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After several years of negotiations, the NICAR Database Library has updated its copy of the FAA Enforcement Information System. This useful database documents cases where airlines, airports and pilots are accused of breaking FAA Regulations — examples include drug-test failures and alcohol abuse on the job. Only two months into 2009, there have already been…
Read MoreIf you give to a charity over the phone, there’s a growing likelihood that most of your donation will go to the telemarketer instead, according to an investigation by The Sacramento Bee. More than a third of California charity telemarketing campaigns sent less than 20 cents on the dollar to the charities during 2007, the…
Read MoreThe biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows. Between 2003 and 2007, Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own…
Read MoreThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires chemical manufacturers to produce any documentation they may come across that indicates their product could cause “substantial risk” to people or the environment. The companies have 30 days to notify the government once they become aware of this kind of information. This information could come in the form of…
Read MoreA private towing company now under federal investigation used a specially created unit of off-duty St. Louis police officers to tow cars during the city’s major Mardi Gras festival. Officers repeatedly towed cars parked outside of a towaway zone set up for the festival each of the past two years. The towing company failed to…
Read MoreA Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, N.Y.) investigation into filing practices in Monroe County state courts revealed that documents critical to the outcome of countless civil lawsuits have never been made public because they were never filed with the court as required by state rules. The investigation prompted the New York State Office of Court Administration to…
Read MoreA report by NPR’s Robert Benincasa shows that California’s teachers’ union was giving money to oppose Proposition 8 while members of the union were making donations to support the ban on gay marriage. “Teachers, aides and counselors in California public school systems gave about $2 to support the marriage ban for every $1 they gave…
Read MoreBusinessWeek‘s Brian Grow, Keith Epstein and Robert Berner detail efforts by the banking industry and its lobbyists in Washington to delay, dilute and obstruct attempts to rescue homeowners. The story describes how those efforts continue, and tracks campaign contributions by financial institutions and large lobbying expenditures by TARP recipients.
Read MoreJennifer LaFleur and Ed Timms at The Dallas Morning News have found that, despite legislation to reform homeowner insurance coverage, many Texans pay some of the country’s highest premiums but receive below-average coverage. The story also includes an explanation of the computer-assisted reporting for the piece. This is the fourth and final installment in the…
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