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“A year after the worst U.S. bridge collapse in a generation brought calls for immediate repairs to other spans, two of every three of the busiest problem bridges in each state — carrying nearly 40 million vehicles a day — have had no work beyond regular maintenance,” report Robert Tanner, Steve Karnowski and Frank Bass…
Read MoreFollowing the apparent strangulation death of 19-year-old inmate Ronnie L. White, the Prince George’s County Jail has been under intense scrutiny. A report by Debbie Cenziper and James Hohman, of The Washington Post, revealed that more than a dozen correction officers at the facility have arrest records, yet many have been retained on staff. “The…
Read MorePeter Spiegel of The Los Angeles Times reported that a U.S. auditor has called for an end to American funding of reconstruction in Iraq. Citing record oil profits and unspent funds from previous budgets, the special inspector general claimed Iraq has the means to fund its reconstruction needs, and American responsibility should be to help…
Read MoreMary Zahn and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detailed the rising number of injuries and serious violations at nursing homes in the state of Wisconsin. The reporters reviewed more than 20,000 pages of documents and built their own database of accidents, injuries and deaths spanning the past 3 ½ years. They found that…
Read MoreVanity Fair’s Bryan Burrough investigated the fall of Bear Stearns. Through internal accounts of the investment bank’s demise, some suggest that an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission would point to evidence that Bear was the victim of short-sellers who make bets that a firm’s stock will go down. Burrough’s investigation found that many…
Read MoreMarisol Bello of USA TODAY reported that billions of dollars will be needed to repair deficient bridges throughout the U.S. Twelve percent of the bridges throughout the U.S. currently rate as deficient. “It would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies in the USA, according to the latest estimate,…
Read MoreAn article by Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk revealed that the oil industry made large contributions to the McCain campaign in June following his policy statement calling for an end to the federal ban on offshore drilling. “Oil and gas industry executives and employees donated $1.1 million to McCain last month — three-quarters of which…
Read MoreUsing Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, Kristi Piehl, Nicole Muehlhausen and Mike Maybay of KSTP evaluated the housing market in Minnesota. They analyzed 16 years of data to see how the mortgage crisis has impacted the state. In some counties, foreclosure rates have increased by over 400 percent over the last three years. Interactive…
Read MoreGeoff Dutton and Mike Wagner, of The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, report that DNA results recently returned show that Robert McClendon, an Ohio inmate who has served 18 years for rape, is not a match for the semen found on the underwear of the 10-year-old victim. “McClendon’s case was highlighted in ‘Test of Convictions,’ a five-day…
Read MoreChinese officials are offering “hush money” to families who lost children in the May 12 earthquake, reports Edward Wong of The New York Times. “Local governments in southwest China’s quake-ravaged Sichuan Province have begun a coordinated campaign to buy the silence of angry parents whose children died during the earthquake, according to interviews with more…
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