Reports

U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander today sentenced Robert Lee Snowden Jr., age 45, of Owings Mills, Maryland, to 78 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and for aggravated identity theft, in connection with a series of fraud schemes perpetrated between 2013 and 2020. Additionally, Judge Hollander ordered that Snowden pay restitution of $1,021,583.72.

We performed procedures at the Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC) to provide assurances on financial information that was significant to the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report; evaluate the effectiveness of LWC’s internal controls over financial reporting and compliance; and determine whether LWC complied with applicable laws and regulations. We found that LWC did not have adequate internal controls and did not comply with requirements of the Unemployment Insurance (UI) federal program.

This product presents the results of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) February – March 2021 pulse survey of Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspectors to obtain information about how FSIS frontline inspectors perceive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) safety in their work environments.

A Wisconsin man was sentenced today to 57 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining over $1 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bronx was on a trajectory of growth. It attracted new residents, particularly immigrants, at a higher rate than any other borough, and experienced solid improvement in employment and new businesses. In spite of these trends, most Bronx neighborhoods faced higher risks for negative health and economic outcomes from the pandemic. Characteristics that reflect economic and social inequities, such as lower household incomes, higher poverty rates, jobs less conducive to remote work and a higher share of minority residents, made the Bronx particularly vulnerable.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a halt to the growth of the construction industry nationwide which, prior to the pandemic, had been growing strongly. This was especially true in New York State and New York City. Before 2020, the nation’s construction employment increased for nine consecutive years, though it never met the peak reached before the Great Recession. However, in the State and the City, jobs reached a record high by 2015. Construction employment in the City grew especially robustly, rising by 43.5 percent from 2011 to 2019, the City’s fastest-growing sector during this period.

Representative John Barker requested this limited-scope audit, which was authorized by the Legislative Post Audit Committee at its February 24, 2021 meeting. Our audit objective was to answer the following question: How did causes of death during the COVID-19 pandemic compare to those before the pandemic? To answer this question, we reviewed death record data from 2019 and 2020 for the last third of each year (September 1 – December 31).