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Convictions result from investigation into workforce grant scheme
The Charleston Gazette’s investigation of federal grant misuse at West Virginia’s state employment agency culminated with four criminal convictions in federal court and a prison sentence for one of the people involved. Gazette business reporter Eric Eyre used a hex editor to analyze the contents of a computer file, showing that the state official in…
Read MoreAnalysis shows no pattern of racial profiling in Gates’ arrest
The latest investigation from the New England Center for Investigation Reporting challenges the notion that race was a factor in the disorderly conduct arrest of Harvard University scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is black, by a white Cambridge, Mass., police officer last year. “Instead, the analysis…finds that the most common factor linking people who…
Read MoreRegulators failed to address problems with blowout preventers
A New York Times investigation shows that regulators knew there were problems with the blind shear ram, a “fail-safe” device intended to prevent disasters like the Deepwater Horizon blowout, yet failed to address them. “An examination by The New York Times highlights the chasm between the oil industry’s assertions about the reliability of its blowout…
Read MoreSite tracks candidates statements, claims in race for California governor
California Watch launched Politics Verbatim, a site that “collects and categorizes the promises, proposals, arguments and attacks” made by Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican Meg Whitman in their race for governor of California. The site was launched with 300 documents and 1,000 excerpts that will be added to daily as the race progresses allowing voters…
Read MoreDistrict’s travel practices prove costly
A Texas Watchdog review of three years of the Houston Independent School District’s travel records shows a penchant for pricey, last-minute tickets, and a toothless travel policy that allows teachers and staff broad discretion over travel spending. Reporters also spotlighted the school district’s use of a travel agency that adds $30 to every ticket issued by the…
Read MoreRegulatory issues on the rise with TARP banks
According to an investigation by Ryan Holeywell of BailoutSleuth.com, “At least one of every nine banks that got taxpayer investment through the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program was later cited by federal regulators for violating rules or failing to meet operating or financial standards.” This is in contradiction to Treasury Department statements claiming TARP funds…
Read MorePsychiatric hospital strained by patient needs, funding shortfalls
An investigation by The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer found that some dangerously ill patients who visit Charlotte’s psychiatric hospital are instead given medicine and sent home – sometimes with disastrous results. With perennial overcrowding at the county’s 66-bed psychiatric facility, few who visit the hospital’s emergency department are admitted. The result: patients like Kenny Chapman don’t…
Read MoreDebtors ending up in jail
An analysis of state data by Chris Serres and Glenn Howatt, of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, shows that “people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over…
Read MoreAT&T, Boeing Buck Anti-Incumbent Trend in Giving to Democrats
A computer-assisted analysis by Bloomberg News reporter Jonathan D. Salant of Federal Election Commission data found corporate political action committees siding with vulnerable Democratic incumbents, the candidates that Republicans need to beat if they are to take back control of the House of Representatives this fall.
Read MoreSchools profit off of student credit card debt
An investigation by the Huffington Post Investigative Fund found “some of the nation’s largest and most elite universities stand to gain millions of dollars from selling the names and addresses of students and alumni to credit card companies while granting the companies special access to school events.” The schools earn bonuses when the credit cards…
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