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In a two-part series, Raquel Rutledge of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found a trail of phony businesses and child-care providers who were tapping into taxpayer subsidies for child care in Wisconsin. Rutledge reviewed thousands of pages of documents, and also obtained records from whistle-blowers that the county and state refused to release. Her findings revealed…
Read MoreLess than a week after Washington state’s Bank of Clark County failed, The Columbian (Vancouver, Wash.) used public records and inside sources to uncover the decisions that sent this financial institution into what one insider called the bank’s “death spiral.” Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. documents, Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council documents and county land records…
Read MoreWillamette Week, the alt-weekly based in Portland, Ore., broke a story about Portland Mayor Sam Adams. After 16 months of reporting, Willamette Week compiled evidence that Adams had lied in 2007 about having sex with an 18-year-old legislative intern. In an interview last week, Adams again denied having sex with the young man but as…
Read MoreJoin colleagues for a night out at Indianapolis’ famous Jazz Kitchen at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, March 20. It’s a great opportunity to hear jazz music and network with some of the best reporters in the nation. The Jazz Kitchen has become a hot spot in Indy and offers a mix of local and national…
Read MoreThree major investigative reports that used social science research methods as key parts of their probes were named today as winners of the 2008 Philip Meyer Journalism Award. Scripps Howard News Service took top honors for “Saving Babies: Exposing Sudden Infant Death.” Reporters Thomas Hargrove, Lee Bowman and Lisa Hoffman found administrative inconsistencies in the…
Read MorePresident Barack Obama has wasted no time in taking a strong stand in favor of openness and transparency in the federal government. “All agencies should adopt a presumption in favor of disclosure, in order to renew their commitment to the principles embodied in FOIA and to usher in a new era of open government,” President…
Read MoreSupporters from Barack Obama’s home state held a celebration this week that was paid for, in part, by the same lobbying firms the president-elect banned from donating to his campaign and inaugural committee, Bloomberg’s Jonathan D. Salant and Kate Andersen report. Seven firms that earned a total of at least $30 million in lobbying fees…
Read MoreIn an interview with The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward, the official overseeing U.S. military commissions confirmed that treatment of a Guantanamo Bay detainee qualified as torture. “The public record of the Guantánamo interrogation of the detainee, Mohammed al-Qahtani, has long included what officials labeled abusive techniques, including exposure to extreme temperatures and isolation, but the…
Read MoreA US Airways jet went down in the Hudson River this afternoon. There are no reports of fatalities as ferries rush to the scene to help rescue the passengers and crew. IRE and NICAR have compiled information to help in covering such aviation disasters. Please contact the IRE Resource Center (573-882-3364) or Database Library (573-884-7711)…
Read MoreThe deadline for submitting entries for the IRE Awards is this Friday, January 15. All entries must be postmarked midnight on Friday. As you review work from 2009, don’t forget that we have added a new category to the contest that honors breaking news investigations. It is open to all journalists, regardless of media platform.…
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