The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Brooks Egerton of The Dallas Morning News covered the release of Tyrone Brown “17 years after a single positive marijuana test while he was on probation led a Dallas judge to sentence him to life in prison.” Brown’s story drew national attention last year after The News ran a story on the inequity of justice…
Read MoreJeff Schweers and Sarah Okeson of Florida Today looked at motorcycle fatalities in Brevard County and found that more than twice as many people were killed in 2006 as in 2000, and the county could top that this year. There are now twice as many bikers on Florida highways as there were five years ago.…
Read MoreHenry Goldman and Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg report that Rudolph Giuliani’s law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, “lobbies for Citgo Petroleum Corp., a unit of the state-owned oil company controlled by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the U.S.’s chief antagonist in the Western Hemisphere.” The law firm first registered to lobby for Citgo in April…
Read MoreJeffery Brainard of The Chronicle of Higher Education discovered an increase in accidents on campuses as proper inspections have declined. “Serious accidents in which workers were killed or hospitalized have became more common on college campuses, according to a Chronicle analysis of federal safety-inspection records…nearly 200 significant campus incidents were cited by government officials between…
Read MoreTim Darragh and Christopher Schnaars of The Morning Call investigated the inspection of Pennsylvania dog kennels. Analyzing a database of 20,000 inspections since 2003, they found that kennel owners almost always got a satisfactory grade, even when they had violations. This kennel inspection data was made availabe on The Morning Call‘s site and is searchable…
Read MoreThe Dallas Morning News has posted a page dedicated to its continuing investigation into sexual abuse at Texas juvenile detention centers. Records obtained by the paper showed that young inmates were being sexually assaulted, and nothing was done to stop it, despite complaints and reports by staffers at the West Texas State School. Included on…
Read MoreDavid Hunn of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on Riverview Garden School District superintendent, Henry P. Williams. Williams “directed at least $85,000 in extra payments to his retirement and insurance accounts,” payments not included in his contract. The paper’s investigation shows that these deposits started about four years ago. In addition to financial improprieties, the…
Read MoreJohn Tedesco, Karisa King and Kelly Guckian of the San Antonio Express-News analyzed six years of San Antonio Fire Department response-time data and found that firefighters reach inner-city structure fires quicker than in the outlying areas where firefighters cover more territory with fewer stations. In response to the Express-News coverage, local officials pledge to address…
Read MoreMichelle Breidenbach and Mike McAndrew of the Syracuse Post-Standard report on the paper’s victory in a lawsuit that forced New York state to reveal how it distributes $558 million in tax credits to businesses. “The state kept the dollar amounts secret for years, even as the public and state legislators questioned how some of the…
Read MoreSteve Weiberg and Jodi Upton of USA Today looked at the salaries of men’s Division I basketball coaches. “USA Today obtained contracts or other documents detailing salaries for coaches at 58 of the 65 schools in the 2006 tournament field. Their average salary this season: nearly $800,000. In the six marquee conferences
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