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Health agency ignores sexual misconduct complaints

Julia Sommerfeld and Michael J. Berens of The Seattle Times used state records to show that Seattle's Health Department has dismissed — without any investigation — 461 sexual-misconduct complaints against health-care professionals in the past decade, or nearly one-third of the 1,494 complaints received. "These complaints include counselors accused of molesting clients, nurses suspected of fondling patients and doctors turned in for demanding sex in exchange for treatment." As a result, health-care licenses were left unblemished, and possible victims were cast aside. And sexual predators went undetected, only to harm again. The three-day series looks at how the Health Department has credentialed more than 17,000 "registered counselors" who aren't required to have training or even a high school diploma but work with some of the most vulnerable clients. Registered counselors account for the largest number of sexual misconduct complaints in Washington health care.

Church's report on priests incomplete

Jean Guccione and William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times analyzed church records to show that 11 priests were left out of the 2004 "Report to the People of God" even after parishioners raised concerns about inappropriate behavior with children. "Seven of these 11 cases were not detailed in the People of God report. The other four were mentioned incompletely; the report said they were removed when complaints were lodged but did not disclose that the Los Angeles Archdiocese had received earlier reports of misconduct." One of the 11 cases involves the late Msgr. Leland Boyer, whose publicly released file summary revealed that three allegations of child molestation had been lodged against him. One of his alleged victims, Jaime Romo, said archdiocesan officials had assured him in 2002 that he was Boyer's only accuser.

S. Fla. judges put cases on secret docket

Patrick Danner and Dan Christensen of The Miami Herald investigated more than 100 cases kept hidden on a secret docket in Broward since 2001 and found that three Broward Circuit Court judges failed to follow the law by "sealing" cases — closing off all the information in them — without giving public notice or showing sufficient reason. "The practices of sealing cases without notice and of putting cases on a secret docket go against the basic tenet that courts funded by the public must be open to the public. " Broward judges — Victor Tobin, Ronald Rothschild and Robert Carney — did not comply with a Florida law that requires judges to issue public notice of requests to seal, so they are open to challenge. In the first case, four companies were sued alleging negligence in maintenance of the aircraft. Tobin sealed the case in 2004 without explanation at the request of an attorney for defendants. Among other things, the companies argued secrecy was needed because other lawsuits arising from the crash were then being litigated.

Malicious hackers get sneakier

Byron Acohido and Jon Swartz of the USA Today used court records and interviews with regulators, security experts and independent investigators to illustrate the mindset of the growing fraternity of hackers and cyberthieves born after 1985. "They also provide a glimpse of Cybercrime Inc.'s most versatile and profitable tool." The arrests of three young men show that the malicious-software spreaders are getting sneakier and more prevalent. The arrests underscore an ominous shift in the struggle to keep the Internet secure: Cybercrime undergirded by networks of bots — PCs infected with malicious software that allows them to be controlled by an attacker — is soaring. Despite their notoriety, these three young men represent mere flickers in the Internet underworld. More elite hackers collaborating with organized crime groups take pains to cover their tracks — and rarely get caught.

Mining disaster might have been prevented

Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette found that Sago Mine officials knew of a buildup of explosive methane behind mine seals where a Jan. 2 blast is believed to have occurred, in a two-day series of stories about the explosion. Twelve miners died in the explosion, making it the worst coal mining disaster in West Virginia in nearly 40 years. By examining transcripts of investigative interviews, Ward found that one mine official lied about having received safety training and another said his safety test notebook 'disappeared' after the explosion." The methane concentrations were not yet high enough to be ignited, and the general industry practice is to ignore mine areas that have been sealed." Mine safety experts now say the Sago test results appear to have been a warning that — if heeded — might have helped prevent the mining disaster. The paper has posted the transcripts online.

Delphi executives fly high as company sinks

Steve Wilson of WXYZ-Detroit found that although Delphi, the giant auto parts company, was facing bankruptcy, scores of top executives and officers were reaping sizeable special bonuses and cash incentives. Delphi admits such benefits are not available to its hourly workers because they claim that while executives are making less than competitive salaries, American workers are already making more than the market should bear. "After making $2 billion in its first two years on its own, Delphi began to hemorrhage red ink, posting loss after loss totaling a whopping $6.3 billion in the last seven quarters reported. The company says it lost more than a billion just last December." The investigation also found that, contrary to Delphi claims that its most-senior American workers earn more than $70 an hour, the truth is even counting all the benefits, it's closer to $50 an hour. Also, the CEO's pledge to work for a dollar a year turned out to be no more than a PR ploy after he collected a $3 million sign-on bonus and nearly a million more in paychecks for just six month's work last year.

Classified military information on sale in bazaar

Paul Watson of the Los Angeles Times found stolen computer drives containing classified military assessments of enemy targets, names of corrupt Afghan officials and descriptions of American defenses were on sale in the local bazaar no more than 200 yards from the main gate of the U.S. base in Bagram, Afghanistan. "Shop owners at the bazaar say Afghan cleaners, garbage collectors and other workers from the base arrive each day offering purloined goods, including knives, watches, refrigerators, packets of Viagra and flash memory drives taken from military laptops." The thefts of computer drives have the potential to expose military secrets as well as Social Security numbers and other identifying information of military personnel. Some of the drives found included deployment rosters and other documents that identified nearly 700 U.S. service members and their Social Security numbers, information that identity thieves could use to open credit card accounts in soldiers' names.

Lines blurred in professors' taxpayer-funded research

Matt Reed and John McCarthy of Florida Today examined university records to show that every day in Florida, state university professors work as consultants, expert witnesses and researchers-for-hire, earning thousands in fees. Most often, those faculty members work in their roles as public employees, sponsored by grants from corporations, local governments or trade groups. "But roughly one out of four professors also work side jobs as consultants or other specialists, pocketing extra annual income of $4,500 to more than $12,000, depending on their disciplines." The investigation found the work has gone uncharted for years. The newspaper found dozens of examples of research — economic-impact reports, in particular — commissioned by trade groups or special interests to help lobbying efforts.

County dumps toxic materials, fails to clean up

Asjylyn Loder of the St. Petersburg Times used local and state documents to show that Hernando County's public works facility served as a toxic dumping ground for years, and "instead of cleaning up the site, the county continued polluting. Instead of cracking down on the county's ineffective cleanup, the state allowed delay after delay." Despite hiring several consultants and hearing from residents and employees, government officials submitted reports late, cleanup efforts stalled and pollution continued. (Editor's note: For more about toxic dumping, look for the May/June 2006 issue of The IRE Journal which features several stories and resources for reporting similar stories.)

Force used for minor offenses in boot camp

Carol Marbin Miller of The Miami Herald used juvenile justice records and found that force was used against teenage boys in spite of nonviolent behavior at a Florida sheriff's boot camp. "In only eight of the 180 instances documented since January 2003 were the teenagers described as hitting guards, fighting with other youths, threatening to escape or trying to harm themselves." In many of the cases, the guards used the tactics despite written orders by Department of Juvenile Justice chief Anthony Schembri, who in June 2004 banned the use of physical force except in extreme situations. Juvenile justice experts who reviewed the documents at The Miami Herald's request said the treatment of the youths was unjustifiable.

Sonics' owners are a secretive team

Jim Brunner of The Seattle Times used public records to construct the most complete roster to date of the investors of Seattle's basketball team, the Sonics. "Some were announced when they bought the team in 2001; others were identified in public records or interviews. Several were recently confirmed by the team for the first time after repeated inquiries by the newspaper. " The team still will not identify about a dozen owners; some are family members of other owners. With a combined wealth in the billions, the owners represent a cross section of Pacific Northwest money and influence. It is a millionaires' club with solid political connections. Owners have contributed more than $2 million to state, federal and local campaigns since they bought the team.

Tax breaks prove costly for Detroit

David Josar of The Detroit News used State Tax Commission data, property assessments and tax records to show that Detroit is losing more than $63 million in annual revenue because of property tax breaks given to people moving into new houses, condos and lofts. The tax breaks have cost the city and school district more than $400 million since 2000. "The loss in revenue has become so dire that Detroit Public Schools has begun sending its chief financial officer, Dori Freelain, to weekly City Council meetings urging pragmatism with abatements." The investigation found the tax breaks don't always go to the disadvantaged. In one case, the owner of one of America's most successful Chevrolet dealerships, who bought a $1.3 million house, saves $41,999 a year because of several exemptions. When the breaks expire in 2011, the businesswoman will have saved $371,345 in property taxes.

LA health officials slow to warn public

Joel Grover of KNBC-Los Angeles looked through hundreds of internal health department records to show that even though people were contracting the Hepatitis A virus at well-known restaurants and at a catered lunch, the Los Angeles health department didn't issue a public warning for months. The investigation revealed that officials first learned of a reported outbreak in early September in downtown LA, including workers at a soup kitchen and by early October, there was another outbreak with at least 16 more people getting sick after eating at another restaurant. "Weeks later, at least 18 more people are infected on a movie set after eating food from Silver Grill catering." For months, while the Hepatitis A virus was spreading through LA, the health department didn't issue a single public warning.

Ohio fails to report buses use of dangerous railroad crossings

Duane Pohlman of WEWS-Cleveland used state records to show Ohio had failed to mention in federal records that certain school buses drive through railroad crossing that have no gates, alarms or warning signs on them. The investigation found the state of Ohio was purposely not mentioning the crossings to aviod spending money installing the gates, which cost as much as $150,000 per crossing. "However, studies have shown that gates make railroad crossings as much as 90 percent safer. " Thousands of school kids could be in danger riding the school bus to and from school each day. A follow-up story says Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to deliver copies of the report to the U.S. secretary of transportation and members of Congress.

Drug companies sponsored FDA staff travel

Alexander Cohen of The Center for Public Integrity analyzed FDA reports of privately sponsored trips taken by agency officials between October 1999 and September 2005 that cost more than $250 and found a loophole in the agency rules that has allowed its employees to receive more than $1.3 million in sponsored travel from groups closely tied to pharmaceutical and medical device companies. "The investigation found nonprofit associations that draw their members, their boards and even some of their funding from medical and pharmaceutical-related companies paying for the travel of hundreds of FDA employees." Among other findings, five organizations that were tied to FDA-regulated companies sponsored almost 1,000 trips, seventeen Drug Safety Oversight Board members took more than 160 privately-funded trips costing more than $220,000, and eleven Drug Safety Oversight Board members took 55 trips, costing roughly $75,000, sponsored by one or more of the five organizations.

Voters duped into GOP registration

Tony Saavedra, Kimberly Kindy and Brian Joseph of The Orange County Register used voter records to show that more than 100 Orange County residents who thought they were simply signing petitions to cure breast cancer, punish child molesters or build schools were duped into registering as Republicans. The petition circulators were paid as much as $7 for each GOP registration. "Orange County election officials have received complaints from 167 people who were flipped to the Republican Party without their permission. " The investigation found the problem was far wider, interviewing 112 others who were not only switched, they were tricked and deceived. Among the victims is a lifelong Democrat who was pressured to fill out forms even though she didn't have her glasses and couldn't see what she was signing.

Agency's spy satellite technology loses relevance

Michael Fabey of the DefenseNews looks into the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office's fading imaging- and signals-intelligence program that reportedly has an annual budget of about $7 billion. "A satellite communications technology called spot beaming might help the NRO regain some of its fading signals-intelligence relevance, but imagery's place as an intel centerpiece may have gone with the Cold War. " The investigation found that images, which were useful when counting Soviet tanks or measuring the size of an East German air base, aren't much help against small terrorist cells. And people have learned to hide from orbital cameras by going indoors or underground when the satellites pass overhead. These drawbacks will not be overcome by the NRO's Future Imagery Architecture, a dozen-satellite constellation intended to provide photos of unprecedented resolution in visible and infrared spectra. The $25 billion-plus program, now set to launch around 2013, has been beset by delays and cost overruns.

Clerk reports erroneous juror response rates

Carl Jones of the Daily Business Review in South Florida analyzed Miami-Dade County juror response rates and found the county actually had about a 25 percent response in 2004-05 — rather than 54 percent as reported by the Office of the State Courts Administrator. And its true average monthly percentage for the last six months was 38.4 percent, not 95.3 percent. The county's Clerk of Courts confirmed his office has used a different method for reporting jury yield than that advised by the state since late 2004. "After the state of Florida took over responsibility for funding core justice system costs in July 2004, the job of jury pool management shifted from courts administrators to the county clerks of the courts. " The jury yield statistics help clerks and court officials plan how many people they need to summon to garner large enough jury pools for judges and trial lawyers to select from. Florida, like most other states, is struggling to improve declining rates of jury service compliance.