It’s always nice to see issues we’ve been talking about make the media. And this week, we have a hat trick.

First, the B.C. Lottery Corporation’s deal with Roberto Luongo has finally been revealed by investigative journalist Bob Mackin. The BCLC had refused to disclose the payment when we requested it under the Freedom of Information Act (we are currently appealing that). But Mackin has the details:

Roberto Luongo was paid $160,000 last year for endorsing the Crown corp's online poker site and appearing in casino poker tournaments, Business in Vancouver has discovered.

Luongo, who is expected to be traded when the National Hockey League lockout ends, has appeared in advertising campaigns on behalf of the Crown corporation's PlayNow.com and in River Rock Casino Resort poker tournaments.

In the year ended March 31, 2012, BCLC covered his $10,000 buy-in, as well as travel and accommodation expenses, for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas last July, when Luongo finished 634th out of 6,598 players and won $19,277.

The BCLC's newly published Statement of Financial Information disclosed the payments to Luongo. Copies of Luongo's endorsement contract obtained via Freedom of Information were heavily censored by BCLC to hide the dollar values.

Next, the National Post’s Brian Hutchinson roasts Abbotsford’s corporate welfare deal with the Abbotsford Heat AHL team, something we’ve been banging the drum on for a while. From the Post:

Year One: Taxpayers fork over $450,637 to cover the Heat’s revenue miss.

Year Two: Much worse. $1.3 million is wasted on the Heat.

Year Three: Figures for the 2011-12 AHL season were released last week. A record $1.76 million revenue shortfall for the Heat, to be covered by Joe and Judy Ratepayer.

Will it ever end? Not until the 10-year agreement expires. Why would the Heat owners and the Calgary Flames bail before then? They’ve never had it so good.

Finally, I could link to dozens of our stories about TransLink waste, but I’ll skip that and refer you to Jon Ferry’s latest piece in The Province:

I also think TransLink remains in denial over the fat remaining in the $1.3-billion-a-year organization.

A recent government audit, for example, unearthed $41 million in possible savings, in addition to the $98 million that had already been found.

It found that estimated fare-evasion had soared 120 per cent from $6.6 million in 2001 to $14.5 million in 2011, while ridership rose just 21 per cent.

Indeed, if there’s a single word that’s followed TransLink over the years it’s “freeloader,” as in “I’m not paying for a ticket to ride, why would I?”

Or it might be “jackpot,” as in “I’ve just landed a cushy, six-figure job with TransLink police and I’ve hit the jackpot.”

Or it might simply be “stubborn,” describing those TransLink officials who for most of the past 25 years have stubbornly insisted fare-evasion was well within accepted limits and the “honour system” worked just fine.

Well, the system obviously worked fine ... for cheats.

TransLink, though, had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the realization that this really, really angered honest, decent farepayers, destroying their confidence in the system.