Extra! Extra!

NFL arrests consistent with general population rates

Brent Schrotenboer of The San Diego Union-Tribune reports on an investigation into hundreds of news reports and public records since 2000 to compile an unofficial list of 308 arrests and citations involving NFL players for all offenses except speeding tickets. The paper "found that the league's biggest problems with the law are in many ways just as ordinary: drunken driving, traffic stops and repeat offenders. In addition, contrary to public perception, the arrest rate among NFL players is less than that of the general population, and fueled by many of the same dynamics, analysts say."

Wasting Away: Superfund's Toxic Legacy

The Center for Public Integrity has taken a look at the state of Superfund sites throughout the US. Twenty-seven years after the government developed a program to identify and clean up the worst of these sites, toxic waste remains a problem across the country. "A one-year investigation by the Center for Public Integrity reveals the beleaguered state of the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund effort, uncovers the companies and government agencies linked to the most sites and tracks progress of the clean up." Included in the content are searchable databases on EPA contractors, sponsored travel and congressional correspondence with EPA officials. You can also search for detailed information about Superfund sites across the country. Federal procurement data for this series was provided by NICAR. Data on federal contracts and other federal awards, such as grants or loans, is available from the IRE and NICAR Database Library.

Administration aids GOP through election fraud claims

Greg Gordon of McClatchy's Washington, D.C., bureau, reports that the Bush administration tried to curb voter turnout in critical battleground states over the last six years, based on information from written documents and former department lawyers. As Democratic groups amped up voter registration, the administration increased claims of election fraud and created more stringent voter identification laws. Joseph Rich, former chief of the Justice Department's Civil Rights section, claimed an unmistakable patterns emerged from the admistration's actions. He stated, "'As more information becomes available about the administration's priority on combating alleged, but not well substantiated, voter fraud, the more apparent it is that its actions concerning voter ID laws are part of a partisan strategy to suppress the votes of poor and minority citizens.'"

OSHA decreases regulatory role under Bush

The New York Times's Stephen Labaton (with contributions by Ron Nixon) reports that, under the Bush Administration, OSHA has moved away from its regulatory role in workplace safety. Since George W. Bush became president, OSHA has issued the fewest significant standards in its history, public health experts say. It has imposed only one major safety rule. The only significant health standard it issued was ordered by a federal court. The agency has killed dozens of existing and proposed regulations and delayed adopting others.. Instead of regulations, companies are to use a "voluntary compliance strategy" that lacks any sort of enforcement power, according to critics.

Sex and the CIA

David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report reveals how female spy veterans of the CIA are taking legal action for being disciplined over “close and continuing relationships” with foreigners. Kaplan reports on the CIA's secret disciplinary hearings and internal investigations, detailing how top female spies lost their jobs after falling in love overseas — while men with foreign relationships, they say, escaped scot-free.

Data links sports success and affluent booster clubs

As school sports leaders prepare to discuss new rules regarding booster club spending, Eric D. Williams of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash., used data analysis to help demonstrate how money influences a school's ability to produce winning teams and state champions. The newspaper surveyed state title winners from Class 3A and 4A schools from 2002 to 2006, totaling 100 champions. "The analysis ranked public schools by median household income of its neighborhoods using numbers from the 2000 U.S. Census, and the percentage of students on a federal free or reduced-priced meal program from a May 2006 survey taken by the state's Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction." Non-profit tax returns showed fundraising totals for clubs that raised more than $25,000. The investigation found that schools in the upper portion of the analysis, those in more-affluent communities, won nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of the state titles.

Records reveal reporter's criminal past

Joshua Benton of The Dallas Morning News used court records to show that Elizabeth Albanese, who recently stepped down as leader of the Press Club of Dallas, has a criminal record under the name Lisa Albanese centered on allegations of theft. Former co-workers described a history of spinning lies. She also has a record of mental illness and delusional behavior. " The investigation revealed that Ms. Albanese invented medical conditions, a kidney transplant and at least one college degree. According to the records, she was also jailed for felony thefts, forgery and putting false documents into circulation." The Press Club currently is investigating the validity of judging in the group's Katie Awards, one of the state's most prestigious journalism honors, under her leadership.

Parole failures go unpunished

Brendan J. Lyons of the Times Union in Albany, N.Y., obtained documents from an internal investigation revealing parole managers had incorrectly allowed convicted felons to remain free and commit new crimes. Despite these findings, the state agency's leaders took no action against those found responsible for parole errors and instead pursued charges against the people they suspected of leaking information to the paper. The whole affair unfolded after a July 2005 Times Union report revealed how parolees who violated the terms of their release remained free and went on to commit crimes such as rape and murder.

Numerous South Florida restaurants cited for critical health code violations

Mc Nelly Torres of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports that nearly 2,500 restaurants in South Florida were cited for critical violations by state inspectors between July 2006 and January 2007. Since 1997, there has been a 66 percent increase in the number of confirmed food-borne illnesses tied to restaurants. "In December, the state issued disciplinary actions against 276 restaurants in the state -- 94 of them in South Florida -- and collected a total of $253,550 in fines, the Sun-Sentinel's analysis shows. South Florida's restaurants paid a total of $101,950 in fines." Included in the story is a database which allows readers to search the inspection records of South Florida restuarants.

Arizona developer's checkered past

Mark Flatten of the East Valley Tribune in Phoenix completed a series on Jim Rhodes who has become in the most influential developer in Arizona's East Valley. In December of 2006, he purchased over 1,000 acres of state trust land. The $58.6 million purchase gave him the right to "master-plan 7,700 acres in the area and set the tone for development of 275 square miles of state land extending from the eastern edge of Maricopa County to Florence." State officials claim they did not know of Rhodes' checkered past, which includes charges of fraud and theft, prior to the land purchase. The entire series can be viewed here.

Unethical deals in N.J. school district

John Froonjian of The Press in Atlantic City, N.J., dug into insurance contracts in the Pleasantville school district to uncover a web of insider deals and millions wasted in a struggling district that gets two-thirds of its funding from the state. The Press found that in Pleasantville, school board contracts, political fundraising and private jobs are intertwined. The process has produced apparent conflicts of interest, possible violations of the state's pay-to-play law, defiance of election-finance laws and potential violations of the federal law designed to protect personal medical information. The Press investigation followed a successful lawsuit to gain access to minutes of the school board's executive sessions, many of which were missing or had never been recorded.

Decreasing enrollment in Denver Public Schools

Burt Hubbard and Nancy Mitchell of Rocky Mountain News found that about a fourth of school-age children ages 5 to 17 in Denver don't attend the city's public schools. Analyzing data from Denver Public Schools, suburban school districts, private schools and the U.S. Census Bureau, the study found that an estimated 15,700 students bypassed Denver Public Schools last year in favor of private or suburban schools that are seen as safer or academically superior. "In addition, about 4,600 Denver kids up to age 17 didn't go to school at all for reasons as varied as home schooling, dropping out or incarceration" The 20,300 potential students streaming away from DPS already cost the district more than $135 million a year in lost local and state funding.

The politics of life and death

Dan Horn of The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed the 6th Circuit court's death-penalty decisions since 2000 to show that 6th Circuit judges consistently voted along partisan lines, and that "a federal death-penalty appeal can be a game of chance." A review of every 6th circuit death penalty decision since 2000 found that judges appointed by Republican presidents vote to deny inmate appeals 85 percent of the time, and judges appointed by Democrats vote to grant at least some relief 75 percent of the time. That means life-and-death decisions often hinge on the luck of the draw: A panel with a liberal majority gives the inmate a far greater chance of avoiding execution than one with a conservative majority.

Recurring health violations uncovered in NC university cafeteria

In a quick-hit investigation, Corey G. Johnson of the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, uncovered a history of sanitation violations in the Methodist University student cafeteria. "Since Sodexho opened the Green and Gold Cafe in October 2002, 19 inspection reports have pointed to recurring improper sanitation of food contact surfaces and the need to use approved cleaning methods, reports show. Staff also failed to keep foods at the proper temperature in six unannounced inspections since September 2004. Several visits, including one in November — which earned a 90 — found problems with roaches and ants." Since the March inspection, a school spokesperson claims they are trying to improve the conditions.

FBI's terrorism mission leaves white-collar crime unpunished

A story by Paul Shukovsky, Tracy Johnson and Daniel Lathrop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports on a profound shift in the FBI's mission. Due to a shift in focus to national security following 9/11, the FBI has failed to pursue thousands of white-collar crimes. "Five-and-a-half years later, the White House and the Justice Department have failed to replace at least 2,400 agents transferred to counterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trial of identity thieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals." Lathrop built a database from the records the P-I collected for their investigation and "the newspaper was able for the first time to fully measure the dramatic decline in the number of cases and convictions resulting from the FBI moving resources to terrorism and walking away from areas of criminal enforcement. Copies of the analysis were given to federal officials in Seattle and in Washington, D.C., who did not dispute the newspaper's findings but wouldn't make database experts available to discuss the analysis."

NC state property commission dissolved

In March of 2007, J. Andrew Curliss of The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., reported on the failings of the North Carolina Commission on State Property. The commission was created to sell off surplus land owned by the government in an effort to generate quick revenue. But in the three years since its inception, there had not been a single sale and the commission was rife with problems. On April 5th, the legistlature agreed to shut down the commission, which will free up over $160,000 of taxpayer money. The governor has said he plans to quickly sign the action into law.

Questions raised about Marine deaths at an-Nasiriyah

Eric Longabardi of ERSNews.com reports on exclusive photos from the battle at an-Nasiriyah in Iraq. Additional photographs used in the Pentagon's investigation were obtained by ERSNews.com through a FOIA request. The battle, in which 18 Marines were killed, is the largest single loss of American troops since the beginning of the war in Iraq. While the official Pentagon investigation states that this was a "friendly fire" incident, it also concludes that no Marines were killed by "friendly fire." According to a PRWire release, "The non-official photos obtained by ERSNews.com and additional exclusive investigative reporting indicate something other than the Pentagon's official explanation happened and nine US Marines lost their lives that day due to a deadly sequence of errors."

Rural Development grants finding way to urban areas

Gilbert M. Gaul and Sarah Cohen of The Washington Post report that a majority of money from the USDA's Rural Development program is ending up in urban areas. "More than three times as much money went to metropolitan areas with populations of 50,000 or more ($30.3 billion) as to poor or shrinking rural counties ($8.6 billion)." The aid, originally intended for "farmland and backwoods areas that were isolated and poor," has been spent on everything from a popular tavern on Martha's Vineyard to wiring an affluent Houston suburb for internet service. The discrepancies exist because the regulations which determine which communities are eligible for the development funds differ for each of the 40 programs and are vulnerable to Congressional influence. Information about the data analysis done for this story can be found here.

NC representitive's election disclosures inaccurate

Mark Schreiner of the Star-News in Wilmington, N.C., analyzed disclosure reports and found that state Rep. Thomas Wright failed to account for over $119,000 in campaign contributions since 1992. "Election officials said an unintentional omission would not draw a penalty if corrected, but there is the possibility of criminal charges if contributions were not disclosed intentionally." Wright's re-election campaign is currently under criminal investigation by the state elections board.