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Posts by Alena Rehberger
Despite evidence of danger, some parents still share beds with infants
The tragedies put the city on pace for a deadlier-than-usual year for bed-sharing infants. Jackson County, meanwhile, has recorded 100 such deaths since 2004 believed to be related to co-sleeping — grim statistics seldom discussed publicly. The deaths continue to increase nationally despite a campaign by the American Academy of Pediatrics to avoid bed-sharing and…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | FOIA Frustrations
We’re back with another episode of the IRE Radio Podcast. This week we’re focusing on FOIA. Here’s the lineup: Kirsten B. Mitchell, a former journalist and current facilitator with The Office of Government Information Services, talks about common FOIA problems and how to fix them. Deb Nelson, Michael Ravnitzky, Charles Ornstein, and Jennifer LaFleur share tips on beating…
Read MoreA conversation with the federal FOIA Ombudsman’s office
Ever wonder what kinds of questions federal agencies ask FOIA liaisons? We did. So we went right to the source. Kirsten Mitchell is a facilitator in The Office of Government Information Services (OGIS), a neutral office within the National Archives that anyone — requester or federal agency — can come to for help with the…
Read MoreLack of lawyers leaves Georgia teens fearing lifelong harm from minor cases
Hundreds of kids from poor families are pushed through the court system without legal counsel, according to The Guardian US. The Southern Center for Human Rights found that in 2012 more than 680 kids went through the Cordele, Georgia circuit courts for juvenile offenses. And while a very small number had a private lawyer, only…
Read MoreThe Two Elk Saga: How one man’s dream became state, federal nightmare
WyoFile is featuring a special investigative series, “The Two Elk Saga,” by former Los Angeles Times correspondent and regular WyoFile contributor Rone Tempest. Wyoming has a long history of uncritically embracing, then giving public money to, dubious and expensive energy projects. The proposed $2 billion DKRW Advance Fuels — coal-to-liquids — plant near Medicine Bow…
Read MoreHow Mike Soraghan built an oil spills database
See this post and more like it at NICAR talk, our data blog: ire.org/nicar Mike Soraghan is an oil and gas reporter at EnergyWire (an arm of E&E Publishing) and former NICAR bootcamper from 2013. For those of you who have been to bootcamp, you remember Open Lab, held (almost) every night after class wraps…
Read MoreSealed court files obscure rise in electronic surveillance
Every year, the federal government makes thousands of requests for court-ordered electronic surveillance, often without a warrant. And long after the investigations that spawned them have ended, the vast majority of these legal proceedings are sealed indefinitely from public view—unlike nearly all other aspects of American judicial proceedings. The Wall Street Journal surveyed 25 of…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How KSHB-Kansas City uncovered a trail of dirty deeds
Video by Ryan Kath and John Woods, KSHB KSHB-Kansas City’s year-long investigation into a widespread real estate fraud scheme started simple – with a tip from an observant neighbor. But when reporter Ryan Kath started looking into the housing documents, he spotted a bigger problem. Someone had been stealing homes by forging signature of both the living…
Read MoreIRE Preview: New speakers, sessions added to schedule
We’re offering more than 100 sessions focused on honing specific skills, covering key beats, digging into data and documents and much more. Here are a few highlights we recently added to the schedule: This year’s Showcase Panel will focus on government surveillance – how to cover it as a story and how those prying eyes…
Read MoreAttorney General emails detail discussions before botched Oklahoma execution
In the weeks leading up to a botched execution, an Oklahoma assistant attorney general referred to defense attorneys’ warnings that the execution could go awry as “hysterical speculation,” records released to the Tulsa World show. Assistant Attorney General John Hadden also wrote in a March 21 email that he was “not eager to answer a…
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