There are 20,000 school bus drivers in the state of Ohio and 15,000 of them work for the public school districts. The other 5,000 are hired by private contractors.

How much do the districts really know about the drivers they don’t hire themselves?

10 Investigates learned a school bus driver police say they caught with cocaine drove a private school bus for 20 years. Is it possible there were no red flags?

First Student Inc., a private bus company, hired Lawrence Battle to drive Columbus children to charter and private schools. The Columbus School District says it’s up to the company to make sure Battle passed a background check.

10 Investigators uncovered three drunken driving convictions in Battle’s past, but all of those charges happened more than a decade ago. To drive a school bus in Ohio, you need only two years of driving experience, a license to operate a school bus and an annual driver record check that reveals no convictions for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated in the past two years.

Car insurance rates are dropping significantly — and how much you save depends on where you live.

And you can thank a small group of determined investigators for saving you money.

You could call Maureen O’Connell the “Nancy Drew” of insurance fraud.

It’s her job to investigate auto insurance claims and weed out the bad guys.

“We have investigated attornies, chiropractors, people who are very educated, people not very educated, commiting insurance fraud affects a wide range of individuals,” said O’Connell.

Clive Owen is set to play fabled private eye Philip Marlowe in several feature films based on Raymond Chandler’s mystery series. The star will also serve as executive producer on the movies, which could include movie adaptations of “The Big Sleep” and “Farewell My Lovely.”

The project is currently in the beginning stages, with producers courting writers and film-makers and deciding which title to adapt. Owen will narrate the dramas, much like he did in the film Sin City.

The films are expected to maintain the dark spirit of the Chandler books and will still be set in 1940s Los Angeles, with Marlowe continuing to be a hard-drinking, wise-cracking investigator.

The Office of the Attorney General, Department of Justice, has periodic need for private investigator services. We are looking for vendors who have had prior investigative experience working with governmental entities such as state, city or county; law enforcement; Medi-Cal fraud disputes; environmental and/or toxic waste; employment/discrimination litigation; and/or correctional institutional matters.

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The purpose of this Request for Proposal (RFP) is to obtain competitive proposals as allowed by Louisiana Revised State 39:1503 from bona fide, qualified proposers who are interested in providing consulting services to conduct background checks on potential employees at Louisiana State University.

The due date for this bid is set for February 23, 2007 at 11:00 AM Central Time

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The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia (the BOR) is seeking proposals for a contractor to conduct pre-employment background checks on prospective full-time employees. Certain Institutions may elect to conduct background checks on temporary employees, part-time employees as well as any employee prior to re-assignment to another position.

The due date for this bid is set for February 8, 2007

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Provide Out-of-State Background Check Screening Services for Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) (the lead issuing institution), an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The due date for this bid is set for January 31, 2007

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The Department of Justice, Mission Support Branch is soliciting bids for monitoring, translation and transcription services to supplement various aspects of electronic surveillance investigations for the Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

The estimated value of this contract is $1,000,000 - $2,999,999.

The due date for this bid is set for February 15, 2007 at 3:00 PM Pacific Time read more »

To provide the City’s Department of Emergency Management with pre-employment polygraph examination services of applicants for the position of Public Safety Communications Technician, Public Safety Communications Dispatcher, Public Safety Communications Supervisor, and Public Safety Communications Coordinator.

The due date for this bid is set for February 9, 2007 at 5:00 PM

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20th Century Fox served YouTube with a subpoena Wednesday

20th Century Fox served YouTube with a subpoena Wednesday demanding the Google-owned viral video site disclose the identity of a user who uploaded copies of entire recent episodes of primetime series “24″ and “The Simpsons.”

The subpoena, which first came to light on the blog Google Watch was granted by a judge in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California after being filed by the News Corp.-owned studio on Jan. 18. It is not yet known whether YouTube has complied with the request.

In addition, a second, lesser-known video site, LiveDigital, was also served with a similar subpoena.

A Fox spokesman confirmed the subpoena was filed to both YouTube and LiveDigital and served but declined further comment. A spokesman for YouTube declined comment.

The “24″ episodes in question actually appeared on YouTube prior to their primetime Jan. 14 premiere on the Fox broadcast network, which spread four hourlong episodes of the hit drama over two consecutive nights. Fox became aware the episodes were on YouTube on Jan. 8, according to the subpoena.

• Group for Private Investigators
• Group for Process Servers