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Coming soon: Learn how to use online genealogy records in your reporting

By Alena Rehberger | March 28, 2014

Photo from “A letter from England,” courtesy of the Providence Journal If you’ve ever struggled to find relatives of a person you’re profiling or verify a source’s story, we’re putting together a webinar that’s sure to help. Paul Parker of the Providence Journal will explain how to use genealogy records as a reporting tool. Using popular…

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Government computer glitch left thousands in N.C. without food stamps

By Alena Rehberger | March 27, 2014

Thousands of people went without food stamps in North Carolina last year after government computers across the state crashed, according to the Huffington Post. According to the report: “The food stamp delays can be traced to troubles with a computer system designed by Accenture, one of the world’s largest consulting firms. The company is among…

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IRE nomination call for most secretive government agency or individual

By Alena Rehberger | March 27, 2014

The Golden Padlock Award. Photo: Travis Hartman Investigative Reporters and Editors is now welcoming nominations for its second annual Golden Padlock award recognizing the most secretive government agency in the United States. “This award acknowledges government officials across the country who excel in the art of suppressing public information,” said David Cay Johnston, president of…

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IRE welcomes new Google Journalism Fellow

By Alena Rehberger | March 27, 2014

This summer IRE will welcome Aram Chung, a student at Columbia University in New York, as its Google Journalism Fellow. Chung is working on a dual graduate degree in journalism and computer science. She is focusing on computational journalism, data visualization, news design and social media. Chung has participated in the ProPublica Pair Programming Project,…

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Officials were warned about dangers of Wash. mudslide area

By Alena Rehberger | March 26, 2014

Snohomish County officials in a 2010 report were warned that neighborhoods along the Stillaguamish River were ranked “as one of the highest risk areas for deadly and destructive landslides,” according to The Seattle Times. The document contradicts claims from an emergency-management official that the area “was considered very safe” and that the slide “came out of nowhere.”…

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Step inside the NICAR14 photo booth

By Alena Rehberger | March 26, 2014

Video by Travis Hartman. Learn more about his work at pleaseshootyourself.com.

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More Marines from Calif. base have died back home than in the war-torn Middle East

By Alena Rehberger | March 25, 2014

Since 2007, 28 Marines from the base in Twentynine Palms in southern San Bernardino County, Calif. have died in off-duty vehicle accidents, a rate higher than at other Marine Corps bases. The Desert Sun examined each of these deaths during a yearlong investigation of non-hostile military fatalities in the desert. The paper analyzed thousands of pages of…

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Behind the Story: How the Chicago Sun-Times helped bring a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley to justice in a 10-year-old homicide

By Alena Rehberger | March 25, 2014

By Paul Saltzman, Chicago Sun-Times On Jan. 31, 2014, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a death a decade earlier. Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko admitted doing exactly what an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times had revealed in early 2011 he did — and what police and…

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Untested rape kits helped serial rapist elude police

By Alena Rehberger | March 24, 2014

Untested rape kits allowed serial rapist Anthony Alliano to continue his violent attacks on young girls and women in Cordova.

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Fresh water stolen in California during drought

By Alena Rehberger | March 24, 2014

It’s amazingly easy to steal water from a California stream. Even in this epic drought, the state has no way of monitoring exactly who is tapping into its freshwater supplies and how much they take. And those who do get caught taking water they have no right to often are allowed to keep taking it…

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