Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In a fiscal year 1999 accountability report to Congress, the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) made several clerical errors in the accounting of Medicare trust funds, which caused the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund to be overinvested by about $14 billion and the Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund to be underinvested by about $18 billion. Because of these errors, the HI Trust Fund earned excess interest and the SMI Trust Fund lost interest. GAO found that these errors went undetected for a year because of internal control weaknesses. Inadequate training and supervision and ineffective reconciliations were key factors that allowed the errors to go undetected. HCFA took corrective action, however, as soon as the errors were discovered."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO worked with the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop and report a reliable estimate for the postemployment health care benefits due to military retirees, their dependents, and survivors. To accomplish this, the DOD Office of Actuary has contracted with a private sector firm of actuaries and consultants, Milliman & Robertson. This report provides a non-technical summary of the contractor's findings and includes GAO's recommendation that the changes discussed in the reports be implemented. GAO found that although the analysis prepared by the Office of Actuary does a good job of identifying the factors that affect the military postretirement health care benefits liability and of evaluating the possible impact of those factors, issues still need to be addressed. An additional break out of information is needed in some areas in order for the Office of Actuary to properly analyze their impact on liability. The methodology used was generally reasonable, but some deficiencies still remained."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report compares the drug prices paid by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with the prices paid by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). On average, for the sample of drug prices analyzed by GAO, HCFA's prices were higher than those of either DOD or VA."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been raised about the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) decision to extend a contract with an accounting firm that has been implicated in major fraud. KPMG's contract with HCFA included annual options to extend performance that could be exercised at HCFA's will. Although information on the fraud investigation was available to HCFA staff at various levels, the information was not used to make reasoned contracting decisions. If HCFA had considered the information and documented its decision to extend KPMG's contract, it could have minimized concerns over the appropriateness of its decision."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO audited the financial statements of the District of Columbia's Highway Trust Fund for fiscal years 1999 and 1998. GAO found that the District did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting related to its Highway Trust Fund as of September 30, 1999. Material weaknesses affected accounting for expenditures and computer system general controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses possible money laundering by U.S. corporations formed by Russian entities. It is easy for foreign entities to hide their identities while forming shell corporations that can be used for money laundering. GAO investigated the following two Delaware corporations that are suspected of money laundering: Euro-American Corporate Services, Inc. and International Business Creations. Suspicious banking activity involved correspondent bank accounts and wire transfers of funds from Eastern European banks through U.S. banks to other Eastern European banks. Two U.S. banks, Citibank of New York and Commercial Bank of San Francisco, violated their customer policies by failing to close the accounts of clients who did not comply with the bank's requirement to appear at the bank in person within 30 days of opening an account. These banks facilitated the transfer of about $1 billion from Eastern Europe, through U.S. banks, and back to Eastern Europe by corporations formed for Russian brokers. It is possible that these transfers were used to launder money. GAO referred the matter to appropriate law enforcement authorities."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The number of Tuberculosis (TB) and multidrug-resistant TB cases in the United States has declined steadily since 1992. However, continued vigilance is needed to further reduce TB rates. A resurgence of the disease in the late 1980s and early 1990s was linked to a relaxation of TB control efforts. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization suggest that the presence of TB as a major public health problem in other countries has likely been a key contributor to the number of new cases in the United States. As a result, the United States has undertaken several initiatives to control global TB, including providing funding and technical assistance for TB control programs."

Video footage from the KXAS-TV/NBC station in Fort Worth, Texas, to accompany a news story.

Semiweekly newspaper from Boerne, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Student newspaper of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma that includes national, local, and campus news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Harper, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Baytown, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Altus, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Weekly newspaper from Emory, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Sapulpa, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Newspaper from Panola College in Carthage, Texas that includes news of interest to the college community along with advertising.

Daily newspaper from Perry, Oklahoma that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.

Semiweekly newspaper from Brady, Texas that includes local, state, and national news along with advertising.