Posts by Alena Rehberger
Massachusetts and secret payoffs
For years, the state has used confidential settlement and severance deals to make embarrassing problems go away, often requiring workers to promise to keep the payments secret and avoid saying anything critical about the agencies. When the Globe first asked for copies of all the pacts worth at least $10,000 statewide, it took a four-year…
Read MoreGuards may be responsible for half of prison sexual assaults
Jail and prison officials are reporting an increase in allegations of sex abuse, according to a new report from the Justice Department. ProPublica broke down the numbers and found some disturbing trends. The vast majority of sex abuse allegations are deemed “unfounded” by prison officials. Officials often allowed abusive staff members to resign, preventing the…
Read MoreExtra Extra Special Edition: Second chemical involved in W. Va. leak
There’s been a lot of great reporting coming out of West Virginia recently as reporters continue to cover a chemical spill that contaminated water for about 300,000 people. National publications investigated the lax government oversight and toothless regulations that applied – or, perhaps, failed to apply – to Freedom Industries. But let’s not forget the local…
Read MoreDisciplined doctor behind controversial sports supplement study
The latest installment in USA TODAY’s ongoing “Supplement Shell Game” investigation published today finds that the key author of a safety study of the controversial sports supplement Craze is a doctor who has been disciplined in two states for issues relating to fraudulent billing practices and other misrepresentations. Now the editor of the peer reviewed…
Read MoreFEMA money unequally distributed in flooded Colo. neighborhoods
“It’s been four months since record floods tore up roadways and transformed the geography of northeastern Colorado. Since then, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent millions helping people affected by the disaster. Yet an investigation by FOX31 Denver found some neighborhoods are getting a lot less FEMA money than others.” Read the full story…
Read MoreLast week to apply for the Google Journalism Fellowship at IRE
Students: this is your last week to apply for the Google Journalism Fellowship and have a shot at spending your summer with IRE and NICAR. Last summer I was the 2013 Google Journalism Fellow with IRE. Since I was reunited last week with all the great people in Columbia, MO for the computer-assisted reporting boot…
Read MoreAmid drug scandal, Toronto officials keep secret hundreds of emails
The Toronto Sun is appealing a decision by the City of Toronto to withhold hundreds of emails sent by staff members of beleaguered Mayor Rob Ford. The paper requested copies of emails sent and received by Ford’s former senior staffers around the time the mayor’s crack video scandal broke last year. From the Sun: The…
Read MoreNo tracking for hazardous materials traveling across Iowa
“Each day, trucks and railcars hauling hazardous materials share roadways with Iowa drivers and pass through Iowa towns and fields. But unless there is an accident, officials often don’t know what materials pass through the state.” Read the full story from IowaWatch/Investigative News Network here.
Read MoreMizzou did not pursue alleged assault
“The University of Missouri did not investigate or tell law enforcement officials about an alleged rape, possibly by one or more members of its football team, despite administrators finding out about the alleged 2010 incident more than a year ago, an “Outside the Lines” investigation has found. The alleged victim, a member of the swim…
Read MoreFree game tickets, hot concert seats: The politics of higher education in Missouri
“Missouri’s public universities have spent almost a million dollars since 2011 on contracts with professional lobbyists to represent their interests in Jefferson City — while plying state legislators with tens of thousands of dollars more in free meals, sports outings, concert tickets and other perks,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Read the full story here.
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