CAR
Restaurant prices outpace inflation in NYC
Jennifer Steinhauer and Jo Craven McGinty of The New York Times used restaurant price information from Zagat Guides and the paper’s own reviews to show that “in 1994, the average one-star meal cost $33; it now costs a little more than $50, pushing it outside many people’s weekend budgets. That is a 51 percent increase,…
Read MoreContribution through multiple companies help corporate donors elude limit
Ben Smith of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed campaign contributions to Gwinnett County commission races in the past two years, finding that “thousands of dollars in donations from companies sharing common addresses and company executives that appear to violate campaign contribution limits. Among them: nine companies headed by two developers whose firms gave to former Commission…
Read MoreDevelopers have big plans for rural areas
John McCarthy of the Florida Today analyzed and mapped data from the Brevard County Property Appraiser’s database to report on growth and development in Brevard County, Fla. McCarthy found that land developers in the county “plan to turn agricultural land in the far reaches of the county into upscale housing developments …” The project includes…
Read MorePrivate contractors pour $2.5 billion into city
L.A. Lorek of the San Antonio Express-News used federal contracts data to examine the largest military contractors in San Antonio. Lorek found the Pentagon’s reliance on private companies has let to a boom for local businesses who “provide everything from oil and food to aircraft parts and weapons research.” In 2003, the top 20 contractors…
Read MoreLobbyists use nonprofits to finance congressional travel
Bob Williams and Stephen Henn of the Center for Public Integrity investigate lobbyists who sit on the governing boards of nonprofits. Lobbyists are not supposed to pay for congressional travel, but the investigation found “that a favored way to evade the prohibition on picking up the tab is to do so through charitable non-profits…” The…
Read MoreProblems plague state’s biotech partnership
Clint Riley of The (Hackensack, N.J.) Record investigates New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey’s plans to promote biotechnology in the state in a four-part series. The investigation found problems with New Jersey’s partnership with the biotechnology industry. “Millions of your tax dollars have gone to companies that take valuable research, profits and jobs from New Jersey…
Read MoreSchool crime numbers higher than reported
Liz Chandler, Peter Smolowitz, Melissa Manware and CAR specialist Adam Bell from The Charlotte Observer report on their findings that more crime in being committed in Charlotte schools than is being reported by the school district. The investigation found “1,473 crimes reported to police at schools, 631 of them violent or threatening.” Compare that to…
Read MoreCity pays private attorneys millions
Steve Neavling of The Bay City Times has a six-part series on Bay County government spending on private attorneys. “Between 2001 and 2004, the county paid private lawyers nearly $1.13 million — more than twice the amount spent by each of four other Michigan counties with similar populations. And that does not include the more…
Read MoreExperts cast doubt on cause
Jason Method and James W. Prado Roberts of the Asbury Park Press raised questions in the airplane death seven years ago of a pilot who was about to buy Marlboro Airport, now the center of a massive political bribery scandal. The NTSB ruled the 1998 crash death of Lino A. Fasio an accident due to…
Read MoreMinorities face tough discipline
Melissa Jenco of the Daily Herald analyzed Illinois education data to show that “racial disparities in discipline are not just a suburban trend. Statewide, during the 2002-03 school year, the expulsion and suspension rate for black students was three times higher than for white students. There were similar disparities for Latino students, too.”
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