Extra! Extra!

Preschool, park stand on polluted land

Scott Streater of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that a former Army supply depot in Fort Worth that now contains a preschool, park and small lake has a hidden danger: "more than a dozen pollutants — including a suspected stash of the highly toxic herbicide Agent Orange — are spread throughout the center's 278 acres and beyond, including the preschool and the park. ... environmental inspectors have warned for years that children and other park users could be at risk from cancer-causing agents, and they have long recommended that the site be cleaned, according to the Star-Telegram review of more than 5,000 pages of federal, state and city records." (Note: For others interested in doing similar stories, get the new beat book "Covering Pollution: An Investigative Reporter's Guide," published by IRE in cooperation with the Society of Environmental Journalists.)

Agency overcharged low-income people for homes

Dan Stockman of The (Fort Wayne, Ind.) Journal Gazette looked at sales records and found that a defunct nonprofit agency intended to help low-income people buy homes actually "overcharged 25 home buyers by about $559,000, leaving them with mortgages for thousands of dollars more than the homes are worth." Projects Editor Ron Shawgo explains that Stockman "linked a database of home sales with one listing assessed values. The analysis was possible because Indiana only recently switched to assessments that must reflect market value." The paper published an explanation of its methodology.

Children at state hospital abused by staff

Michelle Roberts of The Oregonian used public records and other sources to find that children sent to Oregon State Hospital's Ward 40 for mental illness treatments between 1989 and 1994 were sexually abused by hospital staff. "Hospital officials and their supervisors in state government did little to stop the abuses, which occurred between 1989 and 1994. Supervisors and others on the ward failed to report the offenses when they were detected, allowing predators to attack additional victims. The hospital repeatedly failed to report suspected sexual abuse immediately to police and child welfare workers, as required by state law." The facility has no surveillance cameras and did not perform background checks on new employees until 1991. State records show three patients who were sexually abused, but the paper found "credible reports of nine additional abuse victims from police files, court documents and eyewitness accounts."

Asbestos suits fare well in Ill. county

Paul Hempel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has the story of how Illinois' Madison County has "become a national center for lucrative asbestos litigation." The reasons include:

• A one-party court system dominated by Democratic judges whose campaigns are financed by contributions from Democratic plaintiff lawyers.
• A county where judges are often related to — or at the least used to work beside — the plaintiff lawyers appearing before them.
• A history of anti-corporate sentiment that produces sympathetic — and generous — juries.
• A history of intimidation that makes some judges wary of crossing the powerful plaintiff bar.

The paper estimates that "asbestos-related claims worth at least $1 billion when resolved were filed last year in Madison County," many by the law firm that employs Randall Bono.

Number of speeders going 100+mph quadruples

Rick Linsk and Janet Roberts of the St. Paul Pioneer Press analyzed speeding tickets issued by the Minnesota State Patrol between 1990 and 2004, finding that "the number of drivers caught hurtling more than 100 mph has quadrupled over the past decade to nearly 400 last year. More than one in four super-speeders ticketed in 2003 were nabbed during rush hour." The paper also posted an interactive map showing the location of high-speed tickets.

University land affects county tax base

Dave Gershman of The Ann Arbor News used county real estate records to show that the University of Michigan "has purchased more than 40 properties since 1990, taking a total of about 316 acres off the tax rolls." But the school has also sold off other land that has contributed to the county's tax base. "Since 1990, U-M has acquired 45 properties that reduced local tax collections by about $1,572,281 ... The tax loss from those purchases, however, was less than the taxes gained after U-M sold seven properties, which were taxed at a collective $3,526,969 last year."

Mass. governor turns to corporate donors

Frank Phillips, Emma Stickgold and Bill Dedman of The Boston Globe studied the fund-raising practices of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and the state Republican Party, finding that "Romney and his GOP operatives are sidestepping the cap that limits an individual donation to a candidate to $500 a year and are using what advocates of campaign-finance change say are seriously flawed loopholes in the state and federal laws to allow individuals to donate a total of $15,000 to two committees run by the state Republican Party."

Enclave quietly leads Bay Area's presidential fund raising

Todd Wallack of the San Francisco Chronicle used campaign finance data to show that "President Bush and Sen. John Kerry have raised more money in the 94062 ZIP code (an affluent area south of San Francisco which includes much of Woodside and part of Redwood City) than any other corner of the Bay Area." Including contributions to the national parties, the Woodside area has given more than $838,000 to the presidential race. Republicans got fewer checks than Democrats, but those checks tended to be larger. "ZIP code 94062 would loom even larger on the political map if donor totals also included contributions to independent political committees, such as Moveon.org, which are exempt from federal campaign limits. Andy Rappaport, the Woodside venture capitalist, and his wife, Deborah, have pledged $4.2 million to such groups, making them among the country's biggest donors."

U.S. borders growing more porous

Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele of Time investigate U.S. border security, finding that "the U.S.'s borders, rather than becoming more secure since 9/11, have grown even more porous. And the trend has accelerated in the past year. It's fair to estimate, based on a Time investigation, that the number of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S. this year will total 3 million — enough to fill 22,000 Boeing 737-700 airliners, or 60 flights every day for a year."

Tenn. slow to use Homeland Security money

Nancy Amons of WSMV-Nashville reviewed documents from Tennessee's Office of Homeland Security, finding that "about a quarter of the money Congress appropriated for first responder grants in 2002 and 2003 has been converted into equipment or training for Tennessee officers, firefighters and medics. None of the 2004 grant money &mash; 42 million dollars &mash; has been touched." State and local officials blamed bureaucratic red tape for the delays in spending the money.

Mont. makes deals for grazing leases

The Associated Press used records from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to show that the state has repeatedly reduced the amount ranchers have to pay to lease state-owned land during the past 10 years. The total amount discounted exceeds $1.5 million. "Over the past 10 years, 9,001 grazing and cropland leases were renewed. Usually less than 5 percent of those attracted a competitive bid and the current leaseholders usually matched it. In about half of those cases, leaseholders requested an administrative hearing to argue they should pay a lower rate. The department and state Land Board reduced the rental rate in about eight of every 10 cases, with an average decrease of 35 percent. That amounted to more than $1.5 million in discounts over the 10-year life of the affected grazing leases, money that would have mostly gone to education programs."

Australian schools profit from land sales

Bruce McDougall and Kelvin Bissett of Australia's Daily Telegraph used records released under the Freedom of Information law to find that "scores of public schools are making millions of dollars selling off part of their grounds and using the cash to bankroll new halls, canteens and libraries." The paper found more than 80 transactions that range from the sale of an entire school to smaller lots of unused land. "Sales of land and other property assets on education sites have topped $80 million over the last two years."

Bush failed to meet Guard obligations

Boston Globe reporters Stephen Kurkjian, Francie Latour, Sacha Pfeiffer and Michael Rezendes, and editor Walter V. Robinson reexamined President Bush's military records and found that in 1968 and in 1973 he pledged to meet National Guard commitments then failed to do so. "The reexamination of Bush's records by the Globe, along with interviews with military specialists who have reviewed regulations from that era, show that Bush's attendance at required training drills was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither."

CHP officers increase income with injury claims

John Hill and Dorothy Korber of The Sacramento Bee found some top California Highway Patrol officers "aggressively pursuing injury claims, often near the end of 30-year careers, that hike their retirement income ... some go on to demanding second careers while collecting their state disability pensions." The practice is known as "Chief's Disease." Fifty-five of 65 top CHP officers who have retired during the past four years filed workers' compensation claims within two years. "In most cases, the disability benefits augmented the ample pensions routinely paid to CHP officers, who can retire at age 50 with up to 90 percent of their pay."

Extra taxes pay for baseball stadium

Mark Gillispie of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer checked local records to find that taxpayers in Eastlake "have been overcharged more than $5 million in property taxes since 1988, nearly a third of which has helped pay for a professional baseball stadium they were promised would never cost them a cent." City officials erred in drafting and approving budgets that overstated the money the city should get to help pay off a $7.1 million sewer loan. "A Plain Dealer review of records shows Eastlake used at least $2 million of the money to make payments on loans for a new municipal complex, which opened in 1994. And $1.6 million more has gone toward interest payments on loans for Eastlake Ballpark, home of the Lake County Captains, a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians."

Phone companies profit from prisoners

Kim Curtis and Bob Porterfield of The Associated Press used data from California's 57 county jails to show that "telephone companies and California counties have made hundreds of millions of dollars from some of the state's poorest people through high, unregulated phone rates for calls from local jails." Local calls can cost as more than $2 at some jails. "The inflated rates they pay make service contracts with jails so lucrative that carriers offer counties signing bonuses, nearly $17 million in the case of Los Angeles County." The phone contracts are not regulated by state or federal telecommunications agencies.

Area of urban blight has absentee owners

Michael Mansur and Lynn Horsley of The Kansas City Star used local government records to explore conditions in the 2600 block of Montgall Avenue in Kansas City, where two recent murder victims were found. "Of the 30 properties on the block, 17 are owned by someone living somewhere else, from as far away as Los Angeles to some of the metropolitan area's most desirable suburbs, including Olathe, Overland Park and Lee's Summit. ... Nine property owners are delinquent on taxes. Two buildings are so run down they are slated for demolition. Nine other parcels stand vacant, houses already razed, with weeds rising in their place."

Pay for teachers varies widely

Ignazio Messina of The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade analyzed teacher salaries in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, finding that "wide ranges between salaries paid beginning teachers as well as experienced teachers. In general, the more rural an area, the lower the salary — even though some rural districts have larger student populations than a higher-paying suburban Toledo district." Ohio ranks 15th in the nation in average teacher salary, but beginning teachers make much less than their new counterparts in other parts of the country.

Distribution of homeland security money flawed

The Oakland Tribune, the Los Angeles Daily News and smaller sister newspapers are publishing localized versions of "Missing the Mark: A Flawed Plan to Protect the Homeland." The four-part series looks at where homeland security money is being allocated. Thh investigation finds that California "replicated a widely criticized federal funding formula that steers millions to isolated rural areas and leaves target-rich communities high and dry." The Daily News says "Three years later, California's public safety agencies are certainly better equipped — but not necessarily for terrorism, a newspaper investigation found after reviewing more than 2,500 homeland security documents and conducting dozens of interviews." The Oakland Tribune explains "Congress set up the federal grant program to distribute 40 percent of the grant money equally among states, without regard to risk."

Number of working poor increases

Christopher Montgomery, Bill Lubinger and Dave Davis of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer used Census data to show that "the number of people living in working-poor households in the seven-county region rose 31 percent, to 152,589, between 1990 and 2000. More than half of them live outside Cleveland." The number of area working-poor households has increased 61 percent since 1970, and statewide the trend was even larger — a 67 percent jump, more than twice the national increase over the 30 years. "The problem of the 'working poor' families below the poverty line even with at least one person employed full time extends beyond Cleveland's borders, even into prosperous suburbs like Broadview Heights. And it's getting worse."

Officials cut $60 million from tax rolls

Paul Goodsell and Tom Shaw of the Omaha World-Herald analyzed property valuation decisions made by Douglas County board members this year, finding that "the seven board members, working alone or in pairs, cut almost $60 million from county tax rolls in cases that the full board rubber-stamped — but never reviewed. Individual board members made decisions on the spot, often with little evidence or little time to examine property owners' claims. Most property owners left with at least some reduction." Owners who appealed their valuations stood a greater chance of having it reduced when facing one or two board members rather than the full board. The odds were even greater compared to a professional arbiter.

Pa. drivers pushing limits

Garry Lenton of The (Harrisburg, Pa.) Patriot-News used state data on speeding tickets issued along Interstate 81 to find that "drivers are pushing the speed limits further than ever, at a time when state police enforcement of traffic laws is dwindling." Among the findings:

• More than half of the drivers ticketed were traveling 80 mph or faster. Five percent were clocked over 90 mph and 1 percent over 100 mph.
• Ticketed drivers were traveling an average 16 mph over the posted limit.
• Truckers were the least likely to receive speeding tickets. In Cumberland County, where trucks account for 28 percent to 42 percent of the vehicles on the 39-mile stretch of I-81, they accounted for 15 percent of the tickets. Tractor-trailer rigs, which dominate the highway, hauled off 6 percent of the speeding violations.

The paper also used a radar gun to measure speeds along the highway over a two-day period. "Although the number of motorists using the roads and the number of miles they drive each year has nearly doubled, Pennsylvania has not significantly increased the size of its force since 1972. During that time, state police have been assigned more than 50 new duties, including drug enforcement and homeland security."

Boston police double-dipping

Donovan Slack and Matthew Carroll of The Boston Globe used city police payroll records to show that "the Boston Police Department paid officers for working details in separate locations at the same time on 724 occasions during the 2 years ending July 31." Nearly 400 officers engaged in the "double-dipping" during that time. "Officers and police administrators offer a variety of explanations, from mistakes by officers filling out their time cards to data-entry errors by clerks completing payroll orders. But Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole acknowledged that the large number of instances of double payment could be evidence of widespread manipulation of the system for extra pay."

Calif. donors send money out of state

Lisa Vorderbrueggen of the Contra Costa Times analyzed federal campaign finance data to find that California donors contribute to many causes outside the state. "Eight dollars of every $10 that Californians gave in campaign donations left the state, with more than 60 percent of the exported cash going to Democrats. Only six states sent a larger percentage of their donations outside their boundaries."

More than 300 vote twice in Mo.

Greg Reeves of The Kansas City Star used voting records to show that "for some people, locally and across Missouri, their vote counts double — because they voted twice in the same election." The paper's investigation suggests that more than 300 people are "double voters," most in the St. Louis and Kansas City metropolitan areas. The quality of local and state records made the analysis difficult: "Anyone registered under a slightly different name or date of birth in two places would escape detection in the newspaper's analysis of voter registration databases in Missouri and Kansas. The study only flagged people registered in two places under exactly the same names and dates of birth. The figure may be smaller, on the other hand, because the state computer files contain many errors that show people voting who did not actually vote."

Emissions testing machines fail own tests

Daniel Sforza and Dave Sheingold of The (Bergen, N.J.) Record analyzed information from New Jersey state audits to find that "the equipment used to test motor vehicle emissions failed its own state-mandated tests nearly 25 percent of the time over the past two years." Warm weather in particular seems to bring on failures, but the machines have been improving since they were first used in 2001.

Buckeyes have edge in close games

Rusty Miller of The Associated Press reviewed Big Ten football records to find that Ohio State's reputation for winning tight games is well-deserved: "An Associated Press analysis of the results of Big Ten teams in coach Jim Tressel's three years with the Buckeyes shows that the other 10 teams have a 42-percent success rate in games decided by a touchdown or less. Ohio State has won 74 percent of such games." That's partly a factor of OSU playing in so many close games — "half of Ohio State's 14 wins during its perfect season and national championship run in 2002 were decided by seven or fewer points."

Fla. county's buildings at high risk in storms

In a piece published the day Hurricane Frances arrived at Brevard County's coast, Matt Reed and John Kelly of Florida Today found that "more than 10 percent of Brevard's homes and businesses — including one in 10 mobile homes — face the highest risk of weather damage. Together, that property is worth more than $800 million, not counting cars, business supplies and personal belongings." Using property and weather data, the paper found many of the mobile homes facing a direct hit by the storm were built under older, weaker construction standards.

Funds vote with management 86 percent of the time

Beth Healy of The Boston Globe analyzed votes by mutual funds last year, finding that although they often voted against pay raises sought by corporate executives, "across all issues, the mutual funds voted with management 86 percent of the time." This is the first time that proxy-vote data was released to the public. "The new data reveal that fund groups took a dim view of any requests by company management that the funds believed could hurt the stock. For example, Fidelity, Putnam, and MFS all rejected the 2004 stock incentive plan at Hewlett-Packard Co. — a plan that would make 180 million shares, or 6 percent of the computer company's stock outstanding, available to be issued for executive incentives."

Job claims cost coach his job

Brent Schrotenboer, Steve Brand and Nicole Vargas of the San Diego Union-Tribune report on false and unverifiable claims made by a recently hired high school football coach. After the Union-Tribune's began reporting on claims Stewart Roper had made on previous job applications, the school district began its own investigation and Roper has been dismissed after 13 days on the job. Roper had made the claims "on previous job applications and has been fired or resigned under pressure from at least two of his four jobs since 2001, according to previous employers and others who know him." The San Diego Unified School District has refused to release Roper's latest job application, citing personnel matters. Among Roper's claims were his assertion that he is a former Canadian Football League player and that he was "involved in a football book published by Coaches' Choice in Monterey, according to Dave Renquist, superintendent of Needles Unified School District." Roper is not listed on League rosters and "officials at Coaches' Choice said they don't recognize his name."

White House moves to open public lands to drilling

Alan C. Miller, Tom Hamburger and Julie Cart of the Los Angeles Times reveal that the Bush administration has created a little-known White House "task force to act as a complaint desk for the energy industry, passing concerns directly to federal land management employees in the field." Internal memos and interviews showed senior administration officials have pressed Interior and Forest Service employees to make oil and gas development a high priority, commended offices that approved large numbers of drilling permits and chastised those that were slow. "The effort is so intense in the oil- and gas-rich Rockies that some Bureau of Land Management employees there have taken to calling the region 'the OPEC states.'"

Program to create jobs not a total success

John Fritze of The Indianapolis Star analyzed local tax records to find that a program to lure new jobs to the area has had mixed results through 2001. "Sixty-three companies promised to create 10,704 new jobs and retain 22,981 workers in exchange for $147 million in tax breaks, according to the analysis of documents covering nearly 90 percent of the total value of abatements during the five-year period. So far they have actually created 8,689 jobs and retained 22,142 others, although the deadline hasn't passed for some companies that received abatements."

NASCAR plans draw opposition from area residents

Scott Morris and Scott North of The (Everett, Wash.) Herald used mapping software, Census data and county records to show that a proposed NASCAR racetrack will have plenty of neighbors. "More than 17,000 people live within a roughly two-mile area around the track site. That's more than 6,000 homes, U.S. Census records show." Snohomish County has approved more than 800 permits for new construction in the area since 1995. "Those numbers explain why opposition to the track has been strong. Snohomish County Citizens Against a Racetrack, or SCAR, gathered more than 1,000 signatures opposing the track earlier this year, mostly from Marysville and Arlington."

Housing agency pays more for car repairs

Michael Biesecker and Pat Stith of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer analyzed records from the Durham Housing Authority, finding that "it spends far more for auto repair and other various routine services than some North Carolina housing agencies of similar size. Since January 2000, the check registers show the authority spent $772,238 on vehicle maintenance — an average of $15,760 per vehicle. The base sticker price of a 2004 Ford Ranger XL pickup truck, not including model year-end discounts, is $15,195." The agency doesn't have fixed-price contracts with repair shops, so there is no limit to what they can earn. One business, Road Runner Shop on Wheels, billed $177,444 since January 2000.

Schools lose money to utility overbilling

Jennifer Toomer-Cook of The Deseret News asked Utah school districts and power companies to track billing processes, finding that "utility companies are inaccurately billing public schools by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — taxpayer money that likely would be lost if schools didn't hunt it down." The error rates range from 1.6 percent of bills to 9.4 percent, mostly in favor of the school districts. "Granite District's McLeod keeps memorabilia of more than $100,000 in utility reimbursements: copies of a $62,491.60 check from Granger Hunter Improvement District; $27,687 and $22,189 from Utah Power, and others."