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Demographic analysis shifts Dallas crime ranking
A database analysis found that while the city of Dallas is once again ranked among “the worst large cities for violent crime,” the numbers change when the sample is more closely examined. Jennifer LaFleur and Tanya Eiserer of The Dallas Morning News used “statistical tools that correct for the effect of factors such as poverty,…
Read MoreNearly $18 million in overtime paid to Milwaukee police officers
Gina Barton and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed city of Milwaukee salary and overtime data and found that the police department spent $17.8 million on overtime last year — a 23 percent increase over the previous year. Officers worked enough overtime to hire 380 more officers and pay their benefits. One officer…
Read MoreSpeculators driving foreclosures in Nevada
Southern Nevada’s foreclosure rates are the nations highest, due primarily to investors walking away from their property. “Roughly 85 percent of actual auctions or repossessions of homes from March 1 through Aug. 31 involved properties not occupied by their owners,” according to a report by Jeff German, Steve Kanigher and Alex Richards of the Las…
Read MoreCEOs of healthcare nonprofit netting top dollars
The Honolulu Advertiser examined nonprofit salaries and reported that “the largest healthcare nonprofits in Hawai’i pay their chief executive more than $820,000 on average. Large foundations and trusts in Hawai’i pay an average of $341,000 to their top manager. Executives at a sampling of service providers were paid the least, averaging $133,100.” The healthcare companies…
Read MoreWis. dam inspections fall behind schedule
Ben Poston and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed a database of state dam inspections and found that Wisconsin inspectors have failed to inspect dozens of dams that could pose a danger in the event of a break. In all, the state Department of Natural Resources has not inspected at least 230 state-regulated…
Read MoreUndue Influence
Eric Nalder and Lewis Kamb of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer found “cops confronted with a drunken-driving arrest fare better than the average citizen,” according to an investigation of seven years’ worth of internal discipline records, arrest reports, accident reports, license-suspension files and court documents from around Washington state. The P-I’s findings also determined Washington’s police disciplinary…
Read MoreBridge data adds context to collapse
Following the collapse of an I-35 bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, journalists turned to the National Bridge Inventory database, available from IRE and NICAR, to check the bridge’s inspection history. The Saint Paul Pioneer Press. and The Star Tribune reported that inspection data from 2005 showed that the Minnesota Department of Transportation deemed…
Read MoreChicago’s drug war toughest on minorities
A Chicago Tribune analysis of federal data shows that enforcement efforts in the the war on drugs hits minorities far harder than whites. Darnell Little reports that inner-city dealers are hit much harder than the more discrete dealings in suburban areas. Prison populations also reflect harsher penalties for minorities. Analysis of Chicago’s predominantly African-American neighborhoods…
Read MoreOvertime tops $500 million in California state prisons
Inmate overcrowding and the increasing number of staff vacancies in California’s prisons are spiking overtime costs for the state’s corrections department, which spent more than half a billion dollars last year on overtime pay, according to analysis of payroll records by the San Francisco Chronicle. Tom Chorneau and Todd Wallack report that the surge —…
Read MorePolitical speed zones
Sarah Okeson of Florida Today looked into a new law that sets up enhanced penalty zones in which drivers who speed get higher fines. Reviewing more than 1 million crashes in Florida from 2002 to 2005, she found that the speed zones aren’t located in areas with the highest rates of speed-related crashes. The state…
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