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Psych hospital mixes up patient meds
Medication errors raise questions about patient safety at a New Jersey psychiatric hospital, according to an Asbury Park Press report by Jean Mikle. A review of hundreds of pages of Ancora medication safety and error reports by the Press found troubling patterns of mistakes and omissions at the facility, which has about 600 patients. The…
Read MoreLittle-used Wisconsin bridges get federal stimulus dollars
Ben Poston and Tom Held of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that a vast majority of the Wisconsin bridges awarded $15.8 million of construction money in the first wave of federal stimulus funding carry fewer than 1,000 vehicles a day. A dozen of those get less than 100 cars a day. For the story, Poston…
Read MoreInjury reports from Florida’s theme parks yield little information
A two-part series by Scott Powers of The Orlando Sentinel explored personal injury litigation against the big Florida theme parks, showing what happens when visitors get hurt and then sue. The findings show ride-related lawsuits at Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens rarely shed light on whether the rides actually hurt anyone.…
Read MoreBankTracker crunches numbers from FDIC reports
An analysis of bank financial statements by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University and msnbc.com, sheds new light on just how dangerous conditions have become in many banks across the nation. Information is available on the BankTracker site and a related msnbc.com story by Bill Dedman.
Read MoreTulsa County siren coverage is spotty in areas
As many as 24,800 Tulsa County residents live in areas not reached by outdoor tornado sirens, a Tulsa World analysis found. Many of those residents live in the county’s remote north or southwestern sections where farms have yet to give way to residential developments. Included with the story are searchable databases listing all the tornadoes…
Read MoreTeachers supported Prop 8 while their union opposed the measure
A report by NPR’s Robert Benincasa shows that California’s teachers’ union was giving money to oppose Proposition 8 while members of the union were making donations to support the ban on gay marriage. “Teachers, aides and counselors in California public school systems gave about $2 to support the marriage ban for every $1 they gave…
Read MoreTexas homeowners paying more for less coverage
Jennifer LaFleur and Ed Timms at The Dallas Morning News have found that, despite legislation to reform homeowner insurance coverage, many Texans pay some of the country’s highest premiums but receive below-average coverage. The story also includes an explanation of the computer-assisted reporting for the piece. This is the fourth and final installment in the…
Read MoreA look at Seattle’s suffering real estate market
Working off a report from Zillow.com stating that 29 percent of homes in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area sold at a loss during the final months of 2008, Karen Gaudette and Justin Mayo of The Seattle Times extended the analysis and traced the depreciation trend back to 2005. They also compiled lists of the cities in Snohomish…
Read MoreCorrosion, health problems linked to Chinese-made drywall
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that ships carrying hundreds of millions of pounds of Chinese-manufactured drywall — enough to potentially construct more than 60,000 homes — unloaded their cargo at two dozen U.S. ports across the country since 2006. Some Chinese drywall, used to make interior walls, has now been linked to the near-complete corrosion of…
Read MoreLobbyists spent $12.8 million courting Texas lawmakers
According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, lobbyists spent more than $12 million in the last four years wining and dining Texas lawmakers and other state workers, including trips to pricey resorts across the country. Using lobby disclosure data, reporter Matt Stiles found that state senators and representatives had accepted at least $3.5 million…
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