CNN Fact Check has found White House figures on jobs created under the stimulus 'unreliable'.

Diana Holden
CNN

On Saturday, the administration reported that stimulus money funded nearly 600,000 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2009. The figure is based on responses from about 160,000 recipients of stimulus funds. Previously, the White House reported 640,329 jobs were created or saved through September 30.

This number was criticized because some recipients might have reported "saving" people who would not have been laid off. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, called the number "misleading and unreliable."

Fact Check: Are White House-reported figures on the number of jobs created under the stimulus plan unreliable? 

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CNN
Fact Check Desk

Citing a "deficit of trust" in government by Americans, President Obama's first State of the Union address urged Congress to work together to confront the nation's most pressing problems.

Our CNN Fact Check Desk is going over the details of the speech to drill down on all of the facts.

(PolitiFact) – Obama claims 2 million more Americans would be unemployed without stimulus

Verdict: Half True

Find out more and read all of our fact checks here...

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.

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Gary Tuchman and Katherine Wojtecki
AC360°

Nathan Halbach is 22, with a diagnosis of terminal brain cancer. He knows that "horrible stuff" lies ahead.

His mother, Pat Bond, has been taking care of him full time. But when she needed help, she reached out to the Roman Catholic Church.

After all, his father is a priest.

Nathan was born in 1986, during a five-year affair between his mother and Father Henry Willenborg, the Franciscan priest who celebrated Nathan's baptism. The Franciscan Order drew up an agreement acknowledging the boy's paternity and agreeing to pay child support in exchange for a pledge of confidentiality.

Now her son - the youngest of four children - may have just weeks to live. And when the Franciscans balked at paying for his care, she decided she was no longer bound by her pledge of confidentiality.

"I never asked for extraordinary amounts. I asked for the basic needs and care of my son," Bond said. But she said the church told her, "No, we are not Nathan's biological father, we have no legal obligation to your son."

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Program Note: Tune in tonight for Randi Kaye's report on this alleged case of stolen valor. AC360° 10 p.m. ET.

AC360°

The Legion of Valor was organized on April 23, 1890, in Washington, DC, by a group of Civil War and Indian War Campaign veterans who were recipients of the Medal of Honor. At its inception, the name was "The Medal of Honor Legion".

Legion of Valor comprises of members who have received either a medal of honor, a distinguished service cross, navy cross or air force cross. And uh of course other top two awards in each of the respective services.

It also condemns instances of stolen valor.

According to Thomas A. Richards, the membership chair of Legion of Valor, "Every time somebody steals valor and is recognized publicly, other people wonder when they see somebody else who who is decorated, who are served honorably, they wonder, “is that person a fraud too?” It chips away at our credibility a little bit at a time, every time that it happens."

Learn more about the Legion of War here.

Debris clutters a road in Pago Pago, American Samoa, after a devastating earthquake and tsunami last month.

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?

Program Note: Tune in tonight to hear Joe Johns' report on lobbying and the financial industry. AC360° at 10 p.m. ET.

Joe Johns and Justine Redman
AC360°

It may be a recession on your street, but good times are rolling along K Street in Washington DC – otherwise known as the home address for lobbyists.

Health care has become one of the most crucial political issues of 2009, and more than $293 million has been spent on health care lobbying so far this year. At this rate, 2009 looks like it will set a new record for lobbying.

The heat is still on, as the future of health care reform rides to a large extent on the power of individual members of congress. Today Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced he will introduce a bill including a "public option," when only a few weeks ago, a "public option" was considered as good as dead. These last few days, TV airwaves have been a seeming barrage of politicians and pundits frantically pushing their agendas. Whether it's Reid or other pivotal Senators such as Olympia Snowe, with every move they make, a frantic dance of lobbyists has preceded it.

According to figures published by the Center for Responsive Politics, there are currently 3,185 lobbyists working all sides of the health care issue. Congress has 535 members. That means there are nearly half a dozen lobbyists for every elected official on Capitol Hill on this topic alone.

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 Randi Kaye | Bio
AC360° Correspondent