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Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette investigates a coal company, which has built and begun to build silos outside the companies permit area, within 300 feet of a school. The Gazette used color overlays of hard-copy mine maps produced by a local blueprint shop, so that maps dating back to 1982 could be easily…
Read MoreJim Miller and Ben Goad of The (Riverside, Calif.) Press-Enterprise use mapping software to plot thousands of new home permits issued since the 2003 Southern California fires and then compared the points to state maps showing fire threat. “In the 18 months after the firestorms of 2003, Inland cities and counties issued permits for more…
Read MoreBrad Schrade of The Tennessean uses state vehicle fuel logs to show that Correction Commissioner Quenton White drove his state-issued car across Tennessee while his driver’s license was suspended for not paying a speeding ticket. “White, 45, who had headed the state’s prison system since 2003, turned in his resignation yesterday to [Gov. Phil] Bredesen,…
Read MoreMaxine Bernstein and Brent Walth of The Oregonian investigated Portland’s police and firefighter disability progam, finding that “the city’s system is an open checkbook, with rules that allow injured police and firefighters to collect checks until they retire, even if they can earn a living in another job.” One in nine Portland police officers and…
Read MoreJean Rimbach and Gregory Schutta of The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record have a two-part series on spending by the non-profit association that oversees New Jersey high school athletics: “It’s a good thing the organization that oversees high school sports in New Jersey is making money because it’s spending plenty, too. On handsome salaries. On generous retirement…
Read MoreJoel Rutchick of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer used local school financial records to show that “the Cleveland Municipal School District has lost out on as much as $14 million in potential investment income over the last three years by investing most of its idle cash through local banks – which have paid lower interest rates…
Read MorePaul 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…
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