Program Note: Don't miss Drew Griffin's full report tonight on AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.
Drew Griffin | BIO
CNN Investigative Correspondent
The federal stimulus program is funding roadway construction in many Massachusetts towns. But more than half of the companies that have received taxpayer dollars to perform the work have a history of breaking the law.
According to an investigation by Boston University's New England Center for Investigative Reporting, more than half the companies given stimulus contracts have histories of defrauding taxpayers.
Using funds from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Massachusetts Highway Division has awarded nearly $54 million in contracts for highway improvements. One company, Aggregate Industries Northeast Inc., based in Saugus, Massachusetts, was awarded two stimulus contracts totaling $8.9 million for roadwork in the state.
Aggregate Industries is one of the largest producers of aggregate, asphalt and ready-mixed concrete in New England. But Aggregate Industries has a record of misconduct, and six of its former managers pleaded guilty or were convicted of defrauding the government.
Drew Griffin | BIO
CNN Investigative Correspondent
Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN
Outside a Manhattan mosque where the imam preaches against terrorism, the brothers of the "Revolution Muslim" are spreading a different message.
Protected by the Constitution of the country they detest, radical Muslim converts like Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed preach that the killing of U.S. troops overseas is justified. In their thinking, so were the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States - and so are attacks on almost any American.
"Americans will always be a target - and a legitimate target - until America changes its nature in the international arena," Mohammed said in an interview to air on tonight's "AC 360."
Al-Khattab and Mohammed consider al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden their model.
"I love him like I can't begin to tell you, because he doesn't seem to have done anything wrong from the sharia," al-Khattab said, referring to Islamic law. "If you're asking me if I love him as a Muslim, I love him more than I love myself."
Program Note: See an investigation into why authorities are concerned about the violent messages being preached outside a New York mosque on tonight's AC360° at 10 PM ET.
Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN
Outside a Manhattan mosque where the imam preaches against terrorism, the brothers of the "Revolution Muslim" are spreading a different message.
Protected by the Constitution of the country they detest, radical Muslim converts like Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed preach that the killing of U.S. troops overseas is justified. In their thinking, so were the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States - and so are attacks on almost any American.
"Americans will always be a target - and a legitimate target - until America changes its nature in the international arena," Mohammed said.
Al-Khattab and Mohammed consider al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden their model.
Drew Griffin | BIO
CNN Investigative Correspondent
Drew Griffin
CNN
Drew Griffin | BIO
CNN Investigative Correspondent
It’s New Orleans all over again. Just 2,600 miles south of Hawaii, so nobody is noticing.
American Samoa IS an American territory, but in some parts, it looked to me like the third world. Children rummaging through broken scraps of what once was a house, a woman making the family meal on an outside counter made from a broken door. A three- year-old, yes just three, walking barefoot through a debris field filled with nails. And where was any sign of government help? Nowhere.
After a devastating tsunami rocked the territory on September 29th, we got a tip by email.
The email told us American Samoa had a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to build a tsunami warning siren system. The system was never built. Thirty-four people died. And it's now the subject of an FBI investigation.
But the trip also uncovered much more: American Samoa’s government has been unresponsive to the needs of its hardest-hit villages. Billions of dollars in U.S. government handouts to this island show little to no signs of doing any good, and despite all the money taxpayers send here, very few federal officials have bothered to find out where it has been spent.
You will see the first of our reports tonight. When you watch, ask yourself what I kept asking: is this really America?
Drew Griffin and Kathleen Johnston
CNN Special Investigations Unit
Program Note: Watch Drew Griffin's report on these remote border crossings tonight on A360° at 10pm EST.
We were driving through some of the most remote country in the United States, chasing a story that seemed hard to believe.
The Department of Homeland Security had announced it was spending $31 million to enhance and upgrade two remote border crossings - just 12 miles apart - on the border between Montana and the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The spending was lauded by Montana's two senators, even though only an average of 22 cars a day traveled through these border posts.
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