Posts by hdcoadmin
Forgotten Soldiers
The U.S. government lobotomized roughly 2,000 mentally ill veterans—and likely hundreds more—during and after World War II, according to a cache of forgotten memos, letters and government reports unearthed by The Wall Street Journal. Besieged by psychologically damaged troops returning from the battlefields of North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, the Veterans Administration performed the…
Read MoreIn Harm’s Way
“An Arizona Republic analysis found that despite warnings from fire and forestry experts, and nature itself, the state’s wildlands are dangerously overgrown. Arizonans, meanwhile, have since 1990 built more than 230,000 homes and other structures in wildfire-prone areas, creating risks for themselves and the firefighters called upon to protect them.”
Read MoreInvisible Child
Dasani, a young homeless girl in New York City, belongs to a vast and invisible tribe of more than 22,000 homeless children in New York, the highest number since the Great Depression, the New York Times reports. In the short span of Dasani’s life, her city has been reborn. The skyline soars with luxury towers,…
Read MoreAn effective eye drug is available for $50. But many doctors choose a $2,000 alternative.
Doctors choose the more expensive drug more than half a million times every year, a choice that costs the Medicare program, the largest single customer, an extra $1 billion or more annually, the Washington Post reports. Spending that much may make little sense for a country burdened by ever-rising health bills, but as is often…
Read MoreTechnical problems, discord plagued health care site
Although state officials have provided the public scant detail about the troubled launch of Maryland’s version of Obamacare, emails and documents show that the project was beset behind the scenes for months by an array of technical issues, warring contractors and other problems. Since Maryland’s online health exchange opened Oct. 1 for people to buy insurance…
Read MoreWatch Live: Google Hangout Deadly Delays
We’re hosting another live Google+ Hangout with Ellen Gabler and Allan J. Vestal of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Watchdog team today, Dec. 9th, at 10:00 am CST. Tune in here as we learn about their Deadly Delays series on processing failures in newborn screening programs. After the broadcast, the recorded Hangout will be posted to ire.org. Please…
Read MoreIRE Launching New Student Mentorship Program
Investigative Reporters and Editors is launching a student-journalist mentor program. This one-year program is a rare opportunity for a limited number of student journalists to be paired with a professional journalist for one-on-one guidance, advice, critiques and conversation, and online training opportunities. The goal for students is to gain valuable knowledge, advice and experience by…
Read MoreBaltimore using taxpayer dollars to send youths to a Christian school.
“The Balitmore Sun reports that over the past year and a half, the Baltimore City Department of Social Services paid $40,000 of taxpayer money to send youths in foster care to a private Christian school in Philadelphia where they have obtained a high school diploma in one day.”
Read MoreInvestigating nonprofits during charitable giving season
This holiday season you can help your audience make sure that the charities they’re supporting are spending donated money wisely. The Center for Investigative Reporting has posted a guide, and CIR reporter Kendall Taggart, along with Tampa Bay Times reporter Kris Hundley, put together a great tip sheet for IRE’s 2013 conference that’s available here…
Read MoreHow a recalled medical device killed a vet
“Despite the “urgent medical correction letter” posted at FDA.gov a trainer for B. Braun, the German manufacturer that produced the recalled morphine drip machine, came to the Seattle VA to teach nurses how to use the machine. According to the nurses, the trainer told them that a correction was coming soon for the device’s breakable…
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