SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Federal authorities are investigating an Illinois grant program run by an administrator who was fired for mismanagement but has returned to work with back pay and a raise.
A subpoena from the U.S. attorney in central Illinois obtained by The Associated Press and the Better Government Association demanded records about $2.55 million in job-training grant payments from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in 2009.
Deveda Francois was fired last year as head of the Employment Opportunities Grant Program. She was accused of distributing confidential information, pressuring grant recipients on whom to hire and more.
Commerce spokeswoman Kelly Jakubek says the agency found problems and alerted authorities. She says an arbitrator's ruling that reversed Francois' firing can't be appealed but Francois is in a different job.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
