Posts by hdcoadmin
Homes remain out of reach for many
Gina Edwards, Deirdre Conner and Kori Rumore of the Naples Daily News analyzed real estate transactions culled from property appraiser records to show how the real estate market has shifted. In 2003, in Collier County, Fla., almost 60 percent of single-family homes on the market — more than 4,500 — sold for less than $300,000.…
Read MorePatients denied kidneys because of paperwork
Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein of the Los Angeles Times used interviews, internal memos and transplant records to show that 25 Kaiser Permanente patients in Northern California were denied the chance for new kidneys that were nearly perfectly matched to them last year during the troubled start-up of the giant HMO’s kidney transplant program in…
Read MorePolice use homeland security grants to keep tabs
David E. Kaplan of U.S. News & World Report identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web. The inquiry found federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars…
Read MorePoliticians use leadership PACs for campaign contributions
Deirdre Shesgreenand and Jaimi Dowdell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used campaign records to show that leadership PACs, set up separately from regular re-election accounts, are an increasingly popular tool politicians use to rake in extra campaign dollars that they then dole out to their colleagues — usually the party’s most vulnerable incumbents or top…
Read MoreOvertime a burden in N.H. town
Andrew Nelson of The (Nashua, N.H.) Telegraph used city payroll records to look at overtime costs. While the city is laying off schoolteachers, it continues to pay $9 million a year in overtime and other extra pay to city employees. The investigation found that “nearly 50 city workers added at least 50 percent to their…
Read MoreTaxpayers subsidize college athletics
Mark Alesia of The Indianapolis Star finds that “athletic departments at taxpayer-funded universities nationwide receive more than $1 billion in student fees and general school funds and services.” The investigation analyzed the 2004-05 athletic budgets of 164 of the nation’s 215 biggest public schools. The Star compiled and put online what is says is the…
Read MoreAnalysis paints picture of killers, victims
Jo Craven McGinty of The New York Times analyzed homicide records over the past three years to provide a detailed description of New York killers and their victims. From 2003 through 2005, 1,662 murders were committed in New York. With crimes that were solved, men and boys were responsible for 93 percent of the murders.…
Read MoreJudicial nominee violated ethics law
Will Evans of the Center for Investigative Reporting, writing for Salon.com, reviewed the financial filings of Judge Terrence W. Boyle, a key circuit court nominee touted by the White House and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to show that he ruled in multiple cases involving corporations in which he held investments. For instance, Boyle bought…
Read MoreFirms employ brokers who have regulatory records
Paul Foutch and Will Deener of The Dallas Morning News used state securities board data to show that four firms in the Dallas-Fort Worth brokerage industry have brokers with extensive regulatory records. The investigation used NASD data (the industry’s self-regulatory body, formerly known as the National Association of Securities Dealers) obtained from the Texas State…
Read MoreStudents often call police about peers’ parties
Brian Charlton and Don Jordan of The State News at Michigan State University analyzed noise and party violations from 2004 and 2005, including 1,025 noise, 41 unlawful party and two nuisance party violations, and found student neighborhoods were saturated with violations. The most ticketed areas were student apartment complexes, a finding that surprised police who…
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