Archive for March, 2006

N.C. drinking water safety in doubt

Friday, 03/31/06 Posted in CAR, Government (federal/state/local), Health, Mapping

In a three-part series, Pat Stith of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer shows the "state's regulation of drinking water reveals disregard for safety of private wells, weak regulation of ... Read more..

U.S. planes have no defense against shoulder-fired missiles

Friday, 03/31/06 Posted in Broadcast, Homeland Security

Brian Ross, Jill Rackmill and Eric Longabardi report for ABC News that "experts say that shoulder-to-air missiles can be bought for only a few thousand dollars on the black market. ... Read more..

Nev. rural emergency services face challenges

Wednesday, 03/29/06 Posted in CAR, Health, Transportation

Reporters Steve Timko, Jason Hidalgo and Jim Sloan of the Reno Gazette-Journal examine rural emergency services in Nevada. Timko used data from the Department of Transportation's Fatal Accident Reporting System ... Read more..

Public records request frightens workers

Wednesday, 03/29/06 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local)

Tamara Koehler of the Ventura County Star reports on the paper's public records audit showing that 40 percent of county government agencies failed to comply with requests. "Ventura Unified School ... Read more..

High salaries, free spending at N.Y. agency

Wednesday, 03/29/06 Posted in First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local)

Michelle Breidenbach of The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post-Standard looks into the "high salaries and free spending of the public's money at the New York Power Authority," the state's publicly owned power ... Read more..

Mortgage industry employs felons

Wednesday, 03/29/06 Posted in Business, Housing

Geoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch continues to follow the predatory lending business and practices in Ohio. He finds that "leaders of the brokers association have urged lawmakers to reject ... Read more..

Builders, nonprofit have close ties

Wednesday, 03/29/06 Posted in Business, Nonprofit

Reese Dunklin of The Dallas Morning News reports that "The low-income housing builders at the heart of the FBI's corruption investigation at City Hall created a nonprofit organization, stocked it ... Read more..

IRE Award winners announced

Tuesday, 03/28/06 Posted in IRE News

Toxic dumping, public corruption investigations among winners Investigative stories about deceit in Cleveland's public school district and an environmental disaster in New Jersey won the top prizes in the 2005 IRE ... Read more..

Federal fines go uncollected across the nation

Monday, 03/27/06 Posted in CAR, First Amendment & FOIA, Government (federal/state/local)

Martha Mendoza and Christopher Sullivan of The Associated Press used federal records to show that the amount of unpaid federal fines has risen sharply in the past decade, in an ... Read more..

Car donations to charities thwarted by salvage companies

Monday, 03/27/06 Posted in Broadcast, Justice (courts/crime/law), Nonprofit

Dave Savini of WBBM-Chicago used a computer database of vehicle identification numbers to show criminals are cashing in on vehicles donated to charity, in a series that exposed how two ... Read more..