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United States Senate candidate and state senator Joni Ernst has cited her National Guard duty to rebuff criticism for missing more than half of the votes in the Iowa Senate this year. In a WHO-TV interview posted on April 7, the Red Oak Republican acknowledged that National Guard service wasn’t the only reason she’s missed…
Read MoreTasked with reporting on mental health? Take a few minutes to listen to tips from Meg Kissinger of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Kissinger attended a recent Watchdog Workshop to talk about her series of award-winning stories investigating caregivers. “We found people living in squalor,” Kissinger said. “It really upset people.” So how did she find…
Read MoreIRE traveled to Los Angeles, Tucson and Laramie last weekend for a trio of Watchdog Workshops. Attendees shared their tips and ideas on Twitter. Our Los Angeles workshop at USC featured IRE trainer Jaimi Dowdell, independent journalist Ronald Campbell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter/assistant editor Ellen Gabler, NBC Bay Area reporter Jenna Susko, and Los Angeles Times legal counsel Jeff Glasser. —…
Read MoreA CBS 7 investigation into how speeding tickets for CDL drivers are handled in Loving County has uncovered even bigger problems. CBS 7 was first to report Thursday that the county judge and county legal advisor have been writing off speeding tickets as parking violations. However, we found more than just speeding tickets are being…
Read MoreNewly released Memphis police records show detectives secured DNA testing within weeks of the 2003 home-invasion rape of a girl, then 12, now suing the city over its massive backlog of untested rape kits. In a story last month exploring early missed opportunities to stop serial rapist Anthony Alliano, The Commercial Appeal reported 12-year-old Madison…
Read MoreA year after the raids, the investigation at Pilot Flying J is far from over, as federal authorities continue to examine the company in the methodical, painstaking approach that is typical of how the U.S. Justice Department handles complex, white-collar crime cases.
Read MoreWhen Broome County Executive Debbie Preston ran for re-election in 2012, about a dozen of her appointed county employees got a mandatory email assignment. Employees were told in the note from Deputy Broome County Executive Bijoy Datta that they were required to participate in political activities to help get Preston elected, according to email messages…
Read MoreThe Utah Transit Authority doubled spending on controversial bonuses for managers last year, while it sought a sales-tax hike it says is needed to restore bus service cut during the recession. The agency spent $1.74 million on such bonuses last year, twice the $870,368 doled out in 2012, according to UTA salary data analyzed by…
Read MoreOne year later, the number of people hurt by the West explosion remains a mystery because a government survey of the injured has failed to account for scores of casualties. Government health officials were initially slow to study the extent of the West injuries. When they did, they limited their survey to those treated at…
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