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Schools fail to report student misconduct accurately

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-Atlanta have a joint investigation about how Gwinnett County school officials underreported student misconduct in state reports. "Other school systems, including Atlanta Public Schools, also underreported disciplinary incidents, but Gwinnett's figures were the most misleading, painting a picture of schools where children rarely fight, steal or menace a classmate." The information is used, in part, to evaluate school safety and can factor in a child's ability to transfer from an unsafe school. Other school districts also underreported or failed to submit any data at all, writes D. Aileen Dodd, but Gwinnett, which maintains its own in-house database, "is the state's only school system whose numbers appear grossly erroneous in relation to its student population." Database editor David Milliron did the data analysis for the story, which has already prompted a state investigation.

Va. nursing homes suffer from poor oversight, funding

Bill Sizemore of The Virginian-Pilot reviewed inspection records and lawsuits and found "dozens of nursing homes throughout the region and the state have incurred stacks of safety and health-care violations." Most of the failures of Virginia facilities "can be traced to inadequate staffing, poor funding by the state, and the lack of any minimum legal standard for the amount of nursing care each patient must receive."

Uncollected property taxes costing county $8.3 million

Despite one of Florida's tightest state budget crunches, at least one county is forfeiting more than $8 million by not collecting delinquent property taxes, reports Mark Greenblatt of WBBH-Fort Myers. "It's happening because Charlotte County isn't cracking down on thousands of deadbeats who own land that's valued at less than $5,000." Since the investigation, county officials have agreed to auction off a majority of the properties that qualify for tax deed auction. WBBH also posted the list of all delinquents on its Web site.

Detroit residents most generous to charitable causes

Debra E. Blum and Harvy Lipman of the Chronicle of Philanthropy analyzed 1997 tax data to find that residents of Detroit, New York and Fort Worth are among the most generous donors to charitable causes. "The study, which was based on 1997 data from taxpayers who earn at least $50,000 and who itemized their deductions, found that people in Detroit donated 12.1 percent of their discretionary income, followed by residents of New York City and Fort Worth, who donated 10.9 percent." People living the Salt Lake City-Odgen region were tops among the largest metropolitan areas, giving away 14.9 percent of their discretionary income. In addition, charitable giving rates tended to be higher among blacks than whites of similar income levels. A note of caution, provided by the reporters: Because of the limitations of the IRS data, only small segments of the population were included in the study.

Company president accused of reimbursing workers' campaign donations

Dion Lefler and Van Williams of the Wichita Eagle investigate an allegation of campaign contribution reimbursement by executives at Cornejo & Sons, a construction company seeking to build and operate a landfill in Sedgwick County. The company and its partner, along with "affiliated firms, employees and their relatives gave more than $60,000 during the past two years to five candidates for Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita mayor." Ron Cornejo "said he could not explain why mayoral candidates received as many as 37 checks from him, his employees, their spouses and company affiliates on the same date, Jan. 29." The state ethics commission has begun an investigation.

Chris Davis and Matthew Doig of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune examine the Florida School Recognition Program, the centerpiece of state officials' plan to make schools more accountable. But the money spent by the schools to further the goals was hardly tracked. "Throughout its existence, the program that was designed to hold schools accountable for student performance has had little accountability of its own." A 14-month investigation found that "schools have spent enough recognition money on pizza parties, lawn mowers and other unlawful purchases to hire six teachers in every school district or buy 9,000 laptop computers."

Open-heart surgery becoming big business, but patient wellbeing questioned

When it comes to heart surgeries, "surgeons have long known that practice helps make perfect, and that patients overall do better when surgical teams perform high numbers of procedures." But Karl Stark and Josh Goldstein of The Philadelphia Inquirer analyzed state data on area hospitals to find that "two-thirds of the 21 hospitals with heart programs failed to meet the minimum of 350 operations a year required across the river by New Jersey, for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2002. All but five programs failed to meet the stricter, 450-case standard that Pennsylvania once required but which the legislature allowed to lapse in late 1996." Links to sidebars, graphics and Part 2 are at the bottom of the story.

California's conservation backfires on the world's environment

Environmental reporter Tom Knudson of the Sacramento Bee anchors an imaginative project by the paper that attempts to assess the impact that Californians have on the world environment. "With 34 million people and the world's fifth-largest economy, California has long consumed more than it produces. But today, its passion for protecting natural resources at home while importing them in record quantities from afar is backfiring on the world's environment." The analysis includes how the newspaper itself does business, especially in buying newsprint.

Little accountability for Tucscon ambulances

Rhonda Bodfield and Enric Volante of the Arizona Daily Star reviewed nearly 100,000 ambulance calls in Pima County to find that many response times exceeded the eight-minute "gold standard" favored by researchers. "Some states set and enforce an optimum response target, but not Arizona, where ambulance service providers essentially set their own goals then relax them if they miss." The three-part series also focuses on Rural/Metro Corp., the dominant ambulance company in the area. The story includes a sidebar on how they did the story.

University's credit card charges raise questions

The Kansas City Star spent five years seeking access to audits of the University of Missouri system's credit cards, and reporters Kevin Murphy and Shashank Bengali detail how auditors have routinely found questionable purchases and sought reimbursements. Some $75 million was charged to university procurement cards last year, and spot checks by auditors in eight departments resulted in "$124,000 in transactions that lacked receipts or did not comply with spending policies. Although the systemwide effect cannot be determined, that sample could indicate that more than $3 million in charges would raise questions."

Foundation president makes $717,000 as organizations loses 25 percent of assets

Eric Nalder of the San Jose Mercury News reports that even as the James Irvine Foundation lost 25 percent of its assets and laid off staff, it "spent millions of dollars on its longtime president, Dennis Collins -- from a compensation package that reached $717,000 one year to lavish retirement fetes and gifts." Collins' 1999 compensation "was so high that he could face sanctions if the IRS audited the foundation." It didn't. Collins stepped down last year but was retained as a paid consultant.

$218,000+for+one+judge

Illinois judges rake it in from attorneys

Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post Dispatch looked at campaign finance records for Illinois judges in Madison County -- known nationwide for its big jury awards -- and found that lawyers were the most frequent contributors. The analysis also found that judges running for election or retention in Madison County last year averaged more than $100,000 each in campaign receipts. That's three times the roughly $29,000 average the newspaper found for judges statewide and 10 times the $10,000 average in Cook County's crowded judicial system.

Number of medical malpractice suits stays steady but awards rise

An analysis of court records by Naomi Snyder of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times in Texas shows that while the number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed in Nueces County hasn't changed much since 1995, judgments from such cases have increased rapidly, leading to calls to limit those types of suits. The paper found that between 79 and 102 medical malpractice suits were filed every year in district and county courts around Corpus Christi. No statewide information for Texas is available.

N.J. changes policy on selling spare police weapons

Michael Diamond and John Froonjian of The Press of Atlantic City report that, even as New Jersey officials decry the availability of guns, their own police agencies have been selling spare and seized weapons to gun dealers. "Newark has provided more than 1,500 firearms to gun dealers who in turn sell the used weapons over the counter. Like most New Jersey cities, Newark trades in used police weapons to dealers who provide a large discount when the city buys new police guns. It's as legal as selling popcorn." More than 100 of the 12,000 weapons traded in between 1985 and 2000 were used in crimes, according to the paper's analysis of federal gun records. As a result of the report, New Jersey's governor announced the state will destroy used police guns.

Bay Area arts organizations strained by drop in contributions

Joshua Kosman, Erin McCormick, Steven Winn and Todd Wallack of the San Francisco Chronicle report on the anemic financial state of leading Bay Area cultural organizations, which are "straining to cope with dwindling donations, volatile endowment funds, cuts in government grants and smaller, choosier audiences." The paper used the groups' annual financial statements to show a drop in contributions and investment losses. A second part deals with the impact on midsize groups.

Legislators live in house subsidized by church

Lara Jakes Jordan of The Associated Press delves into the housing arrangement for six members of Congress who share a Capitol Hill townhouse "that is subsidized by a secretive religious organization," according to tax records. The building is owned by a group known as the "Fellowship," which puts on the annual National Prayer Breakfast and is registered with the IRS as a church. Rent for the lawmakers is $600 a month.

FBI turned down chance to buy biological weapons

Joby Warrick and John Mintz of The Washington Post have a startling tale of biological weapons from South Africa. In the first of a two-part series, the paper details how a former South African government scientist offered a deadly bacteria sample to the FBI, seeking in return American citizenship and as much as $5 million. The FBI turned him down and others fear that the privately held germs could fall into the wrong hands.

Calif. legislative aides well rewarded

Next door in California, Dion Nissenbaum of Knight-Ridder Newspapers analyzed the salaries of state legislative staffers and discovered that despite a dire financial situation, "lawmakers last year rewarded loyal aides with generous raises and six-figure salaries that have driven legislative spending to record levels." More than 150 of 2,200 legislative aides earned six figures in 2002, and 30 make more than $125,000 -- the average legislator's salary. Another analysis, by the Sacramento Bee's Jim Sanders, found that 80 of the state Assembly's "highest-paid staffers received salary increases while legislators grappled during the past year with the worst budget crisis in state history."

Nearly 2,000 Nevada government employees in $100,000 club

Dave Berns of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reviewed state payroll records to find that 1,857 Nevada state, county and local employees earned at least $100,000 in 2002. The last time the paper did a similar survey, in 1997, it found 489 workers in the $100,000 club. "The state system of higher education employed the largest share of six-figure wage earners at 552, with 13 of the state's top 25 moneymakers teaching at Nevada's only medical school."

Democratic presidential hopefuls benefit from campaign reform

Richard A. Oppel Jr. of The New York Times used data from the FEC and a Public Interest Research Group report to reveal the effect of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform act on fundraising for the Democratic presidential primary. The elimination of large soft money contributions to the parties aside, hard money contributions -- now allowable for up to $2,000 rather than the previous $1,000 -- have increased by 40 percent over what they would have been under the prior system.

Fingers pointing to leader of public TV station

Cheryl Phillips and Kay McFadden at The Seattle Times looked into the woes of public-television station KCTS to find that while the station's president, Burnill "Burnie" Clark, blamed problems on a poor economy, many insiders blame him. "Employees, former executives and the station's own paid consultants say Clark runs the public entity like a private fiefdom." Clark, who knew the investigation was about to be published, resigned April 17. The Web site carries supporting documents, a timeline and the executive editors' column about the investigation.

USOC failed to penalize athletes who failed drug tests

Scott M. Reid, William Heisel and Tony Saavedra of the Orange County Register detailed this week a massive failure by the U.S. Olympic Committee in dealing with drug use by American athletes. For more than 10 years, the USOC and other federations "allowed athletes who failed drug tests in qualifying events to compete in the Olympic Games and other world-class competitions." Internal documents reviewed by the paper show that officials also kept positive test results secret, including tests in 1988 that showed sprinter Carl Lewis had taken banned stimulants.

Troubled N.Y. vans for disabled have sharp increase in accidents

Continuing its investigation of New York City's public transportation service for the disabled, the Daily News found that vans used by the Access-A-Ride program "are involved in more serious accidents and failing more safety inspections than ever before." Greg B. Smith writes that "accidents involving injuries and major damage jumped 228 percent to 619 in 2002 from 189 in 2001, the largest increase in the past five years." Other vans have been ordered sidelined by state inspectors.