"An East Tennessee grandmother said she tried in vain to get the Department of Children’s Services to intervene when she feared her newborn grandson was living in an unsafe environment. DCS already had opened an investigation in March 2012 after the baby was born with symptoms of drug withdrawal. He also was born prematurely with a severe birth defect: the infant’s intestines were outside his body, but he underwent surgery before going home. By June, he was dead at just 9 weeks old. The grandmother’s call for help is not noted in DCS records," according to an ...

"A decade after L.A. County auditors delivered a harsh assessment of Teens Happy Homes, probe finds that children were repeatedly harmed in recent years and dubious financial practices grew," according to an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.

Taken for a Ride: Temp Agencies and ‘Raiteros’ in Immigrant Chicago | ProPublica and Marketplace
“Some of America's best-known companies and largest temp agencies benefit from — and tacitly collaborate with — an underworld of labor brokers, known as raiteros, who charge workers fees, pushing their pay below minimum wage.”

Problems keep proliferating at discredited private foster care agency | Los Angeles Times
“A decade after L.A. County auditors delivered a harsh assessment of Teens Happy Homes, probe finds that children were repeatedly harmed in recent years and dubious financial practices grew.”

Mortgage Mess | NBC Bay Area
“Tens of thousands of Bay ...

VG of Norway reports that more than half of kindergartens in Norway have broken the law in the last three years. VG journalists sent hundreds of FOIA requests and analyzed roughly 31,000 pages of audit reports. They found a total of 6,400 violations during that span, including careless hygiene, poor security and failure to meet staffing requirements.

See the full report here. Using DocumentCloud, VG also created a database of the reports.

Center for Investigative Reporting
VA’s ability to quickly provide benefits plummets under Obama
“Internal VA documents, obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting and authenticated by the agency, reveal that delays newly returning veterans face before receiving disability compensation and other benefits are far longer than the agency has publicly acknowledged. The documents also offer insight into some of the reasons for those delays.”

The Houston Chronicle
Pasadena Superfund site's owner indicted, missing
“In reality, prosecutors said, he is a polluter responsible for a 17-acre disaster - hundreds of dumpsters and concrete tanks vaporizing hazardous chemicals into the air ...

An Arizona Republic investigation finds some of Arizona's most severely troubled youth have reportedly been sexually and physically abused in residential treatment centers amid lax oversight by the state agencies that license, monitor, fund and assign children to the facilities.

Some of Arizona’s most severely troubled youths have reportedly been sexually and physically abused in residential treatment centers amid lax oversight by the state agencies that license, monitor, fund and assign children to the facilities, an Arizona Republic investigation has found.

Center for Public Integrity
Nonprofit spends big on politics despite IRS limitation
“The American Future Fund’s investment in California was part of a nationwide, political advertising spree in 2012 that exceeded $29 million, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of state and federal records.”

The Boston Globe
Another free pass for Ivan the Incorrigible
“This long-running spree of crime has led US immigration officials to try, at least three times in the past 12 years, to detain and deport Vaclavik. But each time he has challenged the effort with a lawsuit — and each time immigration has backed ...

“For children who died in 2011, the average length of time between a death and the release of the state review was 5½ months. The lag in reports comes even as lawmakers are calling for reform in the child welfare system and the legislative session opens Wednesday.”