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Posts by Alena Rehberger
Elderly, mentally ill and children trapped in broken court system
Thousands of Ohio’s most vulnerable residents are trapped in a system that was created to protect them but instead allows unscrupulous guardians to rob them of their freedom, dignity and money. Even judges who oversee the system acknowledge that it is broken, that it has ripped apart families, rendered the mentally ill voiceless, and left…
Read MoreThe beginning of NICAR talk
Welcome to the inauguration of the NICAR talk blog. Here we will discuss all things NICAR: data, FOIA requests, tools, skills, tactics, tips, and anything else that relates to CAR. Join in the discussion by leaving a thoughtful comment.
Read MoreLessons from the storm: What we can learn from the Moore, Okla. tornado
One year ago an EF5 tornado tore through Moore, Oklahoma and left 25 people dead. A month after the storm, Oklahoman reporter Paul Monies and CBS News Southern Bureau Chief Scott Keenan talked about their experiences covering the twister during a session at the 2013 IRE Conference. Keenan encouraged journalists to question the injury and fatality numbers officials present.…
Read MoreWhy you should go to the IRE Conference
Last week IRE members Jenna Susko and Jeff Kelly Lowenstein shared their reasons for going to the annual IRE Conference. We asked you to share your best 140-character pitch with us on Twitter. Here are some of our favorite responses. Share yours: Tweet to @IRE_NICAR — Scott Zamost (@scottzamostcnn) May 16, 2014 — Lise Olsen (@chrondigger)…
Read MoreFatal V-22 Crash Tied by Marines to Pressure to Succeed
The V-22 Osprey’s deadliest accident stemmed partly from “undeniably intense” pressure to show progress for the new tilt-rotor aircraft, according to the U.S. Marine Corps commandant. While the accident happened more than 13 years ago, the lessons cited in the December letter, obtained by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, may apply to…
Read MoreTrials of spinal surgery option Infuse were too little, too late
Three years after back surgery, Grace Nestler-Bramm learned that a drug designed to repair her spine was causing new bone to wrap around it and compress nerves. In March, the Cedar Grove resident became one of nearly 1,000 people who are suing Medtronic, the company that markets Infuse — a number certain to grow. A…
Read MoreLDC papers shed light on Wiesner charges
Robert Wiesner stood to receive tens of thousands of dollars through a major county public safety project by working for a contractor that he helped to hire, the state Attorney General’s Office claims in newly available court documents. Wiesner, one of four defendants in a wide-ranging bid-rigging criminal case, is the former security director of…
Read MoreGrowing evidence points to systemic troubles in VA healthcare system
The Phoenix VA Health Care System is under a federal Justice Department investigation for reports that it maintained a secret waiting list to conceal the extent of its patient delays, in part because of complaints such as Laird’s. But there are now clear signs that veterans’ health centers across the U.S. are juggling appointments and…
Read MoreKillers and pain: Painkiller law sends users to heroin
They started turning up in emergency rooms early last November. One after another and then another. By the time the torrent subsided in February, some 280 people had overdosed in Dutchess County from what many believed was heroin but was often street drugs laced with an exponentially stronger narcotic called fentanyl. The overdoses and deaths…
Read MoreNo Jurisdiction, No Problem: Local Police Make Up Their Own Rules
The Richmond Public Housing Police Department’s web page claimed that “the department provides city-wide law enforcement authority which enables officers to make arrests on and off RRHA property.” But who granted the public housing police, authority to make arrests off public housing property? An investigation by WRIC-Richmond discovered the answer to that is – no…
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