News Roundup

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports that Joe Wiseman has reached a civil settlement with Buncombe County that requires him to pay the county $150,000 related to his participation in bribery and kickback schemes with former county officials.  The settlement also requires Wiseman to provide testimony and otherwise cooperate in potential future prosecutions.  The Citizen-Times additionally notes that Wiseman recently reported to federal prison to begin serving the sentence resulting from his guilty plea earlier this year.  Keep reading for more news. Pugh.  In other public corruption news, CBS Baltimore reports that former Baltimore Mayer Catherin Pugh pleaded guilty to several federal fraud and tax evasion charges this week after being indicted last week.  Among other things, an indictment in the case alleged that Pugh claimed her taxable income in 2016 was $31,020 when in fact it was $322,365, a discrepancy that reduced Pugh’s tax liability by almost $100,000. Prison Drugs.  WRAL has a recent report that takes a look at the creative ways in which people attempt to smuggle drugs into the state’s correctional facilities.  Some approaches are basic, such as simply throwing a duct-taped football filled with drugs over a fence, while others are more complex, involving convincing camouflage.  The report goes on to note that a significant portion of the state’s offenders who were subject to drug tests over a seven-month period tested positive for drugs, with a statewide rate of 10%.  The piece includes a breakdown of rates of positive tests at various North Carolina facilities. [Update: A helpful [...]