In the latest installment of The Washington Post’s look at the ways in which Wall Street innovation outpaced Washington regulation, Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Brady Dennis look at the role played by American International Group (AIG). They find that many of the most compelling aspects of the economic cataclysm can be seen through the story [...]
Archive for December, 2008
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Ohio children die despite state oversight
December 30th, 2008 
admin An investigation by Randy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch uncovered that more than one-third of the Ohio children who died from abuse and neglect from 2002 to 2007 died on the watch of county children services agencies. The story revealed that caseworkers regularly made fatal mistakes by leaving imperiled children in abusive homes. The package [...]
Many NBA players’ charities mismanaged
December 30th, 2008 admin A Salt Lake Tribune analysis of NBA player-run charities found they face a wide range of problems, from meager funding and high administrative costs to a lack of professional staffing and oversight. Tax records indicate these 89 charities together raised at least $31 million between 2005 and 2007, but only about $14 million of that [...]
Athletes’ SAT scores lag at major colleges and universities
December 29th, 2008 admin An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that football and men’s basketball players on the nation’s big-time college teams averaged hundreds of points lower on their SATs than their classmates. The investigation involved using state open records acts to request reports that colleges must file with the NCAA disclosing SAT scores of their athletes. More than 50 [...]
Officers use deadly deadly force against unarmed suspects
December 28th, 2008 admin A Los Angeles Times investigation has found that over the last six years, police officers in Inglewood, Calif., have repeatedly resorted to physical or deadly force against suspects who were unarmed or accused of minor offenses. In the span of four months this year, Inglewood officers shot and killed four people, three of them unarmed. The [...]
Maryland hospitals sue over unpaid bills while collecting surplus funds
December 23rd, 2008 admin An eight-month investigation by Fred Schulte and James Drew of The Baltimore Sun found that over the past five years some of Maryland’s 46 nonprofit hospitals have received millions of surplus dollars from the government even as they sued tens of thousands of patients over unpaid bills. Many of these suits have been filed against patients in [...]
EPA allows companies to keep chemical information secret
December 23rd, 2008 admin In the latest installment of their ongoing 18-month investigation, Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency routinely allows companies to keep new information about their chemicals secret, including compounds that have been shown to cause cancer and respiratory problems. The newspaper examined more than 2,000 [...]
Mayors’ requests laden with pork
December 19th, 2008 Beth CNN’s Abbie Boudreau and Scott Zamost found more than $300 million in questionable projects submitted to Congress by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Losing Louisiana series
December 18th, 2008 Beth A project by The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.) looks at the precarious nature of southern Louisiana as land sinks due to subsidence while the waters of the Gulf are rising.
Smoke and Mirrors: The Subversion of the EPA
December 17th, 2008 Beth A four-part series in The Philadelphia Inquirer looks into the Environmental Protection Agency’s management under the Bush administration.
