An article says a certain state normally has so many millions of dollars each year to disperse to law enforcement. Unless officials plan to toss bills into the wind, letting cops run for them, the writer meant disburse.

This is a common error and warrants an especially involved entry in Garner's Modern American Usage. Disburse means to pay out, as from a fund. Disperse means to scatter or spread widely or in all directions.

Those with editors are as confused as anyone. You'll find dozens of errors (mixed in with some correct uses) when you run these queries in Google News: dispersed, disperse, dispersing money; dispersed, disperse, dispersing funds.

It works the other way as well. You'll find plenty of erroneous references on Google News to crowds that disbursed or disburse.