The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Josh Barbanel of The New York Times used local tax and real estate data to show that “average taxes on Manhattan co-ops and condos are lower than they would be if they were taxed the way some of the most heavily taxed houses are. But it is prewar co-ops that have the greatest tax advantage.”…
Read MoreThe mayor of Jackson, Miss., has refused to release the city’s crime statistics to the City Council. “Under the prior administration of Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr., the crime statistics were released to media and published every Monday in The Clarion-Ledger‘s metro-state section.”
Read MoreAndrew Wolfson of The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal reports that “Kentucky shrouds its juvenile courts behind some of the strictest secrecy laws in the nation, requiring the public to accept on faith that it is being protected from dangerous children — and that innocent children are being protected from dangerous adults.”
Read MoreDavid Josar of The Detroit News used records obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act to find that “Detroit City Clerk Jackie Currie has spent more than $100,000 in taxpayer funds on a team of private lawyers and advisers to defend her in a lawsuit that accuses her of mismanagement and fraud in the handling…
Read MoreEric Hand, Todd Frankel and Jaimi Dowdell of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch examined the state of dams in Missouri and Illinois, following the failure of a dam in southeastern Missouri. They found that hundereds of dams in Missouri and Illinois lack plans for handling emergencies, are regulated by cash-strapped state offices that make intermittent inspections…
Read MoreBob Cuddy, Sarah Linn and Leslie Griffy of The Tribune reviewed San Luis Obispo County’s disaster documents to show that the county was vulnerable in case of a major disaster. "While the county, home to Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, gets high marks for its planning, Hurricane Katrina showed that plans are one thing, implementing…
Read MoreChristine Willmsen and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times analyzed court records, sex offender registries and check-in logs to show that hundreds of sex offenders register as homeless — making their whereabouts unknown. This results in law-enforcement officials not having any way of tracking them, and residents often being unaware of potential threats. The investigation…
Read MoreMike Casey of The Kansas City Star examined OSHA’s inspection database for the metropolitan area of Kansas City, Mo., to show that low fines for workplace deaths or injuries are common even when OSHA cites employers for a serious violation. The investigation found that in 80 such fatal and injury accidents, half of the fines…
Read MoreEric Stevick and Scott North of the The (Everett, Wash.) Herald used state education testing data to show that at 95 percent of Washington
Read MoreRuss Buettner, Heidi Evans, Robert Gearty, Brian Kates, Greg B. Smith and Richard T. Pienciak of the Daily News in New York used FEMA data to show that the federal government’s $21.4 billion program to help New York recover from the 9/11 terrorist attacks was dreadfully flawed. "New Yorkers by the tens of thousands received…
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