It usually costs about $70 to replace an exhaust fan, but federal watchdogs said a General Services Administration employee sentenced this week to more than two years in prison once paid a contractor $2,150 for the job. In return, the contractor slipped Eric Minor an envelope stuffed with $1,000 in cash. Read full article > >

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GSA worker gets over 2 years in prison for kickback scheme

In 1897, when the Territory of Arizona was seeking to demonstrate its fitness for statehood, the legislature solicited bids to design a new capitol building and grounds in Phoenix. The winning entry was that of James Riely Gordon, the architect behind a number of well-regarded public buildings in Texas and Maryland. He drew up ambitious plans: an expansive dome, a grand rotunda, stately wings for each house. But funding fell short, and so the legislative wings were scrapped, and a diminutive lead-alloy top was chosen in lieu of Gordon’s more elaborate dome. Worse, in the building’s interior, a mosaic of the state seal was bungled by the contractor, who forgot to include the images of cattle and citrus, two of Arizona’s “five C’s” (the others being climate, copper, and cotton). . . .

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KEN SILVERSTEIN—Tea party in the Sonora:
For the future of G.O.P. governance, look to Arizona

The chairman of Edinburgh’s beleaguered trams project, David Mackay, resigns saying working with the contractor was “hell on wheels”.

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Edinburgh tram chief resigns post

New details in the unfolding Hewlett-Packard saga. Actress Jodie Fisher has stepped forward as the contractor in question in the sexual-harassment allegations brought against the company’s ex-CEO Mark Hurd-revelations that ultimately led him to resign…

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Mystery Woman in Hurd Scandal Revealed