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“In recent years, the number of Bay Area kindergartners who have been immunized against diseases like whooping cough and measles has declined. With the 2011-12 school year beginning, The Bay Citizen collected the latest data covering last year from the California Department of Health, so you can see which schools are most susceptible to an…
Read MoreKUOW’s John Ryan reports that “in the past decade, a dozen patients of Washington’s Western State Hospital have killed themselves and more than a hundred others have tried.” “Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teenagers and young adults in Washington state. But inside a psychiatric hospital like Western, patients are supposed to…
Read MoreDocuments obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune have revealed that Utah’s Transit Authority CEO has spent more than $600,000 on international travel. Trips range from China to the United Arab Emirates and also include 17 U.S. cities. “But UTA officials say they receive great value from travel, learning from mistakes and successes of other transit agencies.…
Read MorePolice enlist young offenders as confidential informants, the New Yorker reports. They are the foot soldiers in the government’s war on drugs. By some estimates, up to 80 percent of all drug cases in America involve them. For police departments facing budget woes, untrained C.I.s provide an inexpensive way to outsource the work of undercover…
Read MoreBy Doug HaddixKiplinger Program directorKiplinger Program in Public Affairs Journalism, Ohio State University A new mobile app called Ad Hawk created a buzz this weekend during an IRE Election Watchdog Workshop at The Ohio State University. It’s an amazing new public service offered by the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation in Washington, D.C. Here’s how it works:…
Read MoreEnter the 2012 Philip Meyer Journalism contest for your chance to win $500. Are you proud of a computer-assisted reporting story you’ve done this past year? Do you have a keen eye for great watchdog stories and the ability to combine that with social science research methods? If so, enter into the Philip Meyer Journalism…
Read MoreAn ABC15-Phoenix investigation has found years of lawsuits, dozens of complaints and even a warning from Ford itself in regards to a discovery of an acceleration problem in ’02-’04 Escapes. Documents obtained suggest Ford may have known about the problem for years but are just now issuing a recall.
Read MoreBy Laura KrantzGatehouse Media This summer I attended my first IRE conference, in Boston. I really wanted to learn Microsoft Excel skills and I did, thanks to patient IRE staff. But more importantly, I was inspired by all the ruthless journalists using creative ways to mine for data and writing compelling stories. I left itching to…
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