The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
New York State this week announced the addition of millions of records to the state’s data transparency website, open.ny.gov, which launched during Sunshine Week of 2011. New York’s is one of 39 state open data sites, according to data.gov. At least 39 county and city governments have similar portals. The records span multiple state agencies…
Read MoreInvestigative Reporters & Editors, Inc. is launching a new award — dubbed the Golden Padlock — recognizing the most secretive publicly-funded agency or person in the United States. It is calling on journalists and the public for worthy nominees. “This honor acknowledges the dedication of government officials working tirelessly to keep vital information hidden from…
Read MoreIn June, the new FDA-approved drug Osphena will hit the shelves. Supposedly the newest answer for painful sex, it will be targeted by the drug maker Shionogi, Inc, the more than 64 million US women who have hit menopause. But Newsweek reports that numerous troubling questions loom over Osphena: is this a real disorder affecting…
Read More10 News (WTSP), Tampa Bay’s CBS affiliate, exposes cracks in Florida’s zero-deductable windshield-replacement law. While the law is designed to help consumers, 10 News shows the lack of policing over fraud has lead to a proliferation of glass companies pushing unnecessary replacements. The effect has been rising rates for all policyholders, and now, state legislators are…
Read MoreThe contract company hired to provide medical care to Arizona prisoners failed to treat an inmate and that may have led to his death, according to a report from KPNX-(NBC) Phoenix. The medical provider was already under fire and this is the latest example of a systemic problem in Arizona prisons. The investigation led to…
Read MoreAt its June 20 meeting during our annual conference in San Antonio, the IRE Board of Directors will consider modifying the policy that bans entries in the IRE Awards if a Board member has been involved with a story at any level. IRE currently has one of the strictest such policies of any journalism contest.…
Read MoreAfter the Obama administration promised it would “strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government,” it has since carried out an unprecedented campaign against federal government whistleblowers. Since 2009, six government officials have been prosecuted under the Espionage Act, a World War I era act that had…
Read MoreIn a disappointing unanimous decision yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can ignore public record requests from non-residents. This is one of the most regressive, backward rulings the U.S. Supreme Court has issued on access laws for some time. Two reasons make this particularly alarming: The court continues to look at public records…
Read More“It happens thousands of times a year in Minnesota’s classrooms: Disabled students get punished for disruptive outbursts with severe forms of discipline — from forceful physical restraint to extended solitary confinement — that are either banned or more restricted in other states. State reports examined by the Star Tribune show that such discipline occurred nearly 22,000…
Read More“It is one of the oddest spending habits in Washington: This year, the government will spend at least $890,000 on service fees for bank accounts that are empty. At last count, Uncle Sam has 13,712 such accounts with a balance of zero. They are supposed to be closed. But nobody has done the paperwork yet. So even…
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