Homeowners with toxic drywall have reported eight deaths to federal consumer safety officials, though no direct linkage has been found. That’s according to a Scripps Howard News Service analysis of almost
2,700 drywall complaints to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and 467 follow-up inspections by the CPSC, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Archive for the ‘First Amendment & FOIA’ Category
Eight deaths reported by homeowners with toxic drywall
March 2nd, 2010 
Beth 
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Blacks three times more likely to be stopped in Toronto
February 9th, 2010 Beth Race Matters, a series by The Toronto Star, investigated why blacks are three times more likely than white to be stopped and questioned by police. “In each of the city’s 74 police patrol zones, the Star analysis shows that blacks were documented at significantly higher rates than their overall census population by zone, and that in many zones, the same holds true for “brown” people — mainly people of South Asian, Arab and West Asian backgrounds.”
Palin e-mails reveal a powerful ‘first dude’
February 8th, 2010 coulterj MSNBC.com investigative reporter Bill Dedman revealed the influence of Todd Palin, the husband of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, during Palin’s time as governor. MSNBC.com staff combed through nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails to show Todd Palin involved in a judicial appointment, monitoring contract negotiations with a public employee union and passing “financial information marked marked ‘confidential’ from his oil company employer to a state attorney.”
Seniors exploited in care facilities
February 5th, 2010 Beth “Seniors for Sale“, a Seattle Times investigation, found that inside the state’s 2,843 adult family homes, thousands of vulnerable adults have been exploited by profiteers or harmed by amateur caregivers.
Judge orders Tacoma City Council to record executive meetings
January 21st, 2010 Beth The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) won what may be the first court ruling of its kind in Washington state, when a judge ordered the Tacoma City Council to video and audio record its executive sessions.
Change in ownership allowed controversial gun store to remain open
January 5th, 2010 Beth For two years, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich has been seeking documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on a local gun store that has been the subject of controversy. Despite heavy redactions by the agency, and differing responses to various FOIA requests, Diedrich was able to confirm the ATF recommended revocation of the store’s firearms license after a 2006 inspection.
Police failed to track government-owned take-home vehicles
December 3rd, 2009 Beth An investigation by Daniel Chacón of The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found that the “Colorado Springs Police Department’s tracking of dozens of take-home government-owned vehicles is so incomplete no one can say if officers are using them to respond to emergencies, commuting or personal errands.” The police department was not aware of the issue until [...]
FBI tracked Studs Terkel for over four decades
November 17th, 2009 Beth Through the Freedom of Information Act, CUNY graduate student Valerie Lapinski was able to obtain previously unreleased FBI file of Studs Terkel. The file revealed that the agency suspected Terkel was a Communist. “The 269-page paper trail spans 1945 to 1990 – covering everything from Terkel’s McCarthy-era blacklisting to his involvement with Paul Robeson and [...]
Children failed by Los Angeles County child welfare system
October 14th, 2009 Beth A report by Kim Christensen and Garrett Therolf of The Los Angeles Times reveals that the Los Angeles County child welfare system is riddled with problems. In many cases, children died with little notice by the system or the public. “At least 268 children who had passed through the child welfare system died from January 2008 through early August 2009, according to internal county records obtained by The Times. They show that 213 were by unnatural or undetermined causes, including 76 homicides, 35 accidents and 16 suicides.”
Social service agency failed to protect children
October 6th, 2009 Beth After facing roadblocks from the state-run Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gathered thousands of pages of public records to create their own database of deaths within the system. They found that 22 children had died despite the bureau having clear warning signs that they were at risk.
