|
www.ire.org |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
 |
Send comments and suggestions to .
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
First Amendment & FOIA May 06, 2008 Fatal RV flaws An investigation into RV safety by Chris Halsne, of KIRO (Seattle, Wash.), found that the government only requires "front-end crash and brake tests for the empty chassis." Data analysis revealed that many fatalities in RV accidents are the result of poorly secured interior elements, braking problems, and the weak structural integrity of the fiberglass and wood frames. In response to the investigation, the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association said, "NHTSA (The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) hasn't crash tested finished motor homes because they are fundamentally safe — there simply haven't been enough deaths to warrant the cost of purchasing and testing these types of vehicles." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 21, 2008 Pentagon emerges as puppeteer of favorable wartime coverage A report by David Barstow of The New York Times reveals how the Pentagon has used a cadre of retired military officers to "generate favorable news coverage of the [Bush] administration’s wartime performance...Records and interviews show how the Bush administration has used its control over access and information in an effort to transform the analysts into a kind of media Trojan horse — an instrument intended to shape terrorism coverage from inside the major TV and radio networks." The Times successfully sued the Defense Department for over 8,000 pages of material that outlines the Pentagon's use of these analysts to "deliver administration 'themes and messages' to millions of Americans 'in the form of their own opinions.'" Many of the analysts have close ties to contractors operating in the war zone that are rarely disclosed in the context of their commentary. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Suicides in D.C. jail point to problems within Department of Corrections Brendan Smith of the Washington City Paper reports on two suicides in the Washington D.C. jail that revealed widespread misconduct and inadequate mental-health monitoring by corrections personnel. For ten months, the Director of the Department of Corrections fought a FOIA request for the reports from the internal-affairs investigations into the suicides. The reports showed that numerous personnel made false statements in an effort to cover-up wrongdoings by the DOC and Unity Health Care, the company contracted to provide psychiatric assessment and care within the jail. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 16, 2008 Accuracy questioned in military's hand-held lie detectors U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan will be issued hand-held lie detectors this month, but Bill Dedman of MSNBC.com uncovered conflicting evidence about their effectiveness. "The Defense Department says the portable device isn't perfect, but is accurate enough to save American lives by screening local police officers, interpreters and allied forces for access to U.S. military bases, and by helping narrow the list of suspects after a roadside bombing." The Pentagon, in a PowerPoint presentation released to msnbc.com through a Freedom of Information Act request, says the PCASS is 82 to 90 percent accurate. But other studies obtained by msnbc.com show that testers discarded inconclusive readings when calculating its accuracy. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 07, 2008 North Carolina selects university leaders in secret An investigation by Corey G. Johnson of the Fayetteville Observer finds that North Carolina is the only state in the nation that selects the top leaders of all its public universities in secret. The Observer surveyed every state university system and more than 50 individual universities in the U.S. and analyzed approximately 113 responses for the story. At least two state legislators, including the head of a subcommittee that reviews university matters, have agreed to look into tweaking the state's open meetings law to allow for disclosure - in response to the Observer's study. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 07, 2008 "Dangerous Drivers" Kevin Wack of the Portland Press Herald investigated the impact that drivers with suspended licenses are having on Maine roads. His series explores the dangers they pose and how efforts to address the problem are falling short. "The newspaper analyzed records from about 160,000 motor-vehicle crashes that occurred from 2003 to 2006 using a statewide database obtained through Maine's Freedom of Access Act; examined hundreds of individual driving records; and interviewed scores of motorists, victims, traffic safety researchers, policymakers and law enforcement officials." Accidents involving drivers with suspended licenses are six times more likely to be fatal; four times more likely to lead to an "incapacitating injury"; and 10 times more likely to involve alcohol or drugs. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 25, 2008 Porn sites exploit photos of high school athletes An investigation by Scott M. Reid and Dan Albano of The Orange County Register has revealed that photographs of unsuspecting high school athletes are being posted next to pornographic images on Internet sites. Investigators are tracking Web profiles and e-mail trails to determine the source of photos taken at water polo events. The discovery also raises questions about privacy and First Amendment rights. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 10, 2008 Separation of church and state blurred by former Utah governor Robert Gehrke of The Salt Lake Tribune reported that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt discussed incorporating Mormon doctrines and beliefs into state government when he was governor of Utah. When The Tribune started inquiring, Leavitt requested the state remove transcripts of his discussions from public display. PDFs of the minutes from the "seminary" meetings he held with other government officials are posted on The Tribune's website. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 07, 2007 Lobbyists see 'confidential' list of worst nursing homes The Des Moines Register reports that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which has refused to publicly release its full list of the nation's worst-performing nursing homes, has shared that same information with lobbyists for the nursing home industry. Reporter Clark Kauffman writes that the federal agency has publicly identified only 54 of the 128 homes on its list of "special-focus facilities." The other 74 poor-performing homes have not been disclosed to seniors, their family members and advocates. Yet the American Health Care Association, which lobbies Congress on behalf of 10,000 care facilities nationwide, recently received the full list from CMS on the condition that it not be shared with the public. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 28, 2007 Plenty of holes in drug screening for college athletes A survey by The Salt Lake Tribune of Division 1-A schools exposed extreme differences in how drug-testing programs are administered from school to school. Through FOIA requests, The Tribune "requested detailed information on student-athlete drug testing programs administered by the schools themselves, separate from the NCAA." Findings show that broken systems allow students to abuse performance-enhancing drugs with little risk of being caught. The data gathered in the survey is available online. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 26, 2007 State data reveal high veteran suicide rates A five-month investigation by Armen Keteyian of CBS News uncovered a startling suicide rate for veterans. Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Veterans Affairs keep accurate numbers on veteran suicide rates. CBS News requested suicide data from all 50 states dating back to 1995, and 45 states provided the information. In 2005, "there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week, in just one year." Among veterans 20 to 24 years of age, the suicide rate was two to four times greater than non-veterans of the same age. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 31, 2007 Twin Cities residents pocket farm subsidy payments Matt McKinney and Glenn Howatt of The Star Tribune report that millions in farm subsidies are being paid to people who live in urban areas, including some of the toniest neighborhoods of Minneapolis-St. Paul. "The flow of federal largesse comes thanks to rules that allow landowners — including some 2,000 in the metro area — to collect subsidies without farming the land themselves, a legal and increasingly common practice as farm ownership has consolidated over the past few decades." A current $280 billion farm bill before Congress aims for reform, but few expect real change. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 19, 2007 Illinois lags in tracking teachers' misconduct Scott Reeder, writing for Quad-CitiesOnline.com, found that Illinois ranked 49th in a nationwide analysis of disciplinary actions against teachers. The state has no system in place to investigate or flag teachers accused of misconduct. To determine how Illinois compares to other states, Small Newspaper Group obtained information on 20,000 cases of teacher licensure discipline from all 50 state departments of education. The newspaper group then built a computer database to analyze it." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 08, 2007 The assassination of Chauncey Bailey The San Francisco Chronicle published a two-part series beginning with a profile of murdered Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey. His suspected killers are linked to Your Black Muslim Bakery, the subject of his last, still unpublished, investigation."Bailey, 57, became the first journalist assassinated in this country since 1993 — according to the Committee to Protect Journalists — his death the likely result of a chance encounter between two of his sources and a careless journalistic slip." The second story looks at the violence and corruption surrounding the downfall of the bakery's empire. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 06, 2007 Boy Scouts executives splurge on conference Tony Saavedra and Teri Sforza of The Orange County Register report on internal travel records showing that executives of the Boy Scouts ran up a tab of over $27,000 at a four-day conference in Key West, Fla. held last January. The Orange County Boy Scouts chapter picked up most of the tab, although they were reimbursed by other chapters within 30 days. Expenses included alcohol, greens fees and chartered fishing expeditions, some of which were reimbursed after The Register raised questions about the charges. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 29, 2007 Mohamed Atta and 9/11: The Secret FAA Files Eric Longabardi, reporting for "The Enterprise Report" at ERSNews.com, reports on the "secret FAA airmen files" of Mohamed Atta, the lead pilot in the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The files, posted on the site, and additional exclusive materials provide details about the extensive flight training that helped Atta earn a commercial pilot's license in the U.S. Longabardi writes that the records show that Atta and his co-conspirators had far more sophisticated skills than previous media accounts acknowledged. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 27, 2007 Sunshine Laws disregarded by council members Beth Kormanik of The (Jacksonville, Fla.) Times-Union evaluated the daily calendars of city council members from June 1, 2005, to Dec. 1, 2006 and found dozens of meetings that violated Florida's open meetings laws. "The computer-assisted analysis documented 307 scheduled meetings, excluding committee and full council meetings. Forty-seven calendar listings dealt with specific items of city business such as the Cecil Field referendum, city contracts and downtown traffic but were held without prior public notice and without a written account of the proceedings." As a result of the investigation, State Attorney Harry Shorstein has recommended a grand jury investigation of the city council's open meeting practices, siting "a culture of blatant disregard." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 30, 2007 Collateral Damage - Human Rights and Military Aid after 9/11 The Center for Public Integrity has published "one of the most comprehensive resources on U.S. military aid and assistance in the post-9/11 era. 'Collateral Damage' couples the reporting of 10 of the world's leading investigative journalists on four continents with a powerful database combining U.S. military assistance, foreign lobbying expenditures, and human rights abuses into a single, easily accessible toolkit." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 09, 2007 Citizen Watchdog Jennifer LeFleur, computer-assisted reporting editor for The Dallas Morning News writes a online column every other week that helps readers understand how they can access, and benefit from, public records. An archive of her past columns can be found here. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 18, 2007 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 26, 2007 Toxic vapors threaten well-being of residents of Victor, NY The Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., presents stories from a two-month investigation into toxic vapor releases related to toxins improperly disposed of near Victor, N.Y., more than 17 years ago."State officials, drawing upon numerous visits and hundreds of water samples over the last 15 years, have mapped the damage: a mile-long plume of contaminated groundwater that underlies about 50 Victor homes and borders dozens of others. The principal contaminant, TCE [trichloroethene], can harm the central nervous, immune and reproductive systems, impair fetal development and cause cancer in people who are exposed to sufficient quantities." The Democrat and Chronicle website fleshes out the story with interactive graphics and links to documents related to the situation. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 23, 2007 AP found unauthorized classification of Caltrans contracts An investigation by the Associated Press uncovered that the California Transportation Department classified nearly 300 contracts worth over $13 million - and many of them not competitively bid - as confidential without proper authority. The General Services Department grants the authority to classify contracts. "The agency was unaware Caltrans listed confidential contracts in its records until notified by AP." An earlier AP investigation has found many California Justice Department contracts mistakenly labeled confidential, whic the CJD attributed to employee error. The issue of confidential contracts is being considered by a state Senate subcommittee to address concerns with how agencies track expenditures and improve transparency. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 20, 2007 Drug abuse, crime on rise among paramedics A special report by Andrew McIntosh of The Sacramento Bee reveals problems with paramedics and EMTs in the state of California. Substance abuse is on the rise among paramedics, including theft of morphine on hand to treat patients in the field. Additionally, lax oversight of the paramedic and EMT licensing systems have led to fired paramedics being rehired as EMTs. The story had led to state legistlative action to tighten the licensing process, as well as a criminal forgery charge related to licensing fraud in Santa Clara County. The package includes online copies of documents obtained under the California Open Records Act. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 19, 2007 Virginia vanity plates elicit complaints Aaron Lee of the Lynchburg (Va.) News & Advance used FOIA to obtain complaints to the state department of motor vehicles about vanity license plates that had been issued to Virginia drivers, as well as subsequent correspondence between the DMV and the plate holders. The story reveals a host of complaints against many of the vanity plates and detailed the process plate owners are faced with to keep their plates if they appeal. The News & Advance also discovered a surprising lack of oversight by the state when it came to issuing many plates in the first place. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post February 16, 2007 Florida requires no training for executioners Kevin Begos of The Tampa Tribune reports that executioners in Florida "aren't required to have training, certification or any qualifications other than being at least 18 years old, according to Florida's interpretation of lethal injection guidelines." The Tampa Tribune received a copy of the state's execution guidelines through a public records request. The protocol is under review, and executions have been suspended since December, after it took over 30 minutes for prisoner Angel Diaz to die "because the lethal chemicals missed his veins." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 22, 2007 Email reveals Port of Seattle police scandal Eric Nalder and Lewis Kamb of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer expose an explicit email and Internet scandal within the Port of Seattle Police Department. The reporters used public records requests to obtain internal investigation documents and personnel records showing that nearly one-third of the Port's police force sent, received and exchanged racist, sexist and explicit emails over a 16-month period. Through other documents and interviews, the P-I discovered the inappropriate use of public computers and similar questionable actions by officers has remained unchecked and part of the department's culture for years. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 16, 2006 At what cost? A look at CA community college football programs Brent Schrotenboer of The San Diego Union-Tribune looks at the cost of community college football programs in the state of California. There are 72 community college programs in the state of California versus 68 in the rest of the US. Some argue that they cost the state at the expense of academics. "For those that did provide football budgets, expenses exceeded revenue by an average of about $70,000 per year. If that average held for all 72 schools, it would put the cost to the state in excess of $5 million a year." While the football programs continue to be subsidized by state funds, the same schools are having to rely on part-time faculty "who get paid less and are classified as temporary." Advocates argue that the football programs actually make money for the schools because "each full-time student equivalent brings in about $4,000 to cover the cost of his or her education...A football team of 100 could bring a community college $400,000 in public subsidies, mostly from local property taxes and the state general fund. " Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 28, 2006 SF Police spied on jounalists to find source of internal leak A.C. Thompson of SF Weekly reports on a scandal within the San Franciso Police Department, "a cloak-and-dagger investigation that may have transgressed the department's own rules - and definitely torched the careers of a pair of ethical police officers who dared to air their criticisms of the SFPD." Following the 2003 leak of an internal memo pertaining to a highly publicized police scandal, officers within the department responded by "covertly opening a vigorous criminal probe dedicated to discovering who leaked the Stansberry memo to the media. And during the course of the probe, a secret team, helmed by Morris Tabak, then head of the Special Investigations Division, gathered up a fat stack of documents: the records of more than 2,400 phone calls to and from journalists working in the Hall of Justice press room. " Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 22, 2006 Records reveal extensive White House access to some of Abramoff's cronies Sharon Theimer of the Associated Press reports that recently released Secret Service visitor logs reveal extensive "inside access" to presidential aides by Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, both of whom are linked to Jack Abramoff. The records indicate at least 115 appointments since 2001, some lasting upwards of 12 hours. The release of the records came about in a settlement of an open records lawsuit brought by the Democratic National Committee. "Questions about Norquist's and Reed's access to the Bush White House surfaced after congressional and criminal investigations of Abramoff found evidence suggesting the lobbyist and his team gained White House access through the conservative activists." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 18, 2006 NY business incentive program wasted millions Mike McAndrew of The Post-Standard used Empire Zone records obtained through Freedom of Information Law requests to show that New York's program to attract new business spent $84 million in recent years on out-of-state power companies with old and dirty facilities and little or no job growth. For instance, taxpayers paid $22 million to NRG Energy for one year, and it did almost nothing to deserve it. "The New Jersey company added one-half of one employee. It operated Upstate electric plants built decades ago by someone else. Two of these plants are the state’s worst polluters and a third rarely operates. " The paper is suing the state for more detailed records. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Lost opportunities in foster care Jenifer B. McKim of The Orange County Register writes about lost opportunities to save a 10-month-old foster child who was returned to his mother and brutally murdered. "The investigation found that nearly two dozen abused or neglected children who had been under protection of the Juvenile Court in Orange County have died over the past six years. Most died of illnesses or accidents, but some could have been saved. " The Orange County Register litigated for more than a year in Juvenile Court to get details of 23 children under court protection who died. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 21, 2006 Sexual misconduct and military recruiters Associated Press reporter Martha Mendoza reports on a probe into sexual misconduct by military recruiters. In a six-month investigation, the AP found "at least 35 Army recruiters, 18 Marine Corps recruiters, 18 Navy recruiters and 12 Air Force recruiters were disciplined for sexual misconduct or other inappropriate behavior with potential enlistees in 2005, according to records obtained by the AP under dozens of Freedom of Information Act requests." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 04, 2006 Florida plans for potential Cuban exodus Kevin Begos, of the Tampa Tribune, reports that Florida has a plan in place to handle the potential influx of Cuban immigrants into the state. The Tribune obtained the state's Mass Migration Response plan through a public records request. Plans include "setting up long-term detention sites across the country" to help defray the logistical stress placed on Florida communities. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post July 10, 2006 $1 million grant issued to study restrictions on public records Richard Willing of USA Today reports that "The federal government will pay a Texas law school $1 million. . .to produce a national "model statute" that state legislatures and Congress could adopt to ensure that potentially dangerous information 'stays out of the hands of the bad guys.'" The grant was included in this year's budget for the Defense Department by Congress, and will be administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 27, 2006 Workplace safety in Canada The CBC's investigative unit obtained data from workplace safety insurance boards across Canada to track top national trends in the workplace of today. "Canada's record for reducing workplace fatalities over the previous 20 years was the worst. The project looks at health-care workers, mines, fatalities by province, and more. Audio reports are included in the package. The CBC says the project, the first of its kind, "is the result of three years of research. Journalists with CBC's Investigative Unit navigated freedom of information laws and negotiated for data from workplace safety insurance boards across Canada." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post June 01, 2006 Farm subsidy payments in Denmark go up Farmsubsidy.org has released new data on farm subsidy payments, with an analysis by Nils Mulvad, co-founder of farmsubsidy.org and director of the Danish International Center for Analytical Reporting, analyzed new data on farm subsidy payments in Denmark in 2005 and found that "the new Single Farm Payment Scheme has dramatically increased the number of farm subsidy recipients in Denmark, though many of these new recipients receive relatively small payments." "The Danish authority paid €1.3 billion to more than 70,649 recipients. There was a significant increase in the number of recipients compared to former years. Some 17,290 'first time' recipients were paid a total of DKK 440.645.234 or just less than 5 percent of all farm subsidies paid out over course of 2005." The Single Farm Payment Scheme also increased the concentration of payments among the largest recipients, with more than 80 percent of payments going to the top 20 percent of recipients. See the report of the new data. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 26, 2006 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). Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 17, 2006 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." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 10, 2006 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post May 02, 2006 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 17, 2006 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post April 14, 2006 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post 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. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 29, 2006 Public records request frightens workers Tamara Koehler of the Ventura County Star reports on the paper's public records audit showing that 40 percent of county government agencies failed to comply with requests. "Ventura Unified School District employees feared for their lives when a young man walked into the office, asked for public records and refused to give his name." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post High salaries, free spending at N.Y. agency Michelle Breidenbach of The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post-Standard looks into the "high salaries and free spending of the public's money at the New York Power Authority," the state's publicly owned power generator. "NYPA's six trustees oversee a $2.2 billion budget that accommodates the patronage and pork-barrel spending that come with a state public authority as well as the pampering that comes with a private business. As a state public authority, NYPA's policies, practices and profits are separate from the rest of New York state government." After the stories were published, N.Y. Gov. George Pataki directed the agency to review its policies and the Assembly Energy Committee launched an investigation. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 27, 2006 Federal fines go uncollected across the nation Martha Mendoza and Christopher Sullivan of The Associated Press used federal records to show that the amount of unpaid federal fines has risen sharply in the past decade, in an investigation that examined federal financial penalty enforcement across the nation. Individuals and corporations regularly avoid large penalties for wrongdoing — sometimes through negotiations, sometimes because companies go bankrupt, sometimes because officials fail to keep close track of who owes what under a decentralized collection system. "The government is currently owed more than $35 billion in fines and other payments from criminal and in civil cases, according to Justice Department figures." This is enough to cover the annual budget of the Department of Homeland Security. The story includes a breakdown of how much is owed by state. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 21, 2006 Public records difficult to obtain Abraham Hyatt and Leslie Griffy of The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, Calif., found that cities throughout that county don't follow state law when it comes to public records requests. "Only one of the county's seven cities supplied both of the public documents that The Tribune sought. Reporters asked for a directory of city employees' work numbers and the city's contract with its police union. City staff and officials who did not provide the documents claimed they were not public records." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post March 07, 2006 RCFP finds cases disappear into hidden dockets The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press' quarterly magazine, The News Media & the Law, reports "more than 450 cases in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., were completely hidden from the public through the use of a hidden docketing system that two federal appeals courts have declared unconstitutional." The report, written by Reporters Committee Journalism Fellow Kirsten B. Mitchell and Legal Fellow Susan Burgess, includes a chart, a how-they-did-it sidebar and a glimpse into secret docketing in a Florida case. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Federal cases shrouded in secrecy Michael J. Sniffen and John Solomon of the Associated Press used court records to show that despite the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of public trials, nearly all records are being kept secret for more than 5,000 defendants who completed their journey through the federal courts over the past three years. The investigation found that most of these defendants are cooperating government witnesses, but the secrecy surrounding their records prevents the public from knowing details of their plea bargains with the government. "Most of these defendants are involved in drug gangs, though lately a very small number come from terrorism cases." Some of these cooperating witnesses include multiple murderers and drug dealers but the public cannot learn whether their testimony won them drastically reduced prison sentences or even freedom. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Wash. court records improperly sealed Ken Armstrong, Justin Mayo and Steve Miletich of The Seattle Times used court records to show that since 1990, at least 420 civil suits have been sealed in King County, Wa. "These sealed records hold secrets of potential dangers in our medicine cabinets and refrigerators; of molesters in our day-care centers, schools and churches; of unethical lawyers, negligent doctors, dangerous dentists; of missteps by local and state agencies; of misconduct by publicly traded companies into which people sink their savings." The investigation found that at least 97 percent of the judges' sealing orders disregard rules set down by the Washington Supreme Court in the 1980s. Judges and commissioners have sealed at least 46 cases where a public institution is a party, 58 cases where a fellow lawyer is a party, usually as a defendant and sealed cases where the person being sued was a licensed professional — for example, a doctor, psychologist or counselor — who was subsequently disciplined by the state. The package includes a sidebar about how they did the reporting and the CAR techniques used. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 30, 2006 University leader serves on 10 boards Eleanor Yang of the The San Diego Union-Tribune used calendar records obtained under the California Public Records Act to show that UC San Diego Chancellor, Marye Anne Fox, has served as a director for 10 corporations and nonprofit organizations, while running the university for the past year and a half. Fox spent more than 180 hours attending board meetings — many of them on the East Coast — in the past 12 months. "For all of her outside positions, Fox, 58, an organic chemist, receives compensation that rivals her university salary of $359,000. " In the past year, she received cash and stock worth at least $339,260 from her board memberships, according to corporate annual reports, proxy statements and tax returns from the nonprofit organizations. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 20, 2006 NYC police avoid reporting grand larceny Paul Moses of The Village Voice reports that New York City's falling crime rate may not entirely credible. "The number of lost-property reports filed with police jumped by 44 percent from 1997 to 2004, according to a document the NYPD released to The Village Voice in response to a freedom-of-information request. Nearly half of that increase occurred in the last two years of that period. And 2005 was on pace, as of Nov. 1, to beat out the previous year. " The investigation found police are taking complaints that once would have been treated as grand larceny or another property crime and reporting them as "lost property." Grand larceny is one of the closely watched seven major "index" crimes monitored in the FBI's Uniform Crime Report and it makes up nearly 60 percent of the reported index offenses, so police commanders know that if they are going to get their numbers down, they have to report fewer thefts. (Editor's note: For other reporters interested in evaluating crime rates, IRE offers Understanding Crime Statistics: A Reporter's Guide.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 05, 2006 System's weaknesses lead to problems in sheriff's office Eric Nalder, Lewis Kamb, Phuong Cat Le and Paul Shukovsky of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer continue their investigation into abuse, misconduct and disciplinary lapses in the King County Sheriff's Department. The most recent stories examine the reasons for these failures in oversight — and reveal more cases of abuse, favoritism and retaliation against whistleblowers. The investigation, based on thousands of pages of documents received through public disclosure requests and interviews with dozens of present and former deputies and others, shows "An internal discipline system that often protects wrongdoing and punishes those who report it; A pervasive insider network that selectively rewards and protects its own, creating what critics call a culture of cronyism; And a union that has literally designed the department for its own control, successfully lobbying for an elected sheriff, and repeatedly protecting the jobs of problem officers." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post January 03, 2006 Water department pays for bottled water Patrick McGreevy of the Los Angeles Times reports the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which supplies and promotes tap water to the city, spent $31,160 for bottled water. Citywide, city officials spent $88,900 on bottled water, "despite a 1995 directive by former Mayor Richard Riordan that said: The city's tap water satisfies most needs, and bottled water should not be provided ordinarily at city expense.'" The city controller, who said she was stunned, "compiled the bills in response to a Public Records Act request from the Times." The department spends about $500,000 a year on for a report on the quality of its water — "The latest report brags that DWP water 'meets or surpasses all water quality standards.'" Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 22, 2005 Md. oversight of doctors failing public Fred Schulte of The (Baltimore) Sun used state records to show that "Maryland's vow to safeguard patients has been undercut by breakdowns in the state system established to oversee doctors." In a three-part series, Schulte writes that more than 120 doctors have been the subject of four or five malpractice claims and that the disciplinary process for physicians often takes four years or more. "And secrecy policies conceal the names of doctors associated with tens of millions of dollars in injury claims." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 21, 2005 Bonus costing county millions Ron Fonger of The Flint Journal used Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act to show that Genessee County employees who qualify for additional pay based on length of service “cost county taxpayers $1.89 million” in the past fiscal year. “That’s extra pay on top of negotiated across-the-board raises or individual ’step’ raises that also come with seniority.” Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 20, 2005 Children die in spite of Okla. abuse reports Ziva Branstetter, Curtis Killman, Nicole Marshall, Omer Gillham and Ginnie Graham of the Tulsa World report in a three-part series on Oklahoma's failure to save at least 30 children who died from abuse and neglect in the past five years. The series detailed cases in which the Oklahoma Department of Human Services had prior reports of abuse and neglect involving children yet the children were not removed from the home and ended up dying from abuse and neglect. The paper also found the state had paid out at least $1 million during that time to settle lawsuits involving child welfare workers. Branstetter notes "Many states have laws allowing release of information following a child abuse death and this is what we used in Oklahoma to get the records." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 19, 2005 Taxpayer money used to defend city official David Josar of The Detroit News used records obtained under Michigan's Freedom of Information Act to find that "Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie has spent more than $100,000 in taxpayer funds on a team of private lawyers and advisers to defend her in a lawsuit that accuses her of mismanagement and fraud in the handling of city elections." Typically city attorneys defend the clerk's office in legal proceedings, but Currie dismissed Detroit's own legal counsel and instead hired her own, submitting bills under the threshold required for a city council vote. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Secrecy hides those who prey on children Andrew Wolfson of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reports that "Kentucky shrouds its juvenile courts behind some of the strictest secrecy laws in the nation, requiring the public to accept on faith that it is being protected from dangerous children — and that innocent children are being protected from dangerous adults." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Mayor withholds crime stats The mayor of Jackson, Miss., has refused to release the city's crime statistics to the City Council. "Under the prior administration of Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., the crime statistics were released to media and published every Monday in The Clarion-Ledger's metro-state section." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 12, 2005 N.J. lottery sales go up as income goes down Judy DeHaven and Rob Gebeloff of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger analyzed five years of lottery data by ZIP code, obtained through the state's Open Public Records Act, and found that lottery revenues rose as incomes fell. "This was particularly true for its bread-and-butter money-makers — the Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings and instant games." The investigation found that per-capita ticket sales were much higher in lower-income ZIP codes. In communities with average household incomes that were below $52,000, the lottery sold an average of $250 of tickets per person annually. That was more than double the amount for ZIP codes with $100,000 households. Using minutes of meetings in the last five years, it was also found that faced with unprecedented budget shortfalls, state officials were pressuring the lottery to grow. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 07, 2005 City gives federal money to unqualified homebuyers John Estus of The Daily O'Collegian at Oklahoma State University found that "Nearly $110,000 in federal funds intended to help poor Stillwater residents buy homes of their own was given to middle-class buyers who did not qualify" in an eight-week investigation that has prompted a state audit of the program. Estus also revealed the program gave nearly $39,000 in city funds not regulated by federal guidelines to homebuyers who would not have qualified as low-income if the federal rules had been applied. Among those buyers was the city official administering the Homebuyer Assistance program at the time. Stillwater Community Development officials frequently balked at Estus' requests for loan recipient applications and other records until an assistant city attorney told the officials to release the records. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 06, 2005 Thousands of serious crimes reported in schools Jonathan Marino of The Washington Examiner looked into crime in public schools in Montgomery County, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. He found "internal reports, dozens of court records, and interviews with educators, parents and law enforcement officials tell troubling stories of abuse & mdash; and reveal hundreds of cases where some principals failed to follow up on serious incidents." The internal reports were obtained through a Maryland Public Information Act request. They revealed that "From August 2002 to May 2005, the school system documented nearly 3,000 serious incidents, including allegations of death threats, gang violence, bullying and rape." (Editor's Note: For more about crime and violence in schools, see the November/December issues of The IRE Journal and Uplink.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post TRAC files suit for release of information David Burnham and Susan B. Long, co-directors of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, are suing the federal Office of Personnel Management for "unlawfully withholding information it normally provides the public about some 900,000 of its civilian employees, including those working for such agencies as the EPA, OSHA and FEMA." The suit was filed under the Freedom of Information Act. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Requests to seal divorce records on the rise Tresa Baldas of The National Law Journal reports that corporations are increasingly requesting that judges seal "the divorce records of top executives to protect trade secrets or crucial financial information from leaking out, or simply to avoid embarrassment." The article cites examples from across the country, including California, New Hampshire and Connecticut. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post December 02, 2005 Correspondence school offers speedy academic makeover Pete Thamel and Duff Wilson of The New York Times used academic transcripts and documents obtained through a freedom of information request to show that University High, a correspondence school which has no classes and no educational accreditation, offered students little more than a speedy academic makeover. "Athletes who graduated from University High acknowledged that they learned little there, but were grateful that it enabled them to qualify for college scholarships. " The man who founded University High School and owned it until last year, Stanley J. Simmons, served 10 months in a federal prison camp from 1989 to 1990 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his involvement with a college diploma mill in Arizona. Among the activities Simmons acknowledged in court documents were awarding degrees without academic achievement and awarding degrees based on studies he was unqualified to evaluate. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 28, 2005 FOIA request reveals media's use of FOIA Editor and Publisher reports that The Associated Press leads news organizations in using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents from the Pentagon. A log of such requests from 2000 to early 2005 was compiled by a San Francisco-based activist. The AP filed 73 such requests, followed by the Los Angeles Times with 42 and The Washington Post with 34. Trailing far behind among major newspapers was The New York Times with 21, USA Today with nine and The Wall Street Journal with six. On the TV side, CBS News led with 32 queries; Fox News followed with 22; and NBC with 21. CNN made just 11 inquiries. "The results, which came in response to a FOIA request by blogger Michael Petrelis, are summarized by John Byrne at the Raw Story web site. " The request was sparked by interest in whether former New York Times reporter Judith Miller had ever made such a FOIA request. It was found that she had not. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 22, 2005 'Guest workers' suffer from exploitation, neglect A nine-month investigation by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua of The Sacramento Bee "has found pineros [Latino forest workers in the United States] are victims of employer exploitation, government neglect and a contracting system that insulates landowners — including the U.S. government — from responsibility." The report, "based on more than 150 interviews across Mexico, Guatemala and the United States and 5,000 pages of records unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act" shows responsibility for these "guest workers" is spread among several federal agencies and private contractors with no effective oversight. Part two shows the government has been aware of problems with the program but has failed to do anything to fix it. "First in 1980 and again in 1993, Congress expressed shock at the abuse of Latino forest workers in America's woods and the hypocrisy of undocumented workers doing government work." The third part of the series focuses on "The number one cause of death among pineros" — van accidents. "They are the byproducts of fatigue, poorly maintained vehicles, ineffective state and federal laws, inexperienced drivers and poverty-stricken workers hungry for jobs." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 17, 2005 FOI audit shows S.C. officials suspicious, uncooperative Jim Davenport of The Associated Press wrote a series of reports detailing the costs of public records and abuse of executive sessions, as part of a statewide Freedom of Information audit completed by The Associated Press and the South Carolina Press Association. The investigation found that a quarter of elected officials in a statewide survey say they have broken state law by letting their closed-door session stray beyond what they promised the public they would discuss while out of sight and earshot. When asked about open meetings and open records most city or county officials in South Carolina became suspicious. "Police and sheriff's departments around the state turned out to be the biggest source for denial. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies, about one-fourth of those visited, refused to provide copies of incident reports that residents should be able to review without delay." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post November 11, 2005 Narcotics prescribed for inmates at high rates Chris Halsne of KIRO-Seattle spent months detailing a drug distribution system to show that hundreds of thousands of powerful, addictive narcotics like morphine and oxycodone are being handed out to Washington prison inmates every year. Narcotics were being prescribed for almost every ailment including simple ones like toothaches, back pain or a sore toe. The story found that "prison doctors and physicians assistants too often write unneeded morphine and oxycodone prescriptions just to keep troublemakers at ease." KIRO obtained painkiller distribution records for Washington's eight biggest prisons after a long fight. They found that in three years, inmates were fed at least 329,000 Oxycodone pills, a minimum 85-thousand doses of morphine, and 800,000 doses of narcotics like Percocet and Hydrocodone, costing taxpayers millions in drug costs and distribution. Halsne's initial reports has prompted the "Washington Department of Corrections to call for a full scale review of its prescription drug network." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 14, 2005 Vast scope of priest abuse in Los Angeles Jean Guccione and Doug Smith with contributions from William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times tracked the assignments of 228 priests from 1950 through 2003 who have been named or identified as the subject of abuse complaints. The analysis reveals that because the accused priests moved around the archdiocese on average every 4.5 years, the total number of parishes in which alleged abusers served is far larger —more than three-fourths of the 288 parishes. "In at least eight cases, the archdiocese allowed priests to remain in ministry after receiving information about their alleged sexual interest in minors. " Starting in the 1950s, the percentage of diocesan priests who eventually would be accused of wrongdoing climbed steadily from about 6% to a high of 11.5% in 1983. See priest abuse accusations in the Los Angeles Archdiocese. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post October 10, 2005 Open records survey carried out in Ky. The Kentucky Press Association, The Associated Press, various newspaper and professional groups and several university student programs carried out a public records survey to determine whether public offices are allowing citizens to view government documents. "More than 100 students, volunteers and newspaper employees visited four local government offices on Oct. 21 seeking specific public records. They were told to act as any ordinary citizen when making their requests in the government offices." The survey showed that while most offices abide by the state's Open Records Act, compliance is not consistent. A request to inspect the city budget was readily met whereas a request made to the County Jail led to jail employees becoming intimidating. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 28, 2005 Navy contracted for planes in CIA operation Seth Hettena of The Associated Press reports the Navy issued contracts for planes "reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture." The AP says documents from the Department of Defense, obtained through a FOIA request, involve more planes (33) than previously reported. While there was "scrutiny in 2001, but what hasn't been disclosed is the Navy's role in contracting planes involved in operations the CIA terms 'rendition' and what Italian prosecutors call kidnapping." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 22, 2005 Nonprofits mislead about destination of donations Kelby Hartson Carr of The Times in Munster, Ind., looks into the accuracy of IRS 990 forms filed by nonprofit organizations. After an examination of all 990s filed for "fiscal year 2003 by nonprofit agencies based in Lake County, Porter County and Chicago's south suburbs," the paper found that 70 percent that raised public donations reported no fund-raising expenses. Experts say it is difficult to raise money without spending money and "zero-expense fund-raising claims always should be questioned." The project includes a database of the nonprofits that includes the data from their 990 forms. Other parts of the series look at nonprofit employees who make six figures and have generous benefits packages, the powerful part nonprofits play in the local economy and tips to evaluate a charitiy before donating. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Lax oversight contributes to high foreclosure rate Geoff Dutton and Jill Riepenhoff of The Columbus Dispatch investigated Ohio's high foreclosure rate, "a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight.". The newspaper analyzed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, obtained U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit reports of homebuilders through the federal Freedom of Information Act, and analyzed state and county foreclosure records and sheriff's sales data. On the second day of the series, state lawmakers from both political parties vowed to tighten Ohio's loose regulation of the mortgage industry. (Note: For reporters interested in pursuing similar stories, IRE and NICAR offer a beat book, "Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities," as well as Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.) Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 20, 2005 S.C. port authority operates like a business Michael R. Shea of The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette delved into the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the state agency that manages "the fourth-largest waterborne shipping network in the country through marine terminals in Charleston, Georgetown and Port Royal, South Carolina." The stories show that political contributions, political appointments and no-bid contracts blur the line between state agency and a private business. It also discusses its battle for records from the agency. The 18-story project includes more than a dozen of the public records, received through FOIAs, that were used in the reporting. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post September 09, 2005 Sept. 11 loans go to many unaffected by terror Frank Bass and Dirk Lammers of The Associated Press examined nearly $5 billion in loans granted by the Small Business Administration as Sept. 11 recovery aid, and found that many went to businesses "that didn't need terror relief — or even know they were getting it." The SBA said it first learned of the problems from AP. "The records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act also show that many other loan recipients who made cases they were injured by Sept. 11 were far removed from the direct devastation of New York City and Washington, like a South Dakota country radio station, a Virgin Islands perfume shop and a Utah dog boutique." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 31, 2005 Police disregard rape complaints Jeremy Kohler of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Louis police have failed to file official reports on many sex crimes over the past 20 years, instead writing informal memos on cases that would not be counted in the city's crime statistics. "The Post-Dispatch analyzed many of these cases and found police often discounted claims by women who were reluctant to testify, easy to discredit or difficult to locate." The paper fond that "Memos were a symptom of greater problems in the city's handling of rape cases." Many records were obtained only after a lengthy FOI battle. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 19, 2005 Police helped hide sexual abuse cases involving priests Joe Mahr and Mitch Weiss of The (Toledo) Blade reviewed thousands of documents and interviewed dozens to find that Toledo-area police helped the local Catholic diocese hide cases of sexual abuse by priests. "Beyond past revelations that the diocese quietly moved pedophile priests from parish to parish, The Blade investigation shows that at least once a decade - and often more - priests suspected of rape and molestation have been allowed by local authorities to escape the law." Some alleged abusers were never investigated, while officials prevented the release of case files for other investigations. "The cover-up has been confirmed by former police officers and the diocese's former spokesman, Jim Richards, who said church leaders 'knew who to call in the police department' to keep cases quiet." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post E-mails reveal early hiring concerns Mark Pitsch of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal used Kentucky's Open Records Act to obtain emails showing that "less than three months before the state hiring investigation began, Gov. Ernie Fletcher's deputy chief of staff and the transportation personnel director confided to each other in e-mails that laws may have been broken." The state's Attorney General, who is investigating hiring practices under Fletcher, was unaware of the emails until the paper published them. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 18, 2005 Benefit payouts generous for public employees David Milstead of the Rocky Mountain News used documents and recordings to find that the benefits offered by Colorado's Public Employees' Retirement Association to its employees have been generous. "In total, leave payouts have cost PERA more than $2 million since 2000. The benefits don’t end there. PERA has spent $429,000 on new cars and car allowances for its executives in the past 10 years." The investigation includes a sidebar on how the story was done. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post 20 percent of fired teachers accused of sex crimes Pamela Hamilton of the Associated Press used a Freedom of Information Act request to obtain records showing that "one in five educators sanctioned by the state for bad behavior in South Carolina in the past three years had been accused of sexual misconduct such as molesting or having sex with students or other children." Nearly 300 teachers have been disciplined during that time span. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 11, 2005 State lobbyists spending nears $1 billion An analysis by The Center for Public Integrity found that lobbyists and their employers in 42 states reported spending nearly $953 million in 2004 attempting to influence state legislators and executive branch officials. That figure is up from the $904 million reported in 2003. "It seems likely that state lobby expenditures will exceed the $1 billion mark this year." The investigation includes a sidebar on methodology and general breakdowns of their findings. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 09, 2005 Blast site had history of problems Dina Cappiello of the Houston Chronicle used state records to show that "the portion of the Texas City refinery that burst into flames July 28 was the site of repeated malfunctions that could have been prevented if BP correctly and more frequently performed maintenance on the unit." The incidents included the installation of an incorrect pipe and a bad valve that released pollution. The paper found "at least eight cases where the incident was part of a 'recurring or frequent pattern'." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 08, 2005 Honorary program gives political insiders cop-like badges Trent Seibert and Brad Schrade of The Tennessean use state department records to investigate an "honorary captains" program that gives campaign donors, political insiders and friends troop-like badges. "Officials say the program is an atta-boy, a way to recognize people's contributions to the state. But critics say it's an invitation for the well-connected to brandish their influence and avoid getting tickets." The report also found the grandson of a powerful Bredesen supporter was under the impression that the badge was supposed to get him out of a drunken-driving arrest in January in Lauderdale County. Although he waved it at a trooper, he was ticketed. The story includes a sidebar listing recent honorary captain recipients. The governor ended the program in response to The Tennessean story. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post County grant program riddled with problems Daniel Chacón of the San Diego Union-Tribune analyzed county grant receipts finding a multimillion-dollar system riddled with shoddy bookkeeping and lax oversight. The investigation "found that records for 54 grants totaling nearly $1 million are missing. Receipts that have been collected show that money has been spent on everything from Cheetos to seared ahi crostini." Many of the organizations receiving grants are considered grassroots organizations and don't have paid staffers to handle financial reports. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 05, 2005 Some furniture purchases seem unneeded Rebecca Walsh of The Salt Lake Tribune used Utah's open records laws to review furniture purchases for state employees moving into two new office buildings. "Many of the dozens of chairs and desks and filing cabinets and bookcases replace stapled-together fixtures from years ago. But other bills might make taxpayers shift in their own seats - a $1,487 flat-screen TV monitor in the administrative services conference room, $20,000 to frame Senate president and member portraits and the $6,000 tab for each legislative staffer's mahogany-colored cubicle." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Weapon seizures increase at airports Lee Davidson of The Deseret Morning News used the federal Freedom of Information Act to obtain data on weapon seizures at airports, finding that "daily for the past three years, passengers at U.S. airports surrendered an average of 14,000 potential weapons. That is enough to arm every passenger on 33 filled-to-capacity Boeing 747 jumbo jets - every day." Smaller airports have a higher rate of weapons being turned over, even though most prohibited items are collected at larger facilities. The haul includes nearly 5 million knives and more than 1,000 guns. Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post Alcohol scam drives up prices Michael Beebe and Robert J. McCarthy of The Buffalo News report that New York's lax regulation of alcohol sales has resulted in a system in which producers and wholesalers provide "retailers illegal payoffs of money, trips, even gold Krugerrands to push certain brands of wine, vodka or whiskey. Some of the biggest liquor wholesalers in the country further defy the law by offering Bacardi, Absolut, Drambuie and other famous brands for $1 a bottle to select retailers, usually the biggest." Using New York's Freedom of Information Act, the paper found that a state investigation - never publicly released - detailed "the biggest stores routinely getting illegal deep discounts not offered to others. When smaller retailers found out about the bargains, wholesalers refused to sell, saying they were 'limited availability' or 'restricted' items." Direct LINK to This Extra! Extra! Post August 04, 2005 |
RSS 1.0
Searchable indexes of 