New York City's Child Care Centers Misspending State Funds

Some New York City child care centers have been stealing from the state tills:

The money for the programs came from the federal Child Care and Development Fund, which provides New York State with more than $300 million a year to arrange child care for low-income families.

One part of the study examined a sample of 34 contracts whose contractors were supposed to create 1,545 slots for child care, but as of May 2007 they had created only 821. Another part of the audit focused on 55 contracts that cost the state $2.9 million and found that misspending in 39 totaled nearly $1.6 million.

Leona Helmsley's Estate Goes To The Dogs

Leona Helmsley may have been the queen of mean but she apparently loved dogs:

In a two-page “mission statement,” Leona Helmsley left her entire trust, valued at $5 billion to $8 billion and amounting to virtually all her estate, be used for the care and welfare of dogs.

It is by no means clear, however, that all the money will go to dogs. Another provision of the mission statement says Mrs. Helmsley’s trustees may use their discretion in distributing the money, and some lawyers say the statement may not mean much anyway, given that its directions were not incorporated into Mrs. Helmsley’s will or the trust documents.