The state of Iowa has suspended payments to a taxpayer-funded Des Moines charity that provides counseling for children and families.

The charity, A New Beginning, was the subject of a March 29 Des Moines Register report that said the organization was the subject of examinations by the Iowa Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and the U.S. attorney’s office.

Last week, the Iowa Department of Human Services notified the charity’s chief executive officer, Kenneth Cameron, that it was suspending all Medicaid payments to A New Beginning because of credible allegations that it was billing taxpayers for services it never delivered. The notice indicates that the dollar value at issue is the $226,000 the charity receives from Medicaid each year.

I understand the USA is going though some tough times but it is sad to see people stooping so low as to commit fraud at charities, especially important ones like this.

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Love it!

Pop star Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, stepped out of a limo at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater to announce the launch of a new nonprofit, the Born This Way Foundation (BTWF), aimed at combating childhood bullying, especially among young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans-gendered (LGBT).

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The car dealership has been selecting a handful of charities each month, then allowing Facebook fans to vote on their favorite charity. The charity with the most votes at the end of the month will receive a $1,000 donation. Fans can vote once per day.

“I can’t  believe we have been invited to participate because our project was kinda little compared to all the other charities that have been competing, but we are also the first New Tampa charity to compete,” Patricia Murphy, of the woman’s club, wrote to New Tampa Patch when she learned Books For Troops would be included. “I seriously can’t contain my excitement.”

Murphy said the Books For Troops project began Oct. 1 and has collected more books than it had anticipated. While the girls underestimated the support from the community, there is not enough money to ship all of the books to U.S. troops serving overseas.

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We had a chance to do a little promotion at the Monster Jam Tour Toronto with our founding member (Standard Auto Wreckers).  This show was so much fun!!!

Selena Gomez has announced her second annual charity concert for UNICEF.

The ‘Hit The Lights’ singer and her band The Scene will perform at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California on Friday, January 20.

Fan club tickets go on sale today (January 5) from 10am PT through her official website, with general public tickets then available from January 6 at 5pm PT through Ticketmaster.  Gomez teased the event on her Twitter account, writing: “Have some surprise guests lined up for the UNICEF charity show… can’t wait to share them with you.”

She added in a statement to her website: “Giving back has always been important to me. This concert allows me to connect with my fans in person which is one of the best parts of my job and to raise money for important causes at the same time. I can’t think of anything I would enjoy doing more.”

The 19-year-old singer and actress has been a UNICEF Ambassador since 2009, working to raise awareness of the issues facing vulnerable children across the world.

Keep up the good work Selena!

The Knowledge to Action foundation was first conceived in November 2010 when Greg and I were at The Ubuntu Education Fund’s spectacular gala dinner in New York. With The Dave Matthews band playing and hosted by Chris Rock’s wife, it was an incredible evening with close to 700 people in attendance. The star studded crowd pulled together in the spirit of giving and among them managed to raise over $2 million dollars for this worthy cause. We were both blown away by how much money the evening raised for the charity. That evening really showed us that when people work together big things can happen. This inspired us to ask ourselves, “What could we do to make a difference?”

Read the full story here.

The X Factor girl group Rhythmix are to change their name, following a threat of legal action by a Brighton charity with the same name.

The charity uses music to help disadvantaged youngsters and claims Simon Cowell’s production company Syco had initially failed to enter into a discussion about the name clash.

It said that having a band with the same name would affect its future work.

The X Factor said the girls would announce a new name “in due course”.

Producers at X Factor said they knew the charity existed, although the band had originally settled on the name without being aware it was used elsewhere.

Read the full article here.

The Buoniconti Fund’s aim find a cure for paralysis resulting from spinal cord injuries. The fund was founded by football legend Nick Buoniconti after his son Marc suffered a spinal cord injury during a college football game.

Each year, The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis holds the Great Sports Legends Dinner honoring sports figures and philanthropic heroes in order to bring awareness and support to the fund.

This year’s 26th Annual Great Sports Legends Dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York raised more than $10 million for paralysis research. One of the standout sports honorees was Kerrigan and Cause Celeb was lucky enough to speak with her about the event.

Read the full article and interview here.

Great stud out of the UK which sheds light on the reasons fatal traffic accidents happen!

If there are two questions that everyone from police to policy makers have asked over the last one hundred or so years of motoring, it’s these: “How do accidents happen?” and “How can we stop them from happening?”

With regards to the first, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) in the UK has analysed some 700,000 fatal road accidents that occurred over a four year period between 2005 and 2009.

Their so-called Licensed to Skill report aims to identify the leading causes of automotive accidents in the UK, the results of which may surprise you. License to Skill project manager Neil Greig explains:

Read the full article here.