Posts by hdcoadmin
Small Business Administration failed hurricane victims in Gulf
The Associated Press investigated how the Small Business Administration responded to the hurricanes of 2005, and the impact on the Gulf Coast five year later. The yearlong investigation by Mitch Weiss, Michael Kunzelman, Holbrook Mohr and Cain Burdeau found that loan officers rejected loans they should have approved, deleted loan applications for no valid reason,…
Read MorePatients in Peril series
From a violent patient allowed to roam free to a pregnancy case that violated policy at every turn and nurses who falsified documents to cover their mistakes, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation exposed a raft of problems at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, home to the county’s most vulnerable residents. Reporters Meg Kissinger and…
Read MoreBrevard (FL) Students Frequently Held Back
Mackenzie Ryan reports that struggling students in Brevard’s public schools have a greater chance of repeating a grade than their peers in other parts of the state. In 2009, 7.1 percent of Brevard students were held back, compared with 4.6 percent statewide, a FLORIDA TODAY analysis of education data shows.
Read MoreMortgage Fraud Spawning New Scams
Mortgage fraud is a crime that cost an estimated $14 billion in 2009, prompting the FBI to assemble its largest ever team to fight it. But the tsunami of foreclosures is making classic scams easier and spawning new ones to boot. Reuters correspondent Nick Carey reports from Chicago.
Read MoreInvestigateWest:Cruise Ships Dump Waste To Dodge Laws
An InvestigateWest report on the billion dollar cruise ship industry in the Washington-Alaska cruise market found that most ships avoid tougher state regulations and dump their waste in Canadian waters between the two states, despite state efforts to adopt stricter standards for sewage and wastewater discharge.
Read MoreThai Workers Victims of Human Trafficking In Utah
Lee Davidson reported how Thai workers recruited to work on Utah pig and chicken farms were victims of human trafficking. Read “A Story of Modern Slavery in Utah.”
Read MoreOneUnited bank was weakest to receive TARP support
A report on Bank Tracker, a project of the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, shows that OneUnited Bank, the bank at the center of the allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., was the weakest TARP bank at the time of its rescue. “When then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced creation of the so-called “Capital…
Read MoreTrouble plagues N.C. State Bureau of Investigation
A 4-part series by The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) reveals deep trouble at the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. The series finds an agency in line with prosecutors wishes, agents and analysts who ignore or twist the truth, and reliance on junk science. The director of the SBI was removed from her post…
Read MoreSharpen your interviewing skills
By Doug Haddix, IRE training director Studies have shown that the actual words account for only about 7 percent of communication between two people, according to Amy Herdy of the University of Colorado. Body language makes up 55 percent of communication, with tone accounting for the other 38 percent, she told journalists during a recent…
Read MoreNo recalls on van despite cracking axles
Tim Darragh of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) reports that Ford Windstars from 1999-2003 are under investigation due to rear axles breaking while the car is being driven at high speeds – but no recall has been ordered. Hundreds of drivers have already complained to the federal government, but recalls on older vehicles are hard…
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