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Arizona-Mexico border deaths undercounted by Border Patrol

Claudine LoMonaco of the Tucson Citizen checked federal statistics on border deaths of illegal immigrants in Arizona with reports filed by local offices of the Border Patrol and other law enforcement agencies, finding that "from the start of the fiscal year in October 2002 through Sunday, as many as 171 people have died in Arizona -- 43 percent more than the official Border Patrol figure of 119." Among the reasons for the Border Patrol's lower numbers, the paper explains, is poor coordination with police departments and geographic limitations. The agency only counts deaths in counties along the border. In addition, there is no requirement to notify the Border Patrol when a foreign national dies, even though other local authorities get such notice.

Okla. lobbyists spend $46,000 on gifts

Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman reviewed state disclosure reports and found that lobbyists "have spent at least $46,000 so far this year on gifts for Oklahoma politicians, their families and their aides." Among the presents were tickets to the NCAA basketball tournament and an Elton John-Billy Joel concert. Just 60 of 400 registered lobbyists accounted for the gifts. (Free registration required.)

One-fifth of D.C. police recruits fail test on first try

David A. Fahrenthold of The Washington Post requested records detailing exam results for Washington D.C. police trainees and found that more than 20 percent of recruits flunked the final test on their first try, a much higher percentage than other jurisdictions. "Policing experts said that the poor scores on the District's final exam might signal a flaw in the teaching or testing of new officers or show where the city's police academy missed a crucial opportunity to test the readiness of its graduates." After submitting a FOIA request for the records, the paper got to review test results for the last 17 classes at the police academy.

Gap in law makes fondling more serious than statutory rape

Dorren Klausnitzer of The Tennessean compiled state education records showing that teachers accused of statutory rape face lesser penalties than those charged with fondling a student. "That difference is a huge gap in the Tennessee penal code, a gap that was a factor in almost 40% of the known cases in Middle Tennessee involving sexual abuse between teachers and teens." Tennessee and 22 other states have "no laws that specifically address those in a position of trust engaging in sex with students."

Data pinpoints concentrations of lead-poisoned children

Wendy Wendland-Bowyer, Tina Lam and Megan Christensen of the Detroit Free Press used state health data to pinpoint the neighborhoods with the most lead-poisoned children in Michigan. Areas of Grand Rapids, Detroit and Benton Harbor showed the highest concentrations of sick children. "More surprising is the fact that health officials did not use the data to zero in on areas where the poisoned children lived."

Baltimore officials get gifts, free parking

Doug Donovan of The (Baltimore) Sun used public records to illustrate the perks of being elected to the Baltimore City Council. "Public documents and interviews reveal that a majority of council members have hired relatives as paid assistants and the entire council receives gifts, such as free parking and movie passes, not enjoyed by most Baltimoreans." Ten of the 19 members have put a relative on the payroll, and council members get free parking from a garage seeking tax breaks from the city. "Everybody does it, so I didn't know there was anything wrong with it," Councilwoman Pamela V. Carter said. "No one has ever said anything to me that it was against the ethics law."

Water, sewage authorities hand out cash and favors

Ted Sherman of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger finds that two public agencies "dole out plenty of patronage appointments, jobs for friends and family, and millions in engineering, legal and other professional fees to those with political ties." The authorities, responsible for supplying drinking water and treating sewage, have faced little public scrutiny. Sherman also found that the agencies employ elected officials, their top lawyers were key supporters of the governor and at least two of the authorities' commissioners make more money than the governor.

Charlotte doing little to stem pet population

Michelle Crouch and Scott Dodd of The Charlotte Observer examined the plight of animals in the Carolinas and found that "dogs and cats are being killed in shelters throughout the Carolinas at rates that far surpass the average across the country." The series also finds that Charlotte does very little to stem the increasing pet population and that the Humane Society "spends more than half its budget on overhead." After the three-part series was published, the North Carolina legislature and the Charlotte City Council pledged to help change things.

Museum runs up millions in debt

Bruce Murphy of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has a two-part series on the finances of the Milwaukee Art Museum, which has millions in debt and has run up $9 million in yearly expenses since the opening of a new wing in 2001. "Rarely has a major non-profit in Milwaukee faced so dire a financial situation, or needed such a rapid rescue, to judge by a review of the museum's annual audit, loan documents and tax filings." Donors are being asked to make planned contributions as a lump sum instead of as annual installments, but some have declined. The second part of the series asks, given the museum's financial situation, whether the 2001 addition was worth the cost.

Black middle class faces different lifestyle

David Mendell and Darnell Little of the Chicago Tribune examined Census data to find that "despite the upward economic mobility of many African-Americans during the prosperous latter half of the 1990s, members of the black middle class experience a radically different social reality than their white counterparts." Middle-class blacks in Chicago face more poverty, blight and crime in their neighborhoods; the paper's analysis "showed that 78 percent of such black middle-class block groups in Chicago were within half a mile of block groups where at least one-third of residents lived in poverty. By contrast, fewer than 25 percent of white middle-class block groups in Chicago were within half a mile of areas with poverty levels that high."

California's hit-and-run crisis

Michael Cabanatuan and Erin McCormick of the San Francisco Chronicle analyzed traffic accident data to show that California drivers are more likely than those in any other state to flee the scene of fatal accidents. And hit-and-run accidents are on the rise in California: "The number of fatal hit-and- run traffic deaths statewide jumped by 19 percent from 1999 to 2001, federal statistics show. Nearly 300 people are killed annually in hit-and-run accidents in the state." One partial explanation is the number of California drivers with a suspended or revoked license -- or no license at all. "In fatal hit-and-run accidents in which the driver's license status was known, 49 percent had suspended, expired or revoked licenses or were not licensed at all." Note: The IRE and NICAR database library offers the Department of Transportation's Fatal Accident Reporting System database for reporters interested in pursuing similar stories.

Police accused of domestic violence get special treatment

Ruth Teichroeb and Julie Davidow of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had a three-part series this week on Western Washington police officers involved in domestic violence incidents. "Over the past five years, 41 officers in King and Pierce counties alone have been accused of assaulting, stalking, threatening or harassing their wives, girlfriends or children." Half faced charges, and most did not suffer professionally. The paper found that police departments often do not immediately arrest officers accused of domestic violence, and often do not take away their weapons.

Nearly all of governor's top staffers donated to campaign

Paul Carrier of the Portland Press Herald reviewed lists of Maine Gov. John Baldacci's top political appointments to find that Baldacci "favors cash-carrying loyalists when hiring people for top jobs in his administration, but not when it comes to filling hundreds of other political appointments in state government." Nearly every top official had given money to Baldacci's 2002 campaign, but just 15 percent of the 287 political appointees hired or kept on by the governor had contributed.

Utah police most disciplined for sexual misconduct

Dan Harrie of The Salt Lake Tribune found that many of the internal discipline charges lodged against Utah police relate to sexual misconduct. "Sex crimes and improprieties are by far the most common offenses for which peace officers in the state are publicly disciplined, making up nearly one-third of the cases brought before" a state board. Twenty five of the 80 cases during the last two years that ended with the suspension or firing of an officer fell into that category. A former prosecutor who now teaches prospective police officers tells recruits: "The badge will get you sex, but sex will get your badge."

Owner of three facilities is most-fined nursing home company in Wash.

Scott North and Diana Hefley of The Herald in Everett, Wash., used federal data on nursing homes and state records to find that HMH Associates Inc., the operator of three area facilities, is the most-fined nursing home company in Washington state. Federal data available through Medicare also shows that one of the nursing homes tied for 21st place nationwide for the largest number of deficiencies. "HMH has had good luck with its Skagit County operation, but has repeatedly struggled to meet state and federal standards at Parkway and Lynnwood Manor."

DA's secret deals allowed people to avoid criminal charges

Dee J. Hall and Andy Hall of the Wisconsin State Journal uncover some unusual financial practices by former Outagamie County district attorney Vince Biskupic, who "permitted people to avoid criminal charges after they paid from $500 to $8,000 in secret deals that raise legal and ethical concerns." The money, at least $37,000 over eight years, went to "politically important police agencies and nonprofit groups and to a fund over which Biskupic had sole control in the district attorney's office -- despite a state ethics law prohibiting state officials from using their positions to provide substantial benefits to organizations with which they're associated." Some local judges tried to stop the practice, but limited it to cases already filed.

Tax breaks offered as incentive fail to provide jobs

Andy Gammill of The (Fort Wayne, Ind.) Journal Gazette studied tax breaks offered to potential employers by Allen County, Ind., and found that "more than half have fallen short of the employment promises they made while pleading their cases before local government boards." Despite the record, no government body has rescinded any of the tax abatements granted to businesses. The paper reviewed nearly 200 sets of records filed by the recipient firms.

Condition of Cleveland's children compared to Third World

Joan Mazzolini and Dave Davis of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer report that Cleveland's children face tougher times than kids in many other large cities, based on an analysis of "quality of life" factors. "In some city neighborhoods, The Plain Dealer found, 30 to 40 infants are dying for every 1,000 who are born -- rates that rival those of Guatemala, Guyana and Romania. And nearly half the city's children live in housing that is run down or old, putting them at risk for lead poisoning, injuries and potent asthma triggers like cockroaches and rats." Social experts compared the paper's finding to third world conditions. Cleveland wasn't alone in the findings; "Ohio as a whole is falling behind the rest of the nation when it comes to protecting children." The paper analyzed more than a million records for the report.

Legislators' votes favor donors' interests

Jonathan D. Salant of The Associated Press combined congressional votes and campaign finance data to determine if voting patterns did follow financial patterns. "In the vast majority of cases, the biggest recipients of interest group money voted the way their donors wanted." Votes on energy, health care and gun manufacturer liability were among those included in the study.

Records pinpoint spot of most speeding tickets

Kevin McDermott of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch analyzed speeding ticket data from five Illinois counties to find the worst spot for drivers: "Mile-marker 4 of I-64 at East St. Louis is the site of by far the largest number of speeding tickets issued by the Illinois State Police anywhere in southwestern Illinois." The paper obtained records of 43,758 speeding stops and then spent time with state troopers as they worked in the area. Most speeders were driving about 20 mph over the limit, while "just 407 -- less than 1 percent -- were ticketed for going less than 10 mph over the speed limit."

Traffic tickets affected by drivers' race, gender and age

Bill Dedman and Francie Latour of The Boston Globe conducted a study of ticketing patterns in Massachusetts, using newly released data from the state. "On city boulevards and rural lanes, whites are far more likely than minorities to receive written warnings instead of tickets when stopped for identical traffic offenses ... And women, especially young women, get breaks that aren't afforded to men. The price tag for this unequal treatment amounts to an estimated $25 million a year in traffic fines and higher insurance premiums." An accompanying PDF file explains how they did the reporting and analysis.

Athletic directors' salaries, bonuses rival those of CEOs

Brian Bennett of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal used state open-records laws to obtain the contracts of 57 public university athletic directors from seven Division I conferences to find that more than a dozen earn at least $300,000 a year, while the average salary for ADs in the six largest conferences is $268,000. "Many athletic directors' contracts include performance and longevity clauses that can increase the total potential package anywhere from a few thousand dollars to several hundred thousand dollars. And this does not include other perks that have become nearly standard, such as the free use of one or more cars, memberships in private country clubs and supplemental life insurance." Kentucky's AD has the fourth-highest guaranteed salary among his peers, which does not include private schools such as Duke University or Notre Dame who are not subject to public records laws.

Despite claim, senator received money from lobbyists

Mark Johnson, Adam Bell and Jeff South of The Charlotte Observer checked out Sen. John Edwards' claim that he was not accepting campaign contributions from Washington lobbyists and found that at least four have donated to his presidential bid, and Edwards has no prohibition on state lobbyists giving. The paper compared Edwards' federal filings with lists of registered lobbyists in several large states. "Jennifer Palmieri, Edwards' campaign spokeswoman, said the campaign would return any contributions from Washington lobbyists who are registered for 2003."

Florida political appointees donate to state GOP

Nancy Cook Lauer of the Tallahassee Democrat compared Florida campaign finance records with the list of Gov. Jeb Bush's 3,849 political appointees and found that "18.3 percent contributed $200 or more to him or to the Republican Party of Florida since 1998." Those donors gave more than $1.2 million in contributions during that time span, and $3.6 million when family members and business interests were included. Democratic donors fared less well -- just 42 appointees gave money to the state Democratic party or either of its last two gubernatorial candidates.

Powerful alumni involved in campus land deal

Dan Popkey of The Idaho Statesman spent more than four months investigating a land deal involving the University of Idaho, finding that "a cadre of powerful University of Idaho alumni, including Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, skirted the state's bidding process as they pursued a campus across the road from Boise State University." The paper found that the university "used political clout and bidding specifications tailored for the university to win the bid to build a six-story office, classroom and lab building on the east edge of downtown Boise." Construction of the first phase of the project, the Idaho Water Center, will cost taxpayers $139 million over the next 40 years. When asked to suggest a term other than "rigged" to describe the process, Kempthorne replied: "Weighted. W-E-I-G-H-T-E-D."

Detroit mayor failed to report contributions

Paul Egan of The Detroit News compared state reports of campaign contributions to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's state legislative committee with the records the committee filed and found at least $16,650 in donations unaccounted for by Kilpatrick. "In May, Michigan Secretary of State officials refused Kilpatrick's request to dissolve his state legislative campaign committee because his campaign officials repeatedly have failed to reconcile reporting discrepancies of between $1,400 and $2,900." Kilpatrick's then-treasurer is now his chief of staff.

Penn. utilities don't pass along break on property taxes

Anthony R. Wood of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that while Pennsylvanians are paying higher property taxes, the state's utility companies have trimmed their own property tax bills by 85 percent to $20 million during the last six years. "Meantime, the utilities are passing on their real estate levies to their customers, based not on what the companies are currently taxed but on the far higher sums of six years ago." Instead of tax revenues being placed into a pool and apportioned statewide, most power plants now are taxed only by their local authority and can contest assessments. "Philadelphia has seen its annual take drop from $24.4 million in 1997 to nearly $4.3 million today; its schools are getting $960,000 instead of $6.85 million. They are the big losers, topping a list of nearly 3,000 other losers statewide."

San Francisco mayor's fundraiser benefits from relationship

Lance Williams and Patrick Hoge of the San Francisco Chronicle used local campaign finance and nonprofit records to show that Mayor Willie Brown's chief fundraiser "has been paid at least $2.33 million over the past five years by nonprofit groups and political committees controlled by the mayor and his allies." Carolyn Carpeneti, who also is the mother of Brown's 2-year-old daughter, obtained a rent-free office in a city-owned building with Brown's help. After the paper made inquiries about the arrangement, Carpeneti began moving out of the Civic Auditorium. "The mayor's role in obtaining the free office space for Carpeneti pushed the envelope on a state legal ban on gifts of public funds, other critics claimed."

Federal highway money funds range of barely related projects

Sean Reilly of the Mobile Register used Freedom of Information Act requests to assemble records on federal transportation spending in Alabama, which turns out to be paying for lots of projects barely related to transportation. "In the last several years, members of Alabama's congressional delegation have routed more than $70 million in highway funds to university buildings, urban renewal and other projects with loose links to traditional transportation needs." Many of the projects were funded through the Federal Highway Trust Fund, and Alabama has two lawmakers who sit on panels with oversight of transportation spending. "But few other congressional delegations seem to have been so creative in pioneering new uses for gas tax revenue, according to the Federal Highway Administration documents obtained by the Register that spell out the projects targeted for each state sinc e 1996."

Troubled phone company tied to top Minn. officials

Tim Huber, Rick Linsk and Hank Shaw of the St. Paul Pioneer Press report that "Some of Minnesota's top Republicans, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Auditor Patricia Awada, have had business ties to a Minneapolis-based telephone company accused of cheating consumers in seven states." The company, New Access Communications, paid $222,000 in fines last year after being accused of overcharging or "slamming" customers by improperly switching their telephone service. For two years, Pawlenty was on the board of New Access' parent company. The story is "based on dozens of interviews and thousands of pages of documents, including government files, court records, campaign finance records and company financial documents."

Data shows 18-year-olds in most accidents

Stephanie Reitz of the Hartford Courant used Connecticut car accident data from 2002 to determine that 18-year-old drivers were responsible for 4 percent of crashes last year even though they comprise just 1.5 percent of licensed motorists. "The frequency of crashes among 18-year-olds in Connecticut is not a single-year occurrence. In 2000, those motorists also led all other age groups, being responsible in 3 percent of crashes with injuries and 4 percent of fatal crashes." Typically, Reitz writes, accidents involving younger teenagers tend to get the lion's share of attention.

Pollutants may force Louisville under fed control

James Bruggers of the Louisville Courier-Journal reviewed federal and local air pollution data to find that while "yearly releases of some types of industrial pollutants in Jefferson County have sharply decreased, but others, including those that contribute to cancer, heart disease and asthma, appear to be on the rise." The Louisville metro area is likely to fall short of new federal guidelines, which could trigger pollution controls. The paper used the EPA's Toxic Release Inventory and two local sets of records it obtained through a state open records request. With loads of graphics and follow-ups.

Costly juvenile group homes not always effective

Sewell Chan and Scott Higham of The Washington Post, with assistance from database editor Sarah Cohen, have a four-part series on Washington's group homes and residential centers for juveniles that paints an unflattering and often tragic picture of the system. "Altogether, the cost to taxpayers is $69 million a year. Some of the teenagers do well. But many are left to languish in a chaotic system that places both the public and the children in danger." Among the problems are violence, poorly managed and unsafe facilities, and lax government oversight. The paper obtained "thousands of confidential social work documents, treatment files and juvenile criminal records that have long been hidden from public view," and posted several of them online.

Little link between struggling states, higher tuition

Thomas Hargrove and Jessica Wehrman of Scripps Howard News Service combined federal education statistics on public college tuition with budget figures from all 50 states to see if tuition hikes were being caused by states' fiscal woes. In short, they weren't. "A statistical analysis by Scripps Howard News Service found there is little relationship - and in some cases, none at all - between how state government has been affected by the weak economy and how much it has raised college tuition in recent years." More than 550 public colleges and universities were included in the review, which found that "tuition increases were actually highest (averaging 18.0 percent and 16.2 percent) among the two groups of states suffering only moderate economic stress."

Nearly third of nation's bridges deficient

Jonathan D. Salant of the Associated Press analyzed federal transportation data to find that 28 percent of highway bridges are considered deficient by federal standards. "The number of bridges considered deficient - they need repairs, cannot adequately handle traffic loads or do not meet safety standards - declined 18 percent from 1992 to 2002, from 199,090 to 163,010." The numbers range from state to state, with the District of Columbia standing out as the worst; 67 percent of DC's bridges are sub-standard.

Florida school scores may have different meanings

Matthew Waite of the St. Petersburg Times analyzed a database of Florida's Comprehensive Assessement Test scores to show that the grades assigned to schools by the state can mean different things. "To the confusion of parents who rely on the school's grade to determine its quality, an A school can mean different things in Florida. It can be a school where many students get high marks on standardized tests, or it can be a school ... where the scores are improving but still relatively low." Nearly half of all schools got A grades on this year's FCATs, and hundreds relied on improvements rather than high grades alone to get their score. Gov. Jeb Bush told the paper it may be time to "consider raising the bar a bit" in response.

Iowa City is parking ticket hell

Vanessa Miller and Patrick J. Riepe of the Iowa City Press-Citizen obtained a state database of 2002 parking tickets and found that "Iowa City is definitely the parking ticket capital of Iowa and, perhaps, the United States." Police officers issued more than three parking citations for every man, woman and child in town last year, and more than twice as many overall as did police in larger Des Moines. Miller's interest in the story is more than passing; the reporter ranked 28th on the list of top parking offenders in 2002. She explains: "Every night I would go to bed with the genuine intention of waking up before ticketers came around at 8 a.m. and moving my car to a nearby spot that would have, of course, opened up. That never happened."

Problem landlords hidden

Monique Curet and Joe Danborn of the Mobile Register investigate the city's Section 8 housing program and find it difficult to identify landlords who have problems with their units or don't perform needed repairs. "The Section 8 program in Mobile has only one semi-comprehensive record that chronicles problems with the properties. That emergency repair log is incomplete in places and illegible in others. It is handwritten, with notes sometimes penciled in along the sides, and entries interrupted and continued later on the page." Although local officials said they would be able to find problem landlords, the paper spotted one who had two dozen entries in the log and remained owner of 50 properties.

Investors lose as SEC fails to keep up with fraud

Jenni Bergal and Purva Patel of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel finds the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is "largely ineffective in combating securities fraud and helping victims recover their money." They found that many violators are repeat offenders and few cases result in criminal prosecutions, "even though some involved hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars in investor losses."

Questions raised about Maryland leader's fundraising committee

Jo Becker, Craig Whitlock and Dan Keating of The Washington Post studied a national Democratic fund-raising committee run by Maryland Senate President Mike Miller, finding that Miller sought money from donors with business interests in his state and that "the committee spent heavily on Maryland races at the expense of Democrats in more competitive battleground states." A review of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee's records "paint a picture of a symbiotic relationship between the committee and its chairman that tested the limits of Maryland's campaign finance laws." The FBI is investigating.

Drug, terror cases mask drop in EPA’s pollution investigations

Chris Bowman of the Sacramento Bee found that the Environmental Protection Agency "has overstated its success in fighting polluters by lumping counterterrorism and narcotics cases led by other agencies into its environmental enforcement record." The agency has inflated the length of prison terms for offenders and reported higher numbers of cases referred to prosecutors while actually pursuing fewer criminal cases in the past two years. The paper examined enforcement statistics, reports to Congress and internal agency records.

Redevelopment comes at a price

Jeff Wilkinson of The State in South Carolina reports on Columbia's Congaree Vista, an area of restaurants, galleries and apartments that has received about $115 million in taxpayer money in less than a decade. With some public officials now urging that the money tap be turned off, the paper examines the benefits and the costs to the area. While businesses and development have increased the tax base, they have come at a price. "Like a home mortgage, much of the $115 million -- such as funding for the new convention center and the Three Rivers Greenway -- will cost taxpayers much more in interest payments."

Committee members who killed privacy bill got more money

In an analysis of campaign finance records from the last election, Christian Berthelsen and Marshall Kirkland of the San Francisco Chronicle found members of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee received more than $700,000 from members of the banking and insurance industries. The committee voted against a financial privacy protection bill. "The nine Assembly Banking and Finance Committee members who abstained or voted no in the June 17 hearing received a total of more than $667,000. The three members who voted in favor of it received $37,450 in total. "

Where's the hydrant?

After a costly fire in unincorporated Pinellas County raised concerns over the lack of fire hydrants in the area, Anne Lindberg of the St. Pete Times found that hydrants around Lealman were not only scarce but officials weren't sure how many existed or ever where they were. "An analysis by the St. Petersburg Times found that maps of fire hydrants used by the county and maps used by firefighters responding to calls in Lealman don't match. Some maps used by firefighters are inaccurate. At times, the different maps used by firefighters responding to calls show hydrants in different places."

Avoiding parking tickets

Rich Calder of the Westchester County Journal News obtained a database of Yonkers parking citations and found that polit ically connected developer Joseph Spiezio III had 38 of 42 tickets dismissed by city hearing examiners, often on the grounds that he was on "official business" within Yonkers. "Addressing the dismissed tickets, Spiezio said Friday that he deserved special treatment from the city because he has been 'the catalyst' for revitalizing the Yonkers downtown waterfront."

Girls gaining in high school sports

Erik Brady and MaryJo Sylwester of USA Today examined data on girls' participation in high school athletics, finding that "the percentage of girls who play varsity sports continues on a slow rise at the same time the percentage for boys is flat." Nearly half of high school boys play varsity sports, but that figure has remained constant for about ten years, while female participation has slowly risen to near 33 percent. Girls have made their largest percentage increases in sports that traditionally have fielded all-boys teams, such as ice hockey, wrestling and football, but also have posted gains in lacrosse, crew and soccer.