Susan Carroll Fellowship
Patrick Lakamp and Susan Schulman of The Buffalo News mapped lottery sales and total winnings for more than 1,500 lottery retailers in western New York. The data showed that $60 was paid out for every $100 wagered in the lottery, but the distribution of these winnings was not equitable. “Poorer neighborhoods tend to be popular…
Read MoreWith the sad news about flooding in the Midwestern United States this week, the Database Library received more than a few requests for the National Inventory of Dams. Not only does this dataset list the name and location of all federally-inspected dams in the United States, it has information useful for journalists, including when, exactly…
Read More“John McCain, who wrote the law banning corporate donations to the political parties, and Barack Obama, who refuses lobbyist money, will be nominated for president at conventions largely funded by industries whose Washington clout they’ve railed against on the campaign trail.” reports Bloomberg‘s Jonathan D. Salant. The corporate donations undermine both candidate’s interest in curbing…
Read MoreA secret police video obtained by The Chauncey Bailey Project raises questions about the involvement of Yusuf Bey IV in the murder of journalist Chauncey Bailey. In the video, Bey IV “describes Bailey’s shooting in detail…then, laughing, he denies he was there, and boasts that his friendship with the case’s lead detective protected him from…
Read MoreA Washington Times/ABC News investigation has found that distressed soldiers returning from service in Iraq and Afghanistan are being targeted by the government for drug testing. The drugs being tested include some with severe side-effects such as psychosis and suicidal behavior. In the case of one study, it took the Veterans Administration over three months…
Read MoreThe Columbus Dispatch, in its ongoing coverage of inmate DNA testing, reported that half of the 30 cases highlighted by the newspaper in January as prime candidates for testing have been approved, and evidence is headed to the lab. These fifteen tests are more than have been done in the entire 5-year history of Ohio’s…
Read MoreA report by Tom Lasseter of McClatchy Newspapers reveals that the U.S has wrongly imprisoned dozens of men “in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere on the basis of flimsy or fabricated evidence, old personal scores or bounty payments.” The report comes after an 8-month investigation spanning 11 countries on three continents. “Of the 66 detainees whom…
Read MoreA report by Georgia’s mental health commission lifted large portions from a Michigan study published in 2004, reports Alan Judd and Andy Miller of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The report presents as its own work entire sentences, paragraphs and longer passages from other sources, with no more than superficial editing. It duplicates, with only two minor…
Read MoreMatt Canham, of The Salt Lake Tribune, evaluated all the nursing home facilities in the state of Utah. The investigation showed that “ownership is probably the best predictor of quality care. But the public has no easy way to identify who owns the homes, particularly when names are changed to hide a troubled past.” Included…
Read MoreAn investigation by AmyJo Brown, of the Pine Bluff Commercial (Pine Bluff, Ark.), revealed that over $500,000 in federal money earmarked for low-income housing was misspent by Progressive Southeast Arkansas Housing Development Corporation, a local nonprofit leading the city’s low-income housing development project. “The records show that of the 47 new, low-income houses and four…
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