10/12/2009 - About $270 million in federal stimulus money awarded by the Federal Aviation Administration has gone to more than 90 airport projects that received low-priority ratings by the FAA, according to data by Subsidyscope, an initiative of The Pew Charitable Trusts.

The funds make up about a quarter of the $1.1 billion the FAA has granted to airports for shovel-ready projects from March through September this year. Projects typically must score above 41 on a scale of 1 to 100 to qualify for FAA grants, but the threshold was raised to 62 for the federal stimulus funds, passed by Congress earlier this year.

The FAA says its project priority-rating system is "the first evaluation factor" to categorize airport development but is just one of several tools in determining appropriate projects to fund.

Read the full article Airport Check-In: Low-Priority Projects Get Stimulus Funds on USA Today's Web site.