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Contributions might violate city ordinance

In a computer-assisted analysis of campaign contributions, Matt Stiles and Chase Davis of The Houston Chronicle found that elected officials might have accepted contributions in violation of a city ordinance. The ordinance prohibits "donations from contractors with business before the City Council." Their analysis shows that more than $30,000 was contributed by prohibited donors. ,After learning of the violations, some officials immediately returned the donations. In part, the violations are attributed to the archaic system for identifying ineligible contributors which must all be done manually.

Campaign finances flow to those in power

Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News reports on the shift in corporate campaign contributions following Democratic wins in the November elections. "During the campaign, the world's second-largest maker of commercial airplanes [Boeing] backed Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri with a maximum $10,000 campaign contribution from its political-action committee. Just 17 days after his defeat, the PAC wrote a $5,000 check to Claire McCaskill, the Democrat who beat him." Other companies and financial institutions made similar moves with their campaign contributions having backed the defeated incumbents prior to the election.

Public money for Port of Seattle funds private profits

In a 3-part series, Ruth Teichroeb and Kristen Bolt of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer report on how the Port of Seattle officials have brokered "generous no-bid deals with a company hired to run publicly owned facilities on the central waterfront, have failed to closely monitor those contracts, and have shouldered all of the financial risk for a decade." In addition, the Port of Seattle has invested millions in luring cruise ships to the area, yet profits are not going to the port authority or King County but to a third party that manages the cruise ship terminals.

Districts culture of cheating rampant for decades

In a follow-up to an investigation by The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporters Melanie Burney and Frank Kummer found that the culture of cheating on standardized test in New Jersey's Camden school district dates back to the 1980s. Camden School Board President Philip E. Freeman "said recent internal investigations, including of allegations of grade changing in two high schools, had confirmed a 'culture inherent throughout the district that has been difficult to dissolve because it's been so deeply entrenched.'"

Millions squandered by Miami-Dade Housing Agency

In another installment to The Miami Herald's "House of Lies" investigative series, reporter Debbie Cenziper exposes the actions of the former director of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency, which squandered millions of dollars over the past five years in insider deals, mismanagement and corruption. In a follow-up story, Cenziper and reporter Scott Hiaasen report on a scathing county audit of the same housing agency and key developers who received millions of taxpayer dollars.

Mine safety

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette and reporter Ken Ward Jr. continued an ongoing series on coal mine safety with a story about coal dust violations and an article that explains that investigators do not always pinpoint the cause of coal-mining disasters.

Law opens boardroom doors

Jill Riepenhoff and Doug Haddix of The Columbus Dispatch used U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proxy statements to examine the boards of directors of 30 companies based in central Ohio. They found huge increases in compensation and an increase in directors serving on multiple boards since the 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Companies defend the large raises because of new requirements and potential liability under Sarbanes-Oxley, which was passed in the wake of financial scandals at Enron and WorldCom. The newspaper ran large graphics with key findings and profiles of well-known board members, their compensation and other details.

Harvesting Cash: Working a Farm Subsidy

A on-going special report by The Washington Post looks at federal agriculture subsidies, which topped $25 billion in the last year. In the latest story, Dan Morgan, Sarah Cohen and Gilbert M. Gaul report on the influence of the dairy lobby and its ability to crush the efforts of a California dairyman who was operating successfully outside the industry's price-control system.

The Big Squeeze

An investigation by The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Calif.) shows that the habitat of endangered species is being developed despite a plan to protect such lands. "Some of the best places for western Riverside County's rarest animals and plants face destruction by developers despite a costly, sweeping plan to protect such habitat...In case after case, county and city officials have approved homes, stores and industry on land they had identified as essential habitat."

Baltimore's ground rent mess

A series by Fred Schulte and June Arney of The (Baltimore) Sun reveals that an archaic law is creating problems for thousands of Baltimore residents. "Baltimore's arcane system of ground rents, widely viewed as a harmless vestige of colonial law, is increasingly being used by some investors to seize homes or extract large fees from people who often are ignorant of the loosely regulated process." They evaluated computer records from the Baltimore City Circuit court, identifying nearly 4,000 lawsuits filed by ground rent holders against homeowners since 2000. Maryland laws seem to favor the ground rent holders. Since 2000, 521 houses have been awarded to the ground rent holders for unpaid or delinquent rent -- an incredibly disproportionate settlement in relationship to the debt owed. As some entrepreneurs use ground rent laws for their own profit, public officials call for reforms.

Tax dollars pay for religion behind bars

Diana B. Henriques and Andrew Lehren of The New York Times report on the proliferation of faith-based rehabilitation programs funded by tax dollars and springing up in correctional facilities across the country. "Since 2000, courts have cited more than a dozen programs for having unconstitutionally used taxpayer money to pay for religious activities or evangelism aimed at prisoners, recovering addicts, job seekers, teenagers and children." Proponents of these programs look to President Bush's Faith-Based and Community Initiative, "a high-profile effort to encourage religious and community groups to participate in government programs," as justification for the funding "so long as any direct financing is used only for secular expenses." Recent Government Accounting Office reports indicate improvements are needed in how grants to faith-based organizations are monitored.

Complaints rampant in insurance industry

Mike Casey of The Kansas City Star reports on the rampant dissatisfaction many consumers have with their insurance providers. The paper conducted an 11-month investigation into insurance problems and analyzed almost 35 million records, including over 600,000 complaints logged in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) database from 2003 through 2005. The analysis shows that consumer satisfaction is less of a concern for insurance companies than other financial services, such as banks and brokerage firms. The biggest gripe by consumers is that insurance agencies take too long to settle claims, followed closely by claim denials. David Herzog of NICAR and the Missouri School of Journalism consulted on this story.

Estate laws in Texas easily abused

Tony Plohetski of the Austin American-Statesman reports on short-comings in Texas estate laws which make it easy to defraud the deceased. "State probate laws don't ensure that a deceased person's assets actually get to heirs — or require executors to tell the heirs they're named in a will." With little to no oversight, executors in Texas can easily mishandle the assets of the deceased.

Back in Black

In a three-day series, Spencer Hunt of The Columbus Dispatch reports on the environmental issues arising out of a resurgence in coal mining in the state of Ohio. He found that "state laws and programs designed to safeguard the land and water are riddled with problems."

Road Hazards

The Dallas Morning News has conducted a year-long investigation into safety issues plaguing the trucking industry in Texas. The final installment of the series focuses on felons in the workforce, harsh working conditions that make trucking a dangerous job, and the industry's political influence in shaping safety laws and regulations.

The Department of Transportation's Truck Inspection data can be obtained from the IRE and NICAR Database Library.

N.C. state pages stayed with convicted felon

As part of an on-going investigation of Democratic state Rep. Jim Black, Dan Kane and J. Andrew Curliss of The News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) report the coordinator of the state page program, Ann Lassiter, had arranged for student pages to stay with her son, a convicted felon. Rep. Black removed Lassiter from her position and allowed her to retire. A month later she was rehired as House historian, a position Black created for her.

Financial aid staff destroy documents during fraud investigation

Corey G. Johnson of The Daily Reflector in Greenville, N.C., reports that East Carolina University "employees destroyed numerous Office of Student Financial Aid records in apparent violation of university policy and federal requirements" during an audit and investigation at the school. It is not known what specific documents were destroyed or what impact the shredding had on the accuracy of the audit. The university has launched its own investigation into the matter.

Fraudulent real estate company stole millions from unsuspecting buyers

Catherine E. Shoichet of the St. Petersburg Times reports on a bogus real estate company that defrauded unsuspecting buyers of millions. Natalia and Victor Wolf, owners of Sky Development Group, are currently under investigation for real estate fraud; no charges have been filed in the case. The Wolfs apparently fled the country in October and may have pocketed over $20 million from crooked real estate dealings. Allegations against them include taking money and providing forged deeds for property they did not actually own, and accepting money for homes never built or finished.

Subprime loans cripple minority homeowners

Vikas Bajaj and Ron Nixon of The New York Times looked at the impact of subprime loans on minority homeownership over the past six years. The very loans that allowed for the purchase of a home are now crippling buyers' finances as interest rates inflate, leading to an increase in delinquencies and foreclosures. "Industry officials say the number of subprime borrowers losing their home and encountering distress is growing and sure to increase because there have been so many more mortgages issued in recent years. But they argue that on balance, subprime lending has been beneficial because it has given people who previously did not have access to credit the ability to buy homes."

The Home Mortgage Disclosure Act database can be obtained from the IRE and NICAR Database Library.

Sexual misconduct problem for Oregon officers

Ian Demsky of Willamette Week in Portland, Ore., investigated the records of law enforcement and corrections officers in Oregon who had their licenses revoked. Since 2002, about one third of the revocations stemmed from sexual misconduct.

Ballot design may have caused undervote in Florida election

Matthew Doig and Maurice Tamman of the Herald-Tribune analyzed every ballot cast in Sarasota County in an effort to understand the substantial undervote for the disputed District 13 congressional race. Their analysis points to ballot design as the culprit, although they discuss other theories offered to explain the dramatic 13 percent undervote, or "nearly twice as high as any competitive congressional race in Florida in at least a decade," according to this report.

Surface mines pose unique dangers

The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette's Ken Ward Jr. continues his series on coal mine safety with a Sunday article about the dangers of working at mountaintop removal mines in Appalachia. Ward reports, among other things, that Appalachian strip mines account for 20 percent of the nation's strip-mined coal, but over the last decade accounted for 75 percent of the nation's surface mine deaths. The entire series can be viewed here.

Texas law hog-ties defense attorneys

Jeremy Rogalski and 11 News Investigates of KHOU-Houston exposed an open secret of the Texas justice system: Texas prosecutors are not letting defense attorneys see basic documents, such as police reports, witness statements, and even DNA lab results, before trial. A Texas state law practically eliminates pretrial discovery often leaving defense attorneys unable to prepare for court. Rogalski found that this has resulted in at least one innocent man going to prison for 13 years.

Conflict of interest in sealed guardianship cases

In the on-going series "Your Court, Their Secrets" investigating closed court records, Cheryl Phillips, Maureen O'Hagan and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times uncovered conflicts of interest in sealed guardianship cases. "Only a small circle of lawyers practice in the guardianship field. Some say that to make a good living they cannot limit their practice to one side or the other: They must represent guardianship companies as well as the people subject to those companies' control." This leaves wards vulnerable to guardians who profit by working both sides of the system. This vulnerability is compounded by the fact that these court records are sealed. Since 1990, 398 guardianship files have been sealed in the state of Washington. The Times reviewed sealing orders for 376 of those files to find that 97% did not adhere to the proper legal standard for dealing a case: "A judge must find that "compelling circumstances" exist for secrecy; determine that they outweigh the public's right to open courts; and explain the reasoning in a written order."

Too little choice, too much ideology

The Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists conducted a yearlong investigation into how rigid rules and restrictions of President Bush's initiative to fight HIV/AIDS have affected countries struggling with the pandemic. The investigation found that restrictive funding and emphasis on abstinence have hindered the $15 billion effort. "Information accumulated by reporters in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) through more than 100 interviews, examination of thousands of pages of documents and reporting on the ground in affected countries indicates that this historic opportunity may be slipping away, because PEPFAR's (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) 'flawed framework' has stressed a restrictive use of the funds earmarked to combat HIV/AIDS." The investigation reveals a pattern of contradictory, conflicting and confusing policies and concludes that the picture presented is one of an extraordinarily disorganized operation. The project's home page can be viewed here.