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Skyrocketing Tampa home prices changing region

Matt Waite and a host of St. Petersburg Times reporters analyzed home sales in five Florida counties from 1998 to mid-2003, finding that "the price of a home in the Tampa Bay area has soared in recent years, far outpacing inflation, the stock market and personal incomes, mushrooming into an economic force that is reshaping the region neighborhood by neighborhood." The paper ran 25 stories Sunday based on the analysis, which relied heavily on GIS software to make neighborhood comparisons.

Senator's campaign funds pay for car repairs, tickets

Rick Daysog of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin used state campaign finance records to show that a state senator has spent more than $21,000 since 1996 "to fix, insure and gas up a Dodge 1992 van he personally owned." Last year, Sen. Cal Kawamoto's campaign purchased a $22,500 Subaru truck to replace the older van. State authorities are investigating whether Kawamoto has used campaign funds for personal expenses. The senator said he considered travel he did for various nonprofit and community groups to be part of his campaign activities.

Tickets show drivers speeding more than ever

Rick Hampson and Paul Overberg of USA Today analyzed 1.2 million speeding tickets issued in 2002 on interstate highways in 18 states to find that drivers are "speeding faster than ever — in some cases, much faster." The paper found that the percentage of tickets issued for driving over 90 mph jumped from 2 percent in 1991 to 10 percent in 2002. "Despite official promises that higher limits would be more strictly enforced, we're getting more leeway from the police, who all but ignore speeders 10 to 15 mph over the limit."

Special interests hire congressional relatives

The Los Angeles Times details the success of a small public relations firm run by the daughter of U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon. Her foreign clients include people trying to get her father's help. It's the latest example of special interests hiring relatives of important members of Congress as lobbyists and consultants. Over the last year, The Times has identified 11 other House members and 17 senators with relatives who lobby or consult, many of them for clients the members have helped through legislative or other action.

Sewage pours into Ohio river

John C. Kuehner of The (Cleveland, Ohio) Plain Dealer examined state environmental protection agency records to find more than 4 billion gallons of sewage were dumped into the Cuyahoga River last year. About 31 million gallons was released during last August's blackout, but "the releases Aug. 14 were just a trickle of the overall sewage," according to the records. "... all year long, sewage poured into the river from Ravenna to Cleveland, according to Ohio EPA's documents. Some of the sewage — more than 800 million gallons — was partially treated before it entered the river. Nearly 3 billion of the 4.38 billion gallons were a diluted mixture of sewage and rainwater."

Low-income area subjected to industrial pollution

Tammy Webber, Mark Nichols and Bill Theobald of The Indianapolis Star have a two-day project on air pollution in Indianapolis' industrial neighborhoods, using federal data and health statistics to show that "residents may pay a price for living in Marion County's industrial hub," including increased rates of lung cancer and respiratory problems. "In 2001, the latest year for which there are data, more than 1.7 million pounds of pollution — three-fourths of all air pollution reported in Marion County, including ozone-producing compounds — were emitted by 19 companies within a two-mile radius of the low-income area around Morris Street and Tibbs Avenue." A second piece explains that officials have done little to address residents' concerns about their health.

Records reveal many Las Vegas cab passengers taken for a ride

J.M. Kalil of the Las Vegas Review-Journal used Taxicab Authority records to show that Vegas cabbies ripped off 174 riders last year "by taking them on a nondirect route to boost the cost of a ride." Although the trips, called long-hauling, represented a tiny fraction of all cab rides, drivers and authorities said the practice occurs much more often. Typically, drivers pad an extra $3-$10 onto a fare by logging extra miles.

Cincinnati kindergartners face suspension, expulsion

Jennifer Mrozowski and John Byczkowski of The Cincinnati Enquirer reviewed school disciplinary records to find that Cincinnati schools expel more students than any district in the state. Some of Cincinnati's students are getting into trouble at a young age: "More than 200 times last year, Greater Cincinnati kindergartners were expelled or suspended from school for at least one day." Cincinnati and Dayton-area school were the only ones in Ohio to expel kindergartners during the last school year. "Behavior problems, fighting and violence are the main reasons that schools discipline the youngest kids. But children also are being punished for stealing and trashing school property, pulling fire alarms and bringing weapons to class."

Ore. class size largest in a generation

Betsy Hammond of The Oregonian reports that reductions in teachers have boosted Oregon's class sizes to "the largest in a generation. The exception is Multnomah County, where voters approved a county income tax. Those schools added teachers and reduced class sizes this year. Outside Multnomah, 70 percent of the state's school districts eliminated teaching positions after the 2002-03 school year, the newspaper analysis found. That gave Oregon a ratio of 20.2 students for every teacher — 30 percent more students than the national average." Due to variations in assignments, the 20.2:1 ratio usually translates into an average class size of 25 to 28 students.

School cafeterias cited for health violations

Kristen King of The Virginian-Pilot analyzed data from recent health inspections of school cafeterias, finding that "nearly half of the public school cafeterias in South Hampton Roads were cited for at least one critical violation on their most recent health inspection." Schools in Suffolk had the highest percentage of critical violations — 67 percent — while one Virginia Beach middle school earned five critical violations alone. Just 11 percent of schools in the area had perfect scores.

Louisville favored over N. Kentucky in capital projects

Amanda York of The Kentucky Post analyzed budget capital projects by geographic regions, finding that the "proposals from 1998-2006 have routinely favored Louisville capital projects over those in Northern Kentucky by as much as 12 to 1." The current budget offered by new Gov. Ernie Fletcher would give Northern Kentucky a much greater share of capital projects than previous proposals. Louisville-area projects did especially well in 1995, after that city's voters helped former Gov. Paul Patton win election: "Louisville projects were proposed for $11.7 million and Northern Kentucky projects were proposed for $909,000."

NASA loses track of $58 million in property

John Kelly of Florida Today reviewed property loss reports filed by NASA to discover that "at least $58 million worth of government property has turned up missing at NASA centers across the country during the last five years, from easy-to-pilfer items such as portable computers to the curious disappearance of two 500-pound, ice-making machines." The space agency almost never questions the reports' statements about the missing items. The value of such materials is in line with other large government operations, the paper reports, and "the agency stresses that much of the property reported missing is believed to be on its grounds somewhere, but that employees responsible for it just can't find the items."

Regulators failed to discipline hospital known for problems

Leigh Hopper, Lise Olsen and S.K. Bardwell of The Houston Chronicle investigated a Houston-area hospital with a reputation for problems and found a lack of punishment by state and federal regulators. "Starting a few months after Vista opened in May 1999 through this January, state inspectors conducted eight investigations into more than a dozen incidents. Each time, Vista promised to fix the problems and no punishment was given, but the problems persisted. Upon reviewing a Houston Chronicle summary of state-documented problems at Vista, the Texas Department of Health's associate commissioner for consumer health protection admitted his inspectors had fallen short." The facility had been fined once since it opened in 1999, for a total of $3,000. Using state records, the paper also found that few Texas hospitals are fined for violations.

Penn. governor spends average of $230 for food, catering

Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reviewed food and catering bills for Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell's first 11 months in office, reaching a total of $75,918, or an average of $230 a day. "Taxpayers in Ohio are not nearly as generous. Their governor has a part-time chef and a $14,000 annual budget for food." A Rendell spokeswoman said that the charges reflected meals for meetings and official dinners, "adding that Rendell even pays his own cable bills."

Colleges spend money on athletics that would have gone to academics

In a joint venture, MaryJo Sylwester of USA Today and Tom Witosky of The Des Moines Register published an examination of college athletics finances. The story found: "Average athletic budgets rose at a pace more than double the increases in average university spending at Division I schools between 1995 and 2001. Athletic revenues are not keeping pace, so schools have increasingly used money that would normally be spent on academics, and have tapped student athletic fees paid by all full-time students. Sidebars look at how Tennessee is dealing with a state mandate to reduce the amount of taxpayer money used for athletics; how one school, Northern Iowa, is content and successful not competing in the so-called arms race; and how Florida A&M is caught between its desire to move up to the more lucrative Division 1-A and the financial reality of the price tag for that move."

Nev. doctor discipline records incomplete, wrong

Frank X. Mullen Jr. of the Reno Gazette-Journal, with assistance from Steve Timko, spent months analyzing how Nevada disciplines its physicians. The paper found that despite a rapid growth in the number of doctors, disciplinary actions have remained mostly flat since 1992. The state's review board releases "inflated statistics" to the public and legislators about its enforcement actions and keeps little information about complaints that don't result in board action. And while state lawmakers were told about a crisis in medical malpractice insurance, an analysis of federal data "showed that a handful of Nevada physicians are responsible for about half of the total settlements or judgments paid out by hundreds of doctors." Timko also released some notes on the federal data he used. The National Practioner Data Bank is also available through IRE and NICAR.

System lets traffic offenders buy way out of tickets

Clark Kauffman of The Des Moines Register spent eight weeks reviewing court files in eight Iowa counties, focusing on prosecution of traffic offenses. In Cass County, he found that "County Attorney James Barry has allowed offenders to buy their way out of tickets by pleading guilty to equipment violations." Barry replaced 54 speeding and other driving tickets with 148 equipment citations last year, producing more than $21,000 for the state. "According to court records, the deals were offered to people with past convictions for reckless driving and vehicular homicide, to teens involved in accidents, and to professional truck drivers already at risk of losing their licenses." A criminal law professor in Los Angeles judged the operation this way: "I've gotta tell you, that is a really screwed-up system."

Records show more than $1 million in equipment missing

Leslie Griffy of the Chicago Sun-Times reviewed four years of Illinois state inventory records to find that since 1999, "more than $1.4 million worth of air-conditioners, laptops, digital cameras, conference tables, sofas and even a floor scrubber — all bought at taxpayer expense — have vanished." Among the missing items are 18 computers that "disappeared from a single Springfield warehouse in 2002." A spokesman for the Secretary of State said, "I don't think this is a question of misappropriation or theft. It is a question of things being moved from one office to another."

Most D.C. murder suspects have previous arrests

Neely Tucker of The Washington Post reviewed court records to find that "nearly three of every four adult homicide victims in the District last year had an arrest history." The paper compared details on murder victims with D.C. Superior and U.S. District Courts, identifying all but 13 adult victims. Juveniles were excluded from the study. "D.C. police, when asked to corroborate the findings, conducted a separate analysis of arrest records that used nationwide FBI data unavailable to the public. The FBI data include arrests in all jurisdictions, not just the District. That study found that 77 percent of the victims had arrest records."

Contract expenses outpace benefit costs in Alabama

Brett J. Blackledge of The Birmingham News reports that while Alabama officials talk about ways to control rising benefit costs for state employees, "the 88 percent increase in contract expenses is greater than the growth in any other state government expense." Alabama spent $611 million last year on contracts with lawyers, consultants and other service providers. Benefit expenses have increased 38 percent since 1997, the paper found after a review of government spending between fiscal years 1997 and 2003.

County's violent crime rate higher than nearby larger areas

In his first computer-assisted story, Cliff Hightower of Hernando Today uses Florida crime statistics to show that "more violent offenses are reported per 100,000 people in Hernando County than even some larger counties in the Tampa Bay region." Although neighboring Pasco County had more than twice the number of violent crimes reported in 2002, Hernando's violent crime rate was higher. "The counties of similar size to Hernando, but have low violent crime rates — Charlotte, Citrus, Clay and Santa Rosa counties — all have one thing in common, including Broward County. They implement some type of community policing program that includes all deputies within the organization." Hernando established a similar program a year ago.

Felony convictions regularly set aside in Fla.

Manny Garcia and Jason Grotto of The Miami Herald have a four-part series on the judicial practice of setting aside felony convictions in Florida. Based on an analysis of millions of state and local prison and court records, the report found that during the past decade, withholding adjudication has changed "into a handy tool to close cases that, in many instances, appears anything but just. Rapists, child molesters, child abusers, wife beaters, burglars, cocaine traffickers, repeat offenders, even corrupt public officials got the break. Scores of regular lawbreakers avoided convictions as many as five times." The paper's analysis found that white offenders are more likely to be granted a withholding than blacks with similar crimes and prior records, and that first-time offenders in particular got the break. "Almost three out of four thieves had their convictions withheld following their first arrest. Folks charged with battery got the break more than half of the time." Here's an explainer from the Herald, which includes praise for their methods from academics and state corrections officials.

Outdated systems delay burials, cremations

Deborah Sherman of KUSA-Denver finds that outdated vital records systems are delaying burials, cremations, the settlement of estates and other critical actions that require death and birth certificates. "Without the certificates, families can't settle estates, collect insurance payments or close bank accounts. The documents now have to be signed by hand by doctors, hospitals, funeral directors and sometimes coroners, which can take several days or weeks." And when the documents are issued, many have mistakes.

Black juvenile arrest rate moving up in Columbia

Dave Moore of the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune analyzed local police data to find that "in Columbia, while blacks make up less than 20 percent of the juvenile population, 60 percent of all arrests involve black children." Black juveniles are arrested at more than twice the national average, and the rate of their arrests has increased since 1995 while other cities have seen reductions. Arrests of white juveniles have decreased during the same time period.

City employees have spotty record on repaying advances

Barnett Wright of The Birmingham News tracked Birmingham officials and city employees' record of repaying advance pay for travel, finding that many of them violated policy by failing to reimburse the city within 30 days of the trip or to file prompt reports. "Many of the city employees never paid, including five members of the mayor's office, some with travel delinquencies dating to Jan. 2, 2001." The delinquents included Mayor Bernard Kincaid and five council members. Kincaid settled his accounts a week before last fall's election.

Milwaukee campaign donations coming from out of city

Greg J. Borowski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel checked campaign finance records to find that "nearly all of Milwaukee's mayoral candidates are raising more money outside the city than in it." Just two of the ten hopefuls has collected more money from Milwaukee residents and businesses than from outside. Former congressman Tom Barrett has raised the most money and has received the most in $3,000 donations, the maximum allowed by law.

Nashville police chases violate rules

Christian Bottorff and Ian Demsky of The (Nashville)Tennessean studied police reports detailing actions taken during car chases and found that officers violated local rules of pursuit "in two-thirds of the 229 chases that took place last year." More than a third of the time, chases led to property damage either to one of the cars involved or other property. Police policy permits officers to give chase "only if allowing someone to flee would pose an 'imminent danger to human life or cause serious injury.'"

Petrochemical "upsets" belch pollution in Houston

Dina Cappiello of the Houston Chronicle reviewed state environmental data to find that "a dozen plants belonging to major petroleum and petrochemical companies accounted for 80 percent of all pollution released accidentally into Houston's air last year." The releases, known as "upsets," came from refineries and other facilities in the area. Just 2.6 percent of upsets in 2003 resulted in violations or fines.

Florida public records law tested

Chris Davis and Matthew Doig of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune joined colleagues from 29 other Florida newspapers to test the availability of public records in 62 of the state's 67 counties. The results: "Overall, 57 percent of the agencies audited complied with the public records law. The rest made unlawful demands or simply refused to turn over the records. Public officials lied to, harassed and even threatened volunteers who were using a law designed to give citizens the power to watch over their government. In six counties, volunteers were erroneously told that the documents they wanted didn't exist. One volunteer was almost arrested." The best results came from city managers, while county administrators handed over e-mail records only half the time. The stories are accompanied by an explainer about how the audit was done and a database of journals kept by reporters.

Sex offenders move close to daycares

Chris Halsne of KIRO 7 Eyewitness News in Seattle teamed up with NICAR to find that "605 sex offenders live close to daycares in Washington." The station's definition of "close" is 300 feet, or about 100 yards. "Washington law prohibits all of this. It says when sex offenders 'with minor victims' are released, the Department of Corrections 'shall not approve a residence location … if the proposed residence is within close proximity to schools, child care centers.'" A statistical explainer is included.

Charities make millions of dollars in loans to officials

Harvy Lipman and Grant Williams of the Chronicle of Philanthropy reviewed information from more than 10,000 nonprofit tax forms covering 1998 through 2002 to determine that charities reported at least $142 million in debts due to loans made to officers and directors. Private foundations cannot make such loans, but charities can. Some filings contained less than complete information on loan debts: "4,756 groups reported loans to top officials, but failed, as required by the Internal Revenue Service, to say how much the debt totaled."

Educators tried to manipulate standards used in ranking

Sarah Schmidt of CanWest News Services used documents obtained under British Columbia's Freedom of Information Act to show that "senior administrators at the University of British Columbia embarked on a deliberate campaign to manipulate course enrollments to improve the school's standing in the influential Maclean's university ranking," even though some professors warned that such moves could actually hurt students. Despite the efforts, the university repeated its fifth-place performance in the magazine's 2003 national rankings. "Many schools, including UBC, place great weight on their standing in Maclean's annual university ranking; a strong showing is often used in promotional and fundraising campaigns. At UBC, it meant senior administrators asked department heads to split some large classes into smaller ones. In other cases, they pressured professors to adopt class sizes established by Maclean's."

La. legislators take 110 privately funded trips

Gerard Shields of The (Baton Rouge, La.) Advocate reviewed congressional records on privately financed travel to find that "Louisiana Congress members, their staffers and in some instances family members took 110 trips worth $253,000 in 2003 sponsored by special interest groups, businesses or lobbyists that sent them everywhere from Dundee, Scotland, to Nigeria." Sen. John Breaux, who is retiring this year, took the most trips, followed by Rep. Jim McCrery.

Tiny town holds more than 1,800 patents

Truong Phuoc Khánh and Seth Hemmelgarn of the San Jose Mercury News analyzed 30 years' worth of California patents to find that tiny Portola Valley, with a population of less than 5,000, "boasts more than 1,800 patents, earning it the distinction of the highest patent-to-people ratio in the state." In numerical terms, San Jose has 29,018 patents by its residents, more than Los Angeles and San Diego combined.