Watchdogs

Federal Aviation Administration safety inspectors are doing a poor job of policing aircraft repair facilities, leaving passengers vulnerable to risks such as faulty parts, the U.S. Transportation Department's internal watchdog has found.

The new warning comes five years after similar concerns were raised about FAA's ability to oversee aircraft repairs, and the latest review found little has changed.

Hospitals that Americans are building to serve local populations in Afghanistan may not be sustainable after U.S. troops leave the country in 2014, the chief U.S. watchdog for Afghan recontruction bluntly warns.

While helping to clean up America, the Environmental Protection Agency didn't always buy American.

Investigators for the EPA inspector general found foreign-made steel pipes in a stimulus-funded project in President Obama's home state of Illinois that violated federal regulations, and now they want taxpayers' money back. But the agency is resisting demanding a refund.

BOX ELDER, Mont. (AP) — Federal officials temporarily stopped funding a $361 million water pipeline for a Native American reservation in Montana after learning that millions of project dollars were missing and a Chippewa Cree leader in charge of the project steered federal dollars to a company he owns.

The tribe has since replaced the missing money, but federal funding for the pipeline won't resume until tribal leaders show they have permanently fixed the problems, Bureau of Reclamation regional director Michael J. Ryan said.