The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Melvin Claxton of The Tennessean has a three-part series on the price of murder in Tennessee, finding that “homicides cost state and local governments more than $110 million each year. The bill for Nashville alone, which has accounted for 17 percent of the state’s homicides over the past two decades, exceeds $18.7 million annually.” The…
Read MoreThe CBC’s investigative unit obtained data from workplace safety insurance boards across Canada to track top national trends in the workplace of today. “Canada’s record for reducing workplace fatalities over the previous 20 years was the worst. The project looks at health-care workers, mines, fatalities by province, and more. Audio reports are included in the…
Read MoreMaurice Possley and Steve Mills of the Chicago Tribune reviewed thousands of pages of court records and found that Texas may have executed an innocent man in 1989. “<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/specials/broadband/chi-tx-htmlstory,1,781241.htmlstory?coll=chi-news-hed 16 years after Carlos De Luna died by lethal injection, "the Tribune has uncovered evidence strongly suggesting that the acquaintance he named, Carlos Hernandez, was…
Read MoreSteve Warmbir, Art Golab, Natasha Korecki and Mark J. Konkol of the Chicago Sun-Times did a computer-assisted analysis of 5,743 requests for city jobs, promotions or transfers made to the mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs from 1989 to 1997 and found that “Tim Degnan, the mayor’s friend and political adviser, is the biggest slugger, batting…
Read MoreMichael Forsythe and Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg analyzed Federal Election Commission records and found that a growing number of companies had found “a new business model: locate facilities in lawmakers’ districts and shower them with campaign cash. ” The companies were taking advantage of lawmakers’ increasing penchant for “earmarking,” which was at the center…
Read MoreMichael J. Goodman and William C. Rempel of the Los Angeles Times analyzed court and campaign records and found that in Las Vegas, “some judges routinely rule in cases involving friends, former clients and business associates — and in favor of lawyers who fill their campaign coffers.” Federal and Nevada judicial canons say judges should…
Read MoreTony Rizzo and Laura Bauer of The Kansas City Star studied court records and found that “roughly three in 10 sex offenders did not live where they were supposed to.” Additionally, “Many of the missing were the kinds of sex offenders parents most fear. Rapists. Child molesters. Repeat offenders. ” There are offenders who readily…
Read MoreJack Dolan and Scott Hiaasen of The Miami Herald reviewed the fire department records and found that Miami-Dade County had a special program — “‘fire watch,’ an ostensible public safety program that has never saved a life that anyone can remember, but has put at least $4.3 million into county firefighters’ pockets since 2000. ”…
Read MoreDarren Barbee of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram analyzed state records and found the proceeds of bingo games were going to the people running the games instead of benefiting the charities they were supposed to help. “No bingo proceeds were reported being spent by more than 40 Texas groups conducting bingo last year, though they raised…
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