By Jaimi Dowdell, IRE training director

While oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the government is pouring resources into the cleanup effort. Track how much is being spent, which agencies are awarding it, and where it's going with data from the Federal Procurement Data System. The FPDS's Gulf Oil Spill Report, updated regularly, is downloadable in spreadsheet format. It contains contract information the FPDS has received. (The FPDS warns that there can be a lag in some reporting: "We believe it represents a portion of the work that has been awarded to date.")

Use this data ...

The Red River in Fargo, N.D., has reached record heights and is still rising. IRE has compiled a list of resources to help you cover this flood, localize the story for your area and assess whether your community is prepared for a similar disaster.

Flooding is nothing new to the Midwest. Last year Cedar Rapids, Iowa was left underwater as "the rain kept coming, upstream river gauges quit working just when they were needed most, and the predicted flooding was woefully wrong," said reporter Zack Kucharski of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Kucharski spoke about the role databases ...