A private investigator hired by the Alberta Energy Utilities Board posed as an aggrieved landowner to participate in conference calls of groups opposed to major power-line projects in Alberta and Montana, angry landowners and environmentalists said Tuesday.

Private investigator Don MacDonald of Fort Saskatchewan joined conference calls organized by the Alberta Environmental Network.

The group included landowners and their lawyers opposed to major projects, including a proposed Edmonton-to-Calgary line and another that could allow Alberta to export power to the U.S.

The first of those is the subject of a utilities board hearing underway in Rimbey.

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An out-of-state private-investigation firm selected by city officials to check into allegations against Jackson police Chief Ervin Portis may be breaking the law if it takes the case.

Risk Management Association Inc. of Raleigh, N.C., is not licensed in Michigan — an apparent requirement of Michigan law. According to the Private Detective License Act of 1965, conducting an investigation without a license is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

The licensing issue was raised earlier this week by the Michigan Council of Private Investigators.

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From trailing cheating spouses to catching out medical fraudsters, Deborah McAleese takes a glimpse into the clandestine world of one of the province’s top private investigators

Strolling from a fashionable city centre restaurant, the man and woman look like any other ordinary couple enjoying an evening together.

Their openly affectionate body language suggests a close and intimate relationship, and the pair appear relaxed and carefree.
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Background Checks for Maricopa County Community College

The Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) intends to engage the services of a company or individual, to provide background checks concerning all persons selected for employment, as well as existing MCCCD employees transferring into various positions determined to be sensitive in nature; and for persons selected for volunteer or internship service in sensitive positions. Background checks may inquire into, but not be limited to, previous employment or service; prior acts or circumstances relevant to financial or other valuable assets; access to confidential records; and criminal activities.

The scheduled due date for this bid is set for July 11, 2007

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More than 1,000 volunteers spread out Thursday in a search of rural areas around the home of a missing woman who was 9 months pregnant when she disappeared.

“I think every single rock will be turned over on this search,” said organizer Tim Miller, who runs the internationally active search team Texas EquuSearch.

Miller had expected about 200 volunteers Thursday and said he was a bit overwhelmed by the turnout. His team also brought in sonar equipment to check ponds and a remote-control airplane equipped with a camera to look for any sign of the missing woman, Jessie Davis.

Davis’ younger sister, Whitney Davis, who wore a T-shirt with her sister’s picture and the word “Missing” in red letters.

“They’re going to help us find Jessie, hopefully, bring her back safe,” she said.

Some language may change but a state senator will continue to push his bill requiring a background check for private handgun sales.

Democrat Spencer Coggs says criminals will always be able to get a gun but he thinks making private handgun buyers go through a background check just as they would at a gun shop will make it more difficult.

A month after the state accused Trenton public school officials of fabricating student transcripts, another state investigation has shown that 350 district employees might not have cleared a required criminal background check.

A state Department of Education audit made public this week found that 114 people, nearly half of them teachers, substitute teachers or classroom aides, may not have been fingerprinted.

In addition, there is no documentation to prove that 236 other employees passed a criminal background check, according to the report.

The General Services Administration in April started background checks on 725 employees as part of the governmentwide identification card project, a federal union said May 30.

But the National Federation of Federal Employees is preparing to challenge GSA’s background check policies. NFFE said GSA refuses to negotiate with the union over the investigation process or tell the union details on how it is conducting background checks and what criteria will be used to determine if employees fail a check and get fired.

Charles Paidock, vice president for NFFE’s Great Lakes Region, said the union may file an unfair labor practice charge with the Federal Labor Relations Authority by the end of the week.

The employees being reinvestigated have been at the agency for fewer than 15 years, Paidock said.

Steve Sorocko retired in one piece, a laudable feat for any big-city cop with 41 years on the job but especially for one who spent most of it on the bomb and arson squad.

It was decades of pipe bombs, fire-for-profit schemes and grisly deaths by the hundreds.

But nothing matched the early 1980s, when an underworld feud within the so-called Syrian organized crime family here exploded — literally and figuratively.

In arguably the most dramatic moment, Jimmy Michaels Sr., patriarch of the clan, was killed when a remote-control bomb ripped apart his car as he drove along Interstate 55 in south St. Louis County. The brazen act triggered a series of retaliatory acts that included two more car bombings.

It’s possible to get hired in Texas to care for elderly people even if the applicant has a history of some pretty violent criminal offenses.

A bill heading to the governor’s desk would add to the list of criminal convictions that would keep people from being hired in nursing homes or as home care attendants.

Some crimes that were not already on the list: aggravated sexual assault and terroristic threat.

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