The early bird deadline for 
It's time for the NICAR 2026 T-shirt contest!
The city of Wichita owns more than 11,000 acres that include multimillion-dollar buildings such as City Hall, an overgrown wildlife preserve and small, oddly shaped plots worth as little as $10. But a weeks-long investigation by Brent D. Wistrom of The Wichita Eagle shows disjointed records system leaves city officials and the public unable to…
Read MoreAn investigation into the handicapped accessibility of Chicago Transit Authority stations by a team of reporters from Columbia College Chicago found that “41 percent of the stations designated fully accessible were not.” Using FOIA, the students reviewed over 2,000 ADA-related complaints filed against the CTA from Jan. 1, 2004 through Feb. 28, 2009. Some of…
Read MoreA $3 billion municipal bond loan program run by an ex-politician in Tennessee was overcharging Nashville and two other cities by hiding fees within reported interest rates, The Tennessean‘s Brad Schrade reported. The multi-story investigation used federal bank filings, audits and other public records to expose problems with the non-profit loan program, including lack of disclosure,…
Read MoreA three-part series in the Naples (Fla.) Daily News looks at the town government of Ave Maria, a community that surrounds a Catholic-oriented university started by Domino’s Pizza founder Tom Monaghan. Monaghan and a local landowner got a state law passed creating a government that they can control forever at the expense of the town’s…
Read More“An analysis by The Associated Press, based on data collected by the U.S. Postal Service and the Housing and Urban Development Department, shows the emptiest neighborhoods are clustered in places hit hard during the recession of the 1980s — cities such as Flint, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Indianapolis.” Dan Sewell and Frank Bass…
Read MoreA tsunami map file came in handy recently during custom training at the Student Media Center at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The mapping file shows the value of looking into local geographic data, even if you don’t know how to use mapping software. More and more local, regional and state governments are…
Read MoreJ-school students can learn from the biggest names in investigative journalism — at a reduced rate — during the upcoming IRE Conference in Baltimore. Students receive a $75 discount off the early-bird conference registration rate, so it costs only $100. In addition, the student membership is just $25. In addition, an online roommate forum gives…
Read MoreFlorida Times-Union reporters Topher Sanders and Mary Kelli Palka used open records laws to obtain data on Advanced Placement classes that the Jacksonville, Fla. school district didn’t want public. Sanders and Palka used the data to compare students’ performance in AP classes, and on the national AP exam and the state’s standardized test, the Florida…
Read MoreA series in the Los Angeles Times examines how effectively districts across California are dealing with teachers and other staff who are failing their students. In the Los Angeles Unified school district, “about 160 instructors and others get salaries for doing nothing while their job fitness is reviewed. They collect roughly $10 million a year,…
Read MoreClick here to listen to audio. Newsday reporters Eden Laikin and Sandra Peddie used databases and public records to track pension fraud in public schools. At a recent Better Watchdog Workshop in Los Angeles, the reporters discussed how similar investigations can be done in any community. The workshop was held at the Annenberg School for…
Read More