Extra! Extra!

Motorcycle fatalities on rise; helmet laws repealed

Thomas Hargrove of Scripps Howard News Service studied records provided by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and found "deaths in U.S. motorcycle crashes have nearly doubled in a decade, mounting to 4,000 annually, as more states have repealed mandatory helmet safety laws." The analysis of 2004 federal accident data showed that "the per capita rate of motorcycle fatalities in 2004 was 41 percent greater in states that do not require helmets for adult motorcyclists." The story notes that motorcyclists have "formed powerful state and national lobbies, persuaded Congress to muzzle federal highway safety experts and convinced lawmakers in 30 states to roll back their statutes." Hargrove also found that "an unusually large number of divorced middle-age men are dying in motorcycle accidents."

Tracking of excessive force inconsistent in Texas

Nancy Martinez and Sarah Viren of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reviewed a database from the state Attorney General of in-custody deaths and found a lack of records of excessive force complaints and inconsistencies in the records that did exist. "No reports are sent outside the department unless someone dies, no agency collects comparable data on excessive force complaints, and a statewide database of deaths that occurred in law enforcement custody contains data-entry glitches and missing information." In one of the in-custody deaths, the investigation found that city officials said the video of the in-custody death proved officers followed policy, but they didn't share that.

Hundreds of Texas racehorses fatally injured

John Tedesco of the San Antonio Express-News examined the Texas Racing Commission's database of horse injuries, which never had been analyzed by outsiders, and found that "at the state's five licensed tracks, Marsh and other veterinarians with the Texas Racing Commission have euthanized or documented the deaths of 300 horses in the past five years, usually after the animals broke ankles, legs or even spinal cords during races." Although thousands of horses compete safely in Texas, the investigation reveals an ugly side to a industry struggling to fill empty seats.

Airport screeners' ID and uniforms go missing

Brian Collister, Stephen Kline and Mandi Johnston of WOAI-San Antonio analyzed records, obtained through FOIA, from the Transportation Security Administration and found that "more than 1,400 TSA employee ID badges and uniform items have been reported lost or stolen since 2003. " Noting that terrorists have used stolen badges and uniforms to pull off attacks overseas, the Department of Homeland Security issued several warnings to local, state and federal agencies to guard uniforms and badges in the past few years. But the investigation showed that the airport screeners, intended to keep you safe from terrorists, are actually making it easier for terrorists to strike again. See the full story as it was broadcast (approx. five minutes).

Sleepy truckers cause crashes, don't get ticketed

Nancy Amons of WSMV-Nashville analyzed truck accident reports statewide over the past five years and found that "64 crashes where a trucker who was listed as 'apparently asleep' injured or killed someone. In 70 percent of those cases, the trucker never got a ticket." Analysis of another database of Department of Safety inspection reports found that in three years, more than 1900 truck drivers were cited for driving over the allowable number of hours. A recent federal study found that when a trucker causes a crash, 13 percent of the time it is because he is fatigued.

School districts don't know who drives the buses

Karen Eschbacher of The (Quincy, Mass.) Patriot Ledger found that most school districts on the South Shore hire private contractors to provide bus service for students. "Several South Shore communities fail to run background checks on school bus drivers, and others can't even produce the names of people allowed behind the wheel." "While state laws are supposed to ensure bus drivers can be trusted around kids, the arrest this week of a convicted sex offender whose job was to drive special needs students has sparked concern among parents and raised questions about whether enough is being done to keep children safe."

Income not checked for emergency food stamps

Kathleen Chapman of The Palm Beach Post investigated the emergency food-stamp program in Florida after Hurricane Wilma and found that nearly 700,000 Floridians, many of whom were not really too poor to buy food, got in line for the stamps. "Florida didn't require proof of income to get the payments, and the state hasn't completed any large-scale audits since the money went out." The investigation also found that applicants who did report too much income to qualify were turned away.

Troops kept on duty while mentally unfit

Lisa Chedekel and Matthew Kauffman of The Hartford Courant used military investigative records to show that unsuitable practices handling troops mental health "have helped to fuel an increase in the suicide rate among troops serving in Iraq, which reached an all-time high in 2005 when 22 soldiers killed themselves — accounting for nearly one in five of all Army non-combat deaths." The investigation found that "at least 11 service members who committed suicide in Iraq in 2004 and 2005 were kept on duty despite exhibiting signs of significant psychological distress" and "the military is sending troops back into combat for second and third tours despite diagnoses of PTSD or other combat-related psychological problems."

High-interest payday loans increase in N.H.

Karen Spiller of The (Nashua, N.H.) Telegraph found that payday loans with high interest rates — as high as 500 percent or more — are increasing in New Hampshire, the only state in New England not to regulate them. "Last year alone, more than 100,000 payday loans were written in the state for an average loan of about $360, according to the New Hampshire Banking Department. " The number of loans rose 28 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to data The Telegraph requested from the state banking commissioner.

Prisoners paroled early despite lifetime sentences

Robert Patrick of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used court records and Department of Corrections data to show that prisoners who were sentenced to prison terms of double their lifetimes or more have been quietly released after doing only a fraction of their time in Missouri and Illinois. "In all, at least 189 murderers and 40 people convicted of sexual assault, rape or sodomy in Missouri are among roughly 400 of the state's inmates originally sentenced to at least 25 years in prison and paroled in the past 10 years, according to the Department of Corrections." They are prisoners who were convicted before legislators and prosecutors tightened the rules and began chipping away at the discretion of the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole.

Utility district spent ratepayers' money on sports

Andrew McIntosh of The Sacramento Bee found that "the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has spent more than $1 million in ratepayers' money on partnership deals with the Sacramento Kings and Monarchs since 2002." The public utility's contracts with Maloof Sports, disclosed under the state's Public Records Act, offer a rare glimpse into an NBA team's advertising and sponsorship dealings with businesses — and the hospitality perks that go with such agreements. See the 2005 contract and 2003 contract.

Lawyers market to potential silicosis victims

Mike Tolson of the Houston Chronicle examined lawsuits related to silicosis, an occupational lung disease caused by exposure to silica which is used by industry in dozens of ways. He found that "To attorneys who had earned millions from asbestos settlements, it represented the next potential windfall." The lawyers did not need sick people, only doctors who would issue diagnoses. In 2002, "one of the smallest states in the country went from 76 new silicosis suits to 10,642. By the end of 2004, the state's total topped 20,000." Tolson also writes about the role of radiologists in the lawsuits.

N.J. funds schools that manage money poorly

Jean Rimbach and Kathleen Carroll of The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record analyzed audits of more than 100 state-funded preschools in New Jersey's poorest communities, reviewed tax returns, financial documents and contracts and interviewed dozens of state and local officials, owners and teachers to show that seven years after New Jersey launched its landmark program for disadvantaged preschoolers — with $561 million budgeted this year alone — the state continues to send tax dollars to programs that have flagrantly misspent or wasted money. The four-month investigation found sloppy bookkeeping at virtually every school, inflated rents, six-figure salaries and $900,000 in personal loans while some schools shortchanged teachers' wages and benefits and uninterrupted funding for schools showing clear financial distress, such as tax liens, negative bank balances, lapsed insurance policies and failure to meet payroll.

Spy agency collects data about Americans' phone calls

Leslie Cauley of the USA Today found the "National Security Agency had been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth." Cauley's sources say the agency uses the call data to "analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity" but that it does not listen in on phone calls. The three carriers are the nation's largest telecommunications companies, providing local, long-distance and wireless phone service, and Internet access. "Only Qwest has refused to help the NSA, the sources said. According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over customer information to the government without warrants."

Fighting eminent domain mostly a losing battle

Steve Kemme and Gregory Korte of The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed real-estate sales records and found that those who sold their homes for an urban renewal project in suburban Norwood made more than twice what their homes were worth — while those who had their properties taken by eminent domain made three times their appraised value. The reporters analyzed every eminent domain case in Hamilton County in the past eight years to show that when government moves to take private property, owners can rarely — if ever — stop it." The investigation found that owners do get 85 percent more in court than the government was willing to pay when it filed the condemnation action.

Legal claims, retirements paid by taxpayers

In a continuation of the "Conduct Unbecoming" series, Lewis Kamb of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer examined "state pension and payroll records of eight King County sheriff's deputies and found example after example of how such problem officers continued drawing salaries and earning service credits for years." The investigation also found that "taxpayers have paid hundreds of thousands more in settlements of legal claims brought by alleged victims of four of the deputies" along with millions in work and retirement pay.

Campaign finance reform plan lacks scope

Kevin Begos and Doug Stanley of The Tampa Tribune analyzed records to show that the campaign finance reform legislation backed by Senate President Tom Lee would have a serious effect on only about 5 percent of soft money groups in the state, leaving vast loopholes in other places. "Of the 816 soft money committees listed with the Division of Elections, 41 are controlled by legislators — the focus of Lee's bill. " The main reforms of Lee's bill are restrictions on links between politicians and soft money committees and increased reporting requirements. Also, politicians wouldn't be able to solicit or accept campaign contributions of more than $500 for the committees they control.

Brown's e-mails reveal FEMA reaction to Katrina

Daniel Lathrop and John Perry of The Center for Public Integrity used FOIA to obtain e-mail records of former FEMA head Michael Brown, showing that "while many residents were awaiting rescue from rooftops or wading through toxic floodwaters, it was business as usual in the world of money, power and government inside the Washington beltway." The Center posted a PDF containing more than 900 pages of Brown's e-mails.

L.A. county soft on employee discipline

Troy Anderson of the Los Angeles Daily News reviewed records to show that in recent years county employees' firings or suspensions were softened by the Civil Service Commission. The commission overturned or reduced discipline recommended by county departments in nearly half of cases from 2001 to 2004. "Out of 17 sheriff's cases the commission considered in 2003, the panel reversed five discharges and reduced another to a suspension." Of 470 disciplinary appeals filed by county employees in health, probation, sheriff and children's services agencies in 2003 and 2004, 175 were settled or withdrawn. Of the remaining 295, 210 were still in the adjudication process and only had 85 had been considered by the commission.

Homes remain out of reach for many

Gina Edwards, Deirdre Conner and Kori Rumore of the Naples Daily News analyzed real estate transactions culled from property appraiser records to show how the real estate market has shifted. In 2003, in Collier County, Fla., almost 60 percent of single-family homes on the market — more than 4,500 — sold for less than $300,000. By 2005, the under-$300,000 market had shrunk to 22 percent of single-family home sales. "This when two-thirds of all Collier households make less than $75,000 a year and can't afford more than a $300,000 home." Affordable housing became a pressing crisis when Collier lost traditionally affordable neighborhoods to skyrocketing prices. Similarly, in 2003, 43 percent of single-family homes in south Lee County, or more than 1,250, sold for less than $200,000. By 2005, only 11 percent of single-family homes, or fewer than 370, sold for under $200,000 in south Lee.

Sex offenders working at McDonald's around the nation

Phil Williams of WTVF-Nashville used the state's registry of sex offenders to show that McDonald's restaurants across the country have repeatedly hired sex offenders and child molesters. For instance, the investigation found that a twice-convicted rapist and child molester in Indiana heads a list of 13 McDonald's employees on the sex offender registry. Another convicted child molester in Alaska is among 14 McDonald's workers — sex offenders — who are listed on that state's registry. The franchisees are not required to do background checks, and a statement sent to use by McDonald's suggest the corporation may not always do background checks. A map shows a state-by-state analysis

Tenn. legislative workers get hefty raises

Nancy Amons of WSMV-Nashville compared databases of state employees' salaries in 2003 and 2006 to show that most state employees got a 9 percent increase over a three-year period, while some top executives took home raises of 45 percent and more. The investigation found that the clerks of the State House and Senate got increases of more than 25 percent, although they do not have any kind of performance reviews. Ten staffers in the legislature were found who make more than $100,000 a year each averaged a 20 percent increase from 2003 to 2006. "That's more than TWICE what the average state worker got during the same time period — 9 percent. " The state also has a record number of employees making more than $200,000 a year. This number of employees has increased from 2 in 2003 to 11 in 2006. The story includes achart of salary increases for the 25 highest-paid legislative employees.

Serious problems with tornado sirens

Bob Segall of WTHR-Indianapolis used county records to find there are serious issues with many of central Indiana's tornado sirens. The investigation found problems that included sirens that have failed thousands of times, to inoperable sirens, to local officials who have no idea whether sirens are working or even where the sirens are. "For example, on a single test date in October, 2004, records show 70 siren failures. But the week before, only one siren failed, and the week after, 23 sirens failed. " Records show sirens have failed to work properly 4,689 times over the past six years, both during regular Friday morning testing and during actual storms. There were several dates when more than half of them weren't working — at least 70 sirens listed as failing simultaneously. The story includes a sidebar on the coverage area and how they reported the story

Patients denied kidneys because of paperwork

Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein of the Los Angeles Times used interviews, internal memos and transplant records to show that 25 Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO's kidney transplant program in San Francisco. " The patients missed this opportunity because they were in effect stranded between two transplant programs." Kaiser never properly completed the paperwork to transfer the patients' cases to its program from UC-San Francisco Medical Center, which had been under contract to care for them until September 2004. At the same time, Kaiser would not authorize UC-San Francisco to continue accepting kidneys and transplanting them into Kaiser patients.

Analysis paints picture of killers, victims

Jo Craven McGinty of The New York Times analyzed homicide records over the past three years to provide a detailed description of New York killers and their victims. From 2003 through 2005, 1,662 murders were committed in New York. With crimes that were solved, men and boys were responsible for 93 percent of the murders. "They killed with guns about two-thirds of the time; their victims tended to be other men and boys; and in more than half the cases, the killer and the victim knew each other." The offender and victim were of the same race in more than three-quarters of the killings. "At least a quarter of the city's murders in these three years, were committed by strangers, and in those instances, most were the result of a dispute. " More than 90 percent of the killers had criminal records; and of those who wound up killed, more than half had them.

Taxpayers subsidize college athletics

Mark Alesia of The Indianapolis Star finds that "athletic departments at taxpayer-funded universities nationwide receive more than $1 billion in student fees and general school funds and services." The investigation analyzed the 2004-05 athletic budgets of 164 of the nation's 215 biggest public schools. The Star compiled and put online what is says is the "most detailed, publicly available database of college athletic department financial information ever assembled." The data comes from forms required by the NCAA for the 2004-05 school year that the paper obtained through freedom of information requests. Matt Moore, Mark Nichols, Chris Phillips, Ole Morten Orset, Ben Thomas, Jimmy Trodglen and Kandra Branam helped compile the data.

Overtime a burden in N.H. town

Andrew Nelson of The (Nashua, N.H.) Telegraph used city payroll records to look at overtime costs. While the city is laying off schoolteachers, it continues to pay $9 million a year in overtime and other extra pay to city employees. The investigation found that "nearly 50 city workers added at least 50 percent to their regular pay" and "more than 200 city workers added at least one-third to their pay. Only two of them work in schools, where administrators say they will cut more than 100 jobs in the next month to meet the mayor's budget targets." The bulk of the extra pay is in the traditional bastions of overtime: Nashua Fire Rescue ($3,098,945 in extra pay) and the police department ($2,514,591). But in percentage terms, the biggest winner was the solid waste department ($366,546, or 35 percent more than the base pay). A sortable database online includes every city employee and overtime pay.

Politicians use leadership PACs for campaign contributions

Deirdre Shesgreenand and Jaimi Dowdell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used campaign records to show that leadership PACs, set up separately from regular re-election accounts, are an increasingly popular tool politicians use to rake in extra campaign dollars that they then dole out to their colleagues — usually the party's most vulnerable incumbents or top challengers. "The accounts are a way for elected officials to get around campaign finance limits and wring yet more money out of special interests." In the process, critics contend, the PACs give lawmakers an extra political fund to dip into for travel, consultants and other items that fuel their own ambitions. Lawmakers can use leadership accounts to pay for a wide range of political expenses, including some that have little to do with a PAC's stated purpose of contributing to federal candidates.

Police use homeland security grants to keep tabs

David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web. The inquiry found federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into state and local police intelligence operations. Guidelines for protecting privacy and civil liberties have lagged far behind the federal money. After four years of doling out homeland security grants to police departments, federal officials released guidelines for the conduct of local intelligence operations only last year; the standards are voluntary and are being implemented slowly. The problems evoke memories of the now-discredited Red Squads that wreaked havoc against the civil rights and antiwar movements in the 1960s and early '70s.

Students often call police about peers' parties

Brian Charlton and Don Jordan of The State News at Michigan State University analyzed noise and party violations from 2004 and 2005, including 1,025 noise, 41 unlawful party and two nuisance party violations, and found student neighborhoods were saturated with violations. The most ticketed areas were student apartment complexes, a finding that surprised police who thought most complaints would come from where student neighborhoods adjoined areas where more permanent residents lived. "Most of the noise citations are given out after someone calls police with a complaint. There were more than 1,600 complaints in both 2004 and 2005 — three times more than the number of citations handed out." The investigation used Access to find the noisiest apartment complex, apartment, street, block, weekend, day of the week, time of the day, month of the year. They also found the police officers who issued the most tickets. The story includes an interactive map of violations and a PDF of the data.

Firms employ brokers who have regulatory records

Paul Foutch and Will Deener of The Dallas Morning News used state securities board data to show that four firms in the Dallas-Fort Worth brokerage industry have brokers with extensive regulatory records. The investigation used NASD data (the industry's self-regulatory body, formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers) obtained from the Texas State Securities Board, and analyzed the regulatory records of the 14,450 brokers with offices in D-FW as of April 7. "The paper focused on firms with a minimum of 15 brokers, about 125 firms including some insurance, mutual fund and other financial companies."

Judicial nominee violated ethics law

Will Evans of the Center for Investigative Reporting, writing for Salon.com, reviewed the financial filings of Judge Terrence W. Boyle, a key circuit court nominee touted by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to show that he ruled in multiple cases involving corporations in which he held investments. For instance, Boyle bought stock in General Electric while presiding over a lawsuit in which the corporation stood accused of illegally denying disability benefits to a long-standing employee. "Two months later, he made his ruling: Boyle shot down the plaintiff's claims to long-term and pension disability benefits, granting him only a fraction of the money in short-term compensation for a debilitating mental condition." The investigation revealed that Boyle apparently violated federal law prohibiting judicial conflicts of interest — not only in the G.E. case, but in many instances since his nomination five years ago.