The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind. published the first section of a 12-part investigation into how federal dollars are spent the northeast region of the state. The Journal Gazette, using numbers from the Census Bureau and the Federal Procurement Data System, tracked the $5,618,386,731.89 the government spent on goods and services in 11 counties…
Read MoreAlison Young of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that the airline regulation language protecting animal safety excludes the thousands of animals transported by breeders, farms, laboratories and pet stores. The U.S. Department of Transportation defines the word “animal” to mean one “that is being kept as a pet in a family household in the United States,”…
Read MoreExpanding on an article published in October, ProPublica’s Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Times, have found that the California nursing board has been slow to revoke or suspend the licenses of registered nurses with criminal backgrounds in the state. The board relies upon nurses to report their own criminal…
Read MoreThe Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind. found that 2,172 voters in Indiana’s Allen County had names and birthdates identical to those in Florida. The newspaper performed its analysis cross-referencing the voter registration databases in Allen County with the Florida secretary of state’s election division. Duplicates were examined by hand. Middle names or initials that…
Read MoreFor JudicialReports.com, Mark Lagerkvist examined the “paradox cloaked in robes” that allows New York judges to accept large campaign gifts from lawyers who have pending cases in their courts. The initial story focused on one law firm that gave $157,000 candidates for Supreme Court – including five-figure contributions to nine sitting justices. The follow-up explored…
Read MoreMayor Ron Dellums said late Tuesday he is asking state Attorney General Jerry Brown to conduct an independent probe of the police department’s handling of journalist Chauncey Bailey’s killing in August 2007. Read the Chauncey Bailey Project’s online story or see the related video story from KTVU-Oakland, Calif..
Read MoreThe Monitor in McAllen, Texas, has already posted a searchable database of who has voted so far during the early voting period of the general election, using data released daily by the Hidalgo County elections department. Users can find out who voted, where they voted and the date they voted. Staff writer Ryan Holeywell noted,…
Read MoreWhile reckless mortgage lending threatened the American economy, the Bush administration, Congress, free marketers and industry lobbyists protected the responsible parties from both civil liability and government investigations. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Eric Nalder reveals in a series “Green Light for Greed” a little-known battle where Wall Street financiers and lenders were protected from civil liability…
Read MoreThomas Peele, Bob Butler and Mary Fricker of The Chauncey Bailey Project — a collaboration of those continuing the work of murdered Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey — report that that the lead homicide detective assigned to the slaying ignored evidence that pointed to a broader conspiracy to kill Bailey.
Read MoreWhile most schools in the Atlanta area meet the Georgia state standard for vaccination requirements, Alison Young of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that at least 99 schools’ kindergartners and 81 schools’ sixth-graders failed to meet that standard during the 2007-2008 school year, with many of the schools in Atlanta’s Fulton County. Before Young’s investigation, the…
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