Susan Carroll Fellowship
Brandon Ortiz of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader analyzed court records to show that Kentucky’s judicial retirement system will pay out at least $1.57 million this year to compensate retired judges who work part-time to ease court backlogs. That’s far more than the $420,000 agreed to seven years ago. “That revelation raises questions about whether the…
Read MoreChris Halsne of KIRO-Seattle used a computer analysis to locate more than 900 known child rapists and molesters living inside “school protection zones.” Using mapping software, KIRO Team 7 Investigators plotted addresses of every school and every registered sex offender convicted of violating a child. Despite the fact that last June, state lawmakers ruled that…
Read MoreA report by Richard Lardner of the Tampa Tribune indicates that “civilian casualties in Iraq’s volatile Anbar province would have been greatly reduced over the past 20 months if an inexpensive, hand-held laser system had been sent to the Marines operating there, according to a series of e-mail messages between troops in the field and…
Read MoreSarah Okeson and John McCarthy of Florida Today (Brevard County, Fla.) report on Manor House, an apartment complex in Florida that did not have an adequate fire alarm system for two years. The county slapped it with the largest fine ever for a code enforcement violation. However, the complex was able to stay open because…
Read MoreReporter John Diedrich of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel revealed the Milwaukee police department is inadequate in its tracking of the use of force. The article documented the record of an officer who was with the department for just three years but racked up a record of using force and attracted complaints far in excess of…
Read MoreIn their continued coverage of conditions at Walter Reed, Dana Priest and Anne Hull of The Washington Post report that while Michael J. Wagner directed the Medical Family Assistance Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, he also was seeking funders and soliciting donations for his own new charity, based in Dallas, according to documents…
Read MoreBen Jones of The (Appleton, Wis.) Post Crescent reports that area schools are failing to comply with a state law that requires they do monthly fire drills. A change in state law resulted in school no longer having to file annual fire drill reports with the Department of Commerce. Oversight now rests with the local…
Read MoreIn a follow-up to earlier reports, Dan Kane and J. Andrew Curliss of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer report that former North Carolina House Speaker Jim Black pled guilty in federal court to “taking money for legislative favors.” Black received $25,000 in cash, as well as a $4,000 check, from three chiropractors in exchange…
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