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An investigation by The New York Times reveals that “the federal government has awarded more than $107 billion in contract payments, grants and other benefits over the past decade to foreign and multinational American companies while they were doing business in Iran, despite Washington’s efforts to discourage investment there.”
Read MoreMichelle Breidenbach of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) mined state financial documents to show the abuse of New York State’s Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund. It’s not “dedicated” at all. Years of raiding and borrowing have left just 22 percent of the fund to fix the state roads.
Read MoreThe Tennessean‘s three-part series on gangs reveals a growing problem across the state, particularly in suburbia and small towns. Law enforcement is overwhelmed and schools are ripe recruiting grounds in what’s part of a national trend of gangs expanding their influence to areas outside the urban core to sell drugs. The newspaper gained access to…
Read MoreBy Jaimi Dowdell, IRE Training Director If you’re still debating whether to head to Phoenix next week for the computer-assisted reporting conference, I want to give you a few reasons why you should make the trip. The people. I’m not ashamed to admit that I wouldn’t be where I am in my life or my…
Read MoreOn-site registrations will be accepted for the upcoming Computer-Assisted Reporting conference beginning Thursday, March 11 at the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix. For details on where to go for registration, parking and other key conference information, visit http://data.nicar.org/node/3912. See this year’s schedule at http://data.nicar.org/conference/schedule/7. You don’t want to miss this conference!
Read MoreAn investigation by the Houston Chronicle found dozens of police officers across the country have died in car crashes while unbuckled — at least 64 between 2004 and 2008 alone. It also discovered a widespread culture in police agencies of officers refusing to wear seat belts. “Some officers worry that their belts could hinder them…
Read MoreAn investigation by Randy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch revealed that the top two lawyers to Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland intervened in an active criminal investigation by the Ohio State Highway Patrol into “an alleged scheme to cover up the use of illegal immigrants to remodel a state-leased office building.” A lobbyist who is close…
Read MoreKeith Epstein of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund provides an inside look at the tactics of the influential $42 billion-a-year payday lending industry, which is thriving from a surge in emergency loans to people struggling through the recession as it pours record sums into lobbying and campaigns. It’s getting results, too – most notably in…
Read MoreHomeowners with toxic drywall have reported eight deaths to federal consumer safety officials, though no direct linkage has been found. That’s according to a Scripps Howard News Service analysis of almost 2,700 drywall complaints to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and 467 follow-up inspections by the CPSC, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act…
Read MoreIn an analysis of prescription drug deaths in the Milwaukee area, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Tom Kertscher found of the 1,200 overdose deaths in an eight-year period, some 70% involved prescription drugs. Kertscher created the database himself by reviewing the medical examiner reports for each of the counties in question. Additionally, Kertscher reviewed hundreds of…
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