Jarret Bencks reports in the Eagle-Tribune that the jobs that the federal government’s Recovery.gov website claims to have produced just aren’t there.

The housing authority submitted the total number of people who worked on the project, but they were supposed to submit a figure that would reflect the job creation over a year-long period.

Kierstead said they tried to correct the error online, but couldn’t. So data available to the public still says that 25 jobs were created by the project, and those 25 are included in the national tally that claims more than 640,000 jobs have been created thanks to stimulus funding.

The attempted transparency also is making it difficult for some to get their share of the federal handouts.

The Salem School District already has started to spend stimulus money it has been approved for improvements to special education. But the cash hasn’t officially been handed down by the state’s Department of Education. The district has hired an assessment specialist, a behavior analyst and several reading assistants.