his home of more than 50 years was stolen through deed fraud.
Robert Elder lost his late wife, his sight, then his home when someone filed three different deeds on his property in 2023. The first deed was filed in July, then again in August with updated wording labeled “corrective” deed, and once more in September. All three deeds transferred Elder’s house to someone else.
None of the signatures matched the way Elder signed his name in other official documents. The grandfather said he cannot sign his name straight on a signature line.
In a civil lawsuit, Elder accused his former stepson of being involved. In August 2025, the court signed a judgment agreed to by both parties that said the court found “fraud, larceny and malicious injury.” Click here to read more.
Senate spending skyrockets by more than 40% in last few years
WASHINGTON D.C. - Spending in U.S. senators’ office accounts spiked by 43% since 2020, with big jumps in 2022 and the last fiscal year for senators to pay their staff, travel and other expenses, an investigation by The Center Square found.
In 2020, the U.S. Senate office account was spending less than half a billion dollars, but that has since increased by nearly $200 million, an analysis of data provided by the American Governance Institute and other online data shows.
Overall Senate spending that includes the office accounts but also expenses for leadership, committees, security and operations was about $1.5 billion, increasing as much as 50% since 2020. Click here to read more.
Trump speaks with the family of Sheridan Gorman, college student allegedly slain by illegal immigrant
President Donald Trump has spoken with the family of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student who was allegedly murdered by an illegal immigrant in Chicago earlier this month, Fox News has learned.
A White House official confirmed to Fox News on Monday that Trump spoke with Gorman’s family, though did not immediately share details about the conversation the president had with her loved ones.
Gorman, a New York native who was attending Loyola University Chicago, was killed at around 1:06 a.m. on March 19 while with friends near a pier in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
Officials allege Jose Medina-Medina, 25, an illegal immigrant from Venezuela, fired one shot at the student, killing her. Click here to read more.
