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Detroit high on list of top spenders
Kathleen Gray and Marisol Bello of The Detroit Free Press used federal data to show that “Detroit spends more on city government than most of the nation’s big cities.” The city ranks fourth in government employees per capita and fifth in overall general fund spending per capita, “behind New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago,…
Read MoreWhite coaches lasting longer than black coaches in NBA
David Leonhardt and Ford Fessenden of The New York Times used regression analysis to show that “over the last decade, black NBA coaches have lasted an average of just 1.6 seasons, compared with 2.4 seasons for white coaches … That means the typical white coach lasts almost 50 percent longer and has most of an…
Read MoreCity program accountability questioned
Toni Coleman of the St. Paul Pioneer Press analyzed data on the city’s Sales Tax Revitalization (STAR) grant program, finding that “accountability under STAR is uneven because of the program’s complicated structure. Most projects go through a structured review process, for example, but individual City Council members circumvent that if they want. In addition, some…
Read MoreCity shooting data shows race, location similarities
Nathan Gorenstein, Barbara Boyer and Rose Ciotta of the Philadelphia Inquirer summarized shootings in the city last year: “On average, more than four people a day were struck by bullets. About one in six died. On one day alone – Oct. 22 – 19 people were shot, one fatally. It’s a toll of injury and…
Read MoreUtah dams improve, but high hazard conditions still exist
Lee Davidson of The Deseret Morning News used state data to show that “44 percent of such Utah ‘high hazard’ dams meet all minimum safety standards – more than a sixfold improvement” since the paper last examined Utah’s dams in 1988. “At that time, officials rated as safe a mere 7 percent of those dams…
Read MoreWealthy schools benefit more from construction money
Steve Chambers and Robert Gebeloff of The (Newark) Star-Ledger analyzed state school construction data to find that “New Jersey’s wealthiest districts have been far more successful qualifying for state money than middle-class or blue-collar ones. And with two-thirds of the state money already spent or committed, affluent districts have landed 24 percent more construction funding…
Read MorePolice response times longer in certain areas
Paul Goodsell and Lynn Safranek of the Omaha World-Herald examined 911 calls between 2000 and 2004 to find that “police took longest to respond to west Omaha calls. East of I-680, it took an average of 6 minutes and 31 seconds last year for the first officer to arrive on the highest priority calls. West…
Read MoreDelays, inconsistencies plague veteran affairs
Chris Adams and Alison Young of Knight-Ridder Newspapers sued the Veterans Administration to obtain records never before released to the public. They showed that “injured soldiers who petition the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for those payments are often doomed by lengthy delays, hurt by inconsistent rulings and failed by the veterans representatives who try…
Read MoreTexas hispanics dying at an alarming rate in Iraq
Juan Castillo and Bill Bishop of the Austin American-Statesman studied military deaths from the war in Iraq to find that “Hispanic Texans are dying in Iraq at a rate more than 60 percent higher than the rate for the nation’s military-age population as a whole.” Texas Hispanics and rural Americans serving in Iraq have some…
Read MoreTraffic stop study raises racial profiling questions
Karisa King and Kelly Guckian of the San Antonio Express-News analyzed 12 months’ of traffic and pedestrian police stops, finding that “blacks were more than three times as likely as whites to face certain types of police searches. Yet police found contraband in the searches at about the same rate for both races, a finding…
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