In a joint investigation The News & Observer of Raleigh and The Charlotte Observer published the first of a five-part series that looks into the state's nonprofit hospitals. The series, "Prognosis: Profits," shows how urban hospitals are piling up huge profits and driving up the cost of health care.

"Cozy political connections, favorable tax treatment and little public oversight has allowed Miami charter school chain Academica to exploit Florida's laws, build a successful chain of schools, and profit off taxpayer dollars, a Miami Herald investigation has found.

Charter schools have grown into a $400-million-a-year business in South Florida, receiving about $6,000 in taxpayer dollars for every student enrolled but even when charter schools have been caught violating state laws, school districts have few tools to demand compliance."

Click here for the multi-part series; Cashing In On Kids

There’s no doubt that every city should have a children’s hospital, but what about three? Gilbert Gaul with Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with McClatchy, takes a hard look at why Orlando and other cities are building multiple children’s hospital,  and who’s behind the push.

The leading independent children’s hospitals are nonprofits, but you wouldn’t know that looking at the bottom lines of many of them – and at the million dollar salaries paid to CEOs. They’re pouring billions of dollars into new buildings, adding beds and equipment and staff at the same time ...

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Shaun Hittle, of the Lawrence Journal-World, investigates one charity in Lawrence, KS, and the man behind it.

Andrew Gruber, The Purple Heart Veterans Foundation’s director who payed his brother’s fundraising business nearly a half million dollars in 2010 is now being investigated on past criminal charges.  Among many other charges, Andrew spent time in a Kansas prison for felony theft after pleading guilty to stealing a rental car in 2000. Gruber was sentenced to probation and restitution in the case but failed to make timely payments toward the $11,000 court-ordered victim restitution and missed numerous court appearances ...

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The Wailuku Main Street Association, a nonprofit organization that supports and preserves small towns, has "accumulated more than $374,000 in unspent county grants." The organization claims that it is "frugal" practices that have allowed the buildup of unspent money. Critics of the nonprofit also question why the organization isn't required to show receipts or documentation that would be used to verify expenses. Several county records also show "that when officials have tried to impose tighter requirements on the organization, Wailuku Main Street has rebuffed the efforts."

Hospitals in Washington state receive millions in tax breaks from the state government. A report by John Ryan of Seattle public radio station KUOW has learned that some hospitals are paying their executives so much that the hospitals may no longer qualify for one of their biggest tax breaks. State tax collectors and legislators are beginning to examine the issue after learning of KUOW’s findings. Tens of millions of dollars could be at stake.

An investigation by John Ryan of Seattle public radio station KUOW found that 19 people working for nonprofit hospitals  in the Puget Sound region earned more than $1 million in 2008. The nonprofit groups paid the seven–figure sums even as Washington state fell into its worst recession in decades. According to the charities' filings with the IRS, another 59 employees earned at least $500,000 that year.

A review of federal tax records by Christopher Baxter of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) found that now-former leaders of a nationally prominent nonprofit with close and growing ties to Easton, Pa. improperly used nearly $1.9 million from the group's tax-free coffers for personal expenses between 2003 and 2008. The Nurture Nature Foundation, headquartered in New York City and owner of several properties in Easton, disclosed in the tax filing that two directors used foundation money for personal benefit in violation of the tax code. At the top of the list is famed professional arbitrator and philanthropist Theodore ... Read more ...

A watchdog report by Ellen Gabler of The Chicago Tribune revealed that Christine M.J. Oliver, the president of the nonprofit Chicago Dwellings Association, was paid about $685,00 in 2008.  Experts say this amount was nearly three times what other executives were paid at housing nonprofits in the area.

A Tacoma, WA affordable housing nonprofit misspent nearly $2 million in state funds meant to build a lavish business center in central Tacoma, an accountant’s review for the state’s commerce department has found. Lewis Kamb of The News Tribune reports about the review’s findings, prompted by his ongoing coverage of mismanagement allegations and financial turmoil at the nonprofit.