What We've Found: Mismanaged neighborhood initiative, Afghan corruption, Iraqi textbooks, Saudi request, fake sounds for hybrids and new Philly anti-pollution hotline

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What We've Found: Mismanaged neighborhood initiative, Afghan corruption, Iraqi textbooks, Saudi request, fake sounds for hybrids and new Philly anti-pollution hotline

POSTED: Wednesday, October 14, 2009, 3:22 PM
Filed Under: What We've Found

Julia Harte with your morning fix.

Ex-Mayor Street's mostly unsuccessful initiative to transform neighborhoods by demolishing derelict buildings and constructing new homes failed to make payments and timely reports on its progress, according to a new audit, whose authors warned that the city may owe the IRS millions of dollars in penalties.

Government corruption in Afghanistan threatens to thwart the U.S. army's efforts there no matter how many more soldiers the government adds, Army General Stanley McChrystal wrote in a still-secret request for between 10,000 to 80,000 extra troops.

Iraqi schoolchildren were starting school and reading textbooks that have replaced long sections of accolades about Saddam Hussein with more realistic descriptions of his regime, including Hussein's oppression of the country's Shiite and Kurdish minorities.

Saudi negotiators were declaring that wealthy countries would be obliged to assist oil-producing countries with economic diversification if they reduce their oil consumption to combat climate change.

Hybrid auto companies were working with Hollywood special-effects producers to create fake motor sounds that the notoriously silent vehicles will emit out of their bumpers to warn pedestrians of their approach.

Philadelphia's Clean Air Council opened a new hotline that people can call to report trucks and buses that are idling their motors for more than the legal limit of five minutes.

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