The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Two rival hospitals, St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Hospital, brag about gleaming buildings, robotic surgery systems, electrophysiology labs for heart care, and cancer treatment centers. What remains unsaid is the price tag. The nonprofit hospitals’ charges are much higher than in other parts of Missouri — certain surgeries can even cost twice as much…
Read MoreThe boasts of lofty moral standards have long struck other schools’ fans as a bit sanctimonious. But they are getting fresh scrutiny now, in part because the bright lights of college football’s biggest stage have brought renewed attention to a two-year-old case involving a Notre Dame player and chilling allegations of sexual assault.
Read More“Nearly 7,000 disabled veterans overseen by the Des Moines Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office are waiting an average of 313 days on claims across the state, VA records show. That’s 18 percent longer than a year and a half ago, although records show that since 2000 there are fewer veterans in the state.”
Read More“The greatest income inequality in the state was in Philadelphia and Allegheny County from 2009 to 2011, according to recently compiled Census estimates that measure the gap between richest and poorest. The chasm between rich and poor can be seen near Pittsburgh in the boroughs of Fox Chapel and Sharpsburg, a wealthy bedroom community and…
Read More“Reuters first reported in late February of last year that the SEC had spent millions of dollars hiring Booz Allen consultants to help streamline the agency, leading some agency insiders to question whether the SEC was getting its money’s worth.”
Read MoreA Star Tribune investigation of 1,330 Twin Cities real estate transactions known as contracts for deed reveals that they are beset by inflated prices, high interest rates and other terms that almost guarantee the buyer will default. In hundreds of cases, records show, sellers failed to provide mandated home inspections that would have revealed code…
Read More“Medicare fraud costs taxpayers an estimated $60 billion annually. One problem area is power wheelchairs, which cost the program hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Over the course of a several month “CBS This Morning” investigation, numerous people who have sold and prescribed these wheelchairs told CBS News that the industry bullies doctors, and…
Read More“Reports of drowsy drivers, including three with multiple incidents, are just one sign that Oregon’s largest transit agency is playing a game of chicken with fatigue. The newspaper’s eight-month examination found that the budget-battered agency allows operators to manipulate work rules to log as many as 22 hours in a 24-hour period, filling open runs…
Read More“The Oregonian’s examination of high-volume marijuana doctors — including interviews with physicians and clinic operators as well as a review of state documents, medical licensing reports, court records and caseload data — paints a picture of a highly specialized industry.”
Read More