Posts by hdcoadmin
Taxpayers foot bill for game warden convention
A North American game wardens conference in St. Paul last year cost taxpayers nearly $400,000, even though it turned a profit for the convention organizers, reported David Shaffer of the Star Tribune. “Some of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ 204 conservation officers also solicited private donations for the conference — a practice one official…
Read MoreAging sewer systems continue to pollute rivers, streams
A Gannett News Service analysis by Larry Wheeler and Grant Smith shows that “America’s aging sewer systems continue to dump human waste into rivers and streams, despite years of fines and penalties targeting publicly owned agencies responsible for sewage overflows.” Wheeler and Smith analyzed enforcement and compliance records gathered by the EPA and state regulators…
Read MoreNetwork of flipping founders in Southwest Florida
An investigation by Michael Braga, Aaron Kessler and Charlie Szymanski of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune used social network analysis and hundreds of land and corporation documents to uncover a web of questionable real estate deals involving a Southwest Florida investor and developer. The subject, Mark Brivik, moved properties back and forth between himself, companies he controlled,…
Read MoreCity repair fund provides scant relief to tenants
In a fourth installment of The Washington Post‘s Forced Out series, about abusive landlords who drive tenants from rent-controlled apartments, Debbie Cenziper and Sarah Cohen report that D.C. government has widely misused a multi-million dollar fund to repair buildings when landlords refuse to do the work. “In the past three years, the (city) spent $617,000…
Read MoreA con-artist’s trail of deception
An investigative narrative by Justin Fenton of The Baltimore Sun explores the life and crimes of Cindy McKay who “was convicted in April 2008 of secretly stealing thousands of dollars from her boyfriend and stabbing him to death before his body was found burning along an Anne Arundel County road.” A career criminal, McKay stole…
Read MoreCongressional campaign committees peddling access to conventions
Ken Dilanian, of USA TODAY, reports members of the Congressional campaign committees are selling access to this summer’s political conventions in return for campaign contributions. This exploits a loophole in the ethics law meant to reduce special interests’ influence on members of Congress. “House Democrats are offering a ‘premier package’ at the Aug. 25-28 Denver…
Read MoreThe global food crisis
A series by The Washington Post explores the causes and implications of the current global food crisis, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1970s. “A complex combination of poor harvests, competition with biofuels, higher energy prices, surging demand in China and India, and a blockage in global trade is driving food…
Read MoreRevisiting Willow Island
The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette published a two-day package marking the 30th anniversary of the Willow Island Disaster, the largest construction accident in U.S. history. Fifty-one construction workers died on April 27, 1978, when a scaffold collapsed during construction of a coal-fired power plant along the Ohio River. The Gazette examines the disaster’s causes, interviews survivors…
Read MoreHigh price of diplomacy with China
The first of two investigative reports from the Center for Investigative Reporting’s James Sandler examines the Bush administration’s efforts to squelch legal proceedings against two high ranking Chinese officials accused of torturing members of religious groups, including Fulan Gong. The two accused officials are former trade minister Bo Xilai and Beijing
Read MoreExploits of rural prostitution ring exposed
A two-week series by The Gazette of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, explores a human trafficking and prostitution ring that flourished in the small towns of eastern Iowa. “By poring over hundreds of court records and reports, and through more than two dozen interviews, The Gazette has pieced together over the last year and a half the…
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