In a short video, Minnesota journalists describe what they learned during three days of custom IRE training in December. Topics include Twitter, searching the “Deep Web” and using IRS 990 forms to probe nonprofit organizations. Check out the video on the IRE On the Road blog. Nearly 60 reporters, editors and publishers from small newspapers…
Read MoreThe Buffalo News analyzed loans and grants data to see how the city “spends the federal funds it receives to promote economic development and urban renewal.” The analysis showed that two-thirds of the almost $2 million in grant money went to Masten District where the mayor used to serve as councilman. Other regions in need…
Read MoreA six-month investigation by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette attempts to document the story of Carmeletta Green, a 12-year-old who disappeared from her home 27 years ago. Police and court documents were reviewed and 38 people interviewed to piece together the story. Remains found in 1991 were finally identified as Carmeletta Green Nov. 30, 2009. Her case…
Read MoreA voiceofsandiego.org project reveals a flawed teacher placement system that can undercut schools from making straightforward choices on the fundamental issue of who teaches in their classrooms. A survey of over two dozen principals revealed that in approximately one out of every five teacher hires they were not able to pick the applicant they wanted.
Read MoreMark Benjamin of Salon.com reports of continuing problems at Arlington National Cemetery. Burial mix-ups include cremated remains being dumped in a landfill before being recovered and buried as an unknown soldier. Careless record keeping has contributed to others being buried as unknown soldiers. “In some cases cemetery officials lost track of the identity of remains during burial…
Read MorePatricia Decker and Robert Porterfield have found the construction project on the east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be the most expensive project ever done in the state of California. While overall costs have been presented to the public, Decker and Porterfield report that the interest on the money borrowed to pay…
Read MoreKen Dilanian, Tom Vanden Brook and Ray Locker of USA Today report that the Army circumvented its own ethics code to hire two former generals as contractors before the mandated yearlong “cooling off” period. The Army wanted to hire former generals John Vines and Dan McNeill as “senior mentors,” but the mentorship program is run…
Read MoreA three-day series by students from Columbia College Chicago, in collaboration with Illinois Statehouse News, examines Illinois’ century-old legislative scholarship program. The program doled out $12.5 million during the 2007-2008 academic year. The investigation found there is “virtually no regulation of the scholarship program.” The only requirement is that applicants must live in the awarding…
Read MorePam Louwagie and Glenn Howatt of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune have finished their three-part investigation into falling deaths in Minnesota nursing homes. According to the newspaper’s analysis, more than 1,000 Minnesota deaths were related to falls in nursing homes from 2002 through 2008, but few were fully investigated. In fact, less than 10 percent of…
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