The early bird deadline for 
The 2025 Freelance Fellowship Recipients
Paul Tosto of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports on discrepancies the paper found in a report the state published claiming that Minnesota has more young children taking care of themselves after school than any other state in the country. They found that the “commission did not have statistics showing Minnesota with the nation’s highest…
Read MoreReporter Christina Murphy and Assistant City Editor Jennie Coughlin of The Daily News Leader analyzed five years’ worth of Department of Labor and Industry inspections obtained from the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration. They found that “many businesses are not inspected each year. In fact, the labor department performed too few safety inspections between…
Read MoreJames Drew and Steve Eder of The (Toledo) Blade traced the path of former Ohio state aides-turned-lobbyists who “have traded their official titles for personal riches and the influence that comes with helping select a U.S. president.” Some of Gov. Bob Taft’s closest aides have gone onto lucrative lobbying and consulting businesses; one “has raked…
Read MoreBetsy Hammond of The (Portland) Oregonian analyzed state education data to find that “for each teacher, secretary, principal, janitor and other worker, Oregon schools paid an average of $18,300 for health insurance and retirement pay in 2002-03. That was 55 percent more than schools across the nation.” Matching the national rate of benefits would save…
Read MoreR.G. Dunlop of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal has a series on the state’s land condemnation system, finding that “Kentucky has squandered millions of tax dollars buying land for highway construction because of an outdated condemnation system that it has refused to fix for decades.” In some cases, the state paid owners much more than their land…
Read MoreDavid Madrid of The Arizona Republic reports on the results of a public records request the paper made asking council members in Surprise, Ariz., “to verify the miles and percentage of driving they do for city business” since the council was set to approve a 289% increase in car allowances. The paper’s request “was denied…
Read MoreKrista J. Stockman of The (Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette used state education test data to compare results since the fall of 2000, finding that “the majority of Indiana schools have more students passing standardized tests.” The paper analyzed scores for third, sixth, eighth and 10th grades, because those were the only grades tested in both…
Read MoreKevin McGran of The Toronto Star used federal and provincial records to show that “if you rent a U-Haul, you’ve got a 50-50 chance of getting a truck that won’t pass a road safety check.” Ontario police failed nearly half of such vehicles during road examinations between 2002 and 2004, and Ministry of Transportation data…
Read MoreScott North, Diana Hefley and Lukas Velush of The (Everett, Wash.) Herald used Washington state transportation data to show that a stretch of I-5 where a cable barrier separates the opposing lanes of traffic may not be preventing as many accidents as other areas. In one three-mile section, “vehicles went over, under or through the…
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