Posts by hdcoadmin
ACT board positions prove profitable
Lee Rood of The Des Moines Register finds that testing fees paid to the non-profit ACT Inc. of Iowa City are lining the pockets of its board of directors. “ACT, the college-entrance exam developer that has grown increasingly successful in taking on longtime rival SAT, is paying its influential board of directors about $520,000 annually…
Read MoreThird-world workers exploited by U.S. security contractors
Matthew D. La Plante of The Salt Lake Tribune reports on workers from developing nations who are are employed by private security contractors working for the U.S. in Iraq. Federal reports suggest that four-fifths of the armed contractors come from other countries, and some earn as little as $31 per day. Human rights advocates say…
Read MoreSeniors targeted in subprime refinancing
Susan Kelleher and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times looked at how older borrowers and homeowners are targeted for predatory loans. Analysis of over 4,000 loans from Ameriquest Mortgage uncovered the trend of elderly homeowners being targeted for subprime refinancing that they would never be able to repay, resulting in the loss of their home…
Read More“13 Seconds in August” details bridge collapes
The Star Tribune spent months reconstructing the locations and identities of the more than 150 people who were on the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis when it collapsed into the Mississippi River on August 1. With the help of an aerial photo, an interactive Flash graphic titled “13 Seconds in August” offers the most comprehensive…
Read MoreA glimpse into the counterfeit trade
This series by The Columbus Dispatch delved into the origins of fake goods that are so common throughout the U.S. The paper sent reporter Jeffrey Sheban and photographer Jeff Hinckley to China, Hong-Kong, Taiwan and Thailand to trace the path that brings counterfeit goods from Asia into the U.S. The series covers how fakes are…
Read MoreProperty tax deliquency costs county
The Dallas Morning News investigated the widespread property tax delinquency that plagues Texas. Reporters Kevin Krause and Molly Motley-Blythe attacked the problem from all angles, including which types of organizations are likely not to pay taxes, what sorts of excuses they use, and how the delinquency affects tax-run programs and other tax payers. Furthermore, the…
Read MorePlenty of holes in drug screening for college athletes
A survey by The Salt Lake Tribune of Division 1-A schools exposed extreme differences in how drug-testing programs are administered from school to school. Through FOIA requests, The Tribune “requested detailed information on student-athlete drug testing programs administered by the schools themselves, separate from the NCAA.” Findings show that broken systems allow students to abuse…
Read MoreConsumers unknowingly exposed to potentially hazardous chemicals
Susanne Rust, Meg Kissinger and Cary Spivak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviewed more than 250 scientific studies and examined thousands of pages of regulatory documents for their investigation detailing the failure of the federal government to regulate chemicals known as endocrine disruptors. The Environmental Protection Agency promised a decade ago to screen 15,000 chemicals,…
Read MoreInside the Seminoles’ ascension from poverty to profit
The last three decades have seen the Seminole Tribe of Florida ascend from extreme poverty to substantial wealth thanks to their lucrative Indian gaming endeavors. A South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation found that, while this wealth is shared throughout the tribe, a “a handful of tribal leaders have especially benefited, steering millions of the tribe’s money…
Read MoreBroken water meters costly in Atlanta
Jeremy Redmond of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that a large number of Atlanta-area residents and businesses have received outrageous water bills because of broken meters that the city has not fixed, even after multiple complaints. Atlanta entered into a new contract with a private company to repair and update all meters, but the company is…
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