A story I've been working on for about two weeks appears in today's paper. It focuses on Paul Marvel, an Evansville Police Department officer who resigned shortly before a hearing to consider a recommendation he be fired. The details of his alleged misconduct haven't been released, but police say it generally involves failing to perform his job and isn't criminal in nature.

I started getting curious about Marvel when his hearing date was delayed for months by his lawyer and the merit board. Pending the hearing, he was on suspension with pay. So delaying it meant he would earn extra money in the interim. And, ultimately, he didn't even go forward with the hearing and resigned instead.

As I investigated how much money he made during that span, another element developed: the city actually agreed to give him a fairly significant buyout in exchange for the resignation.

It all made for a very fascinating story that revealed taxpayers forked over more than $30,000 in salary for Marvel for time he spent not working.