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Police deny access to records
Debra Erdley of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that police agencies in Western Pennsylvania don’t always comply with the state’s public records laws: “About 40 percent of 217 police agencies surveyed declined to provide access to daily call sheets or police blotters.” Police usually cite ongoing investigations or confidentiality concerns when withholding access, but “the law…
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 MorePrivate interests pay for state officials’ trips
David White of The Birmingham News used state records to show that since November 2002, more than 20 state lawmakers and executive officials have taken trips paid for by private interests. “Lawmakers took trips to places such as Australia, the Bahamas and California and got tickets for the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans and the…
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 MoreHate crimes rise in Los Angeles school district
Naush Boghossian and Lisa M. Sodders of the Los Angeles Daily News use data from the Los Angeles Unified School District police to investigate an increase in hate crimes in the district. “Hate crimes in Los Angeles’ public schools have surged more than 300 percent over the past decade…” They found that almost all of…
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 MoreAccident-victim law saves lives
Suzanne Hoholik of The Columbus Dispatch used state data to show that a 2002 Ohio law intended to direct accident victims to trauma hospitals was working as intended: “More injured people are being taken to trauma centers, and fewer are dying in small, rural hospitals. Trauma experts believe as many as 900 lives a year…
Read MoreSchool fails to submit project warnings
Dave Altimari and Grace E. Merritt of The Hartford Courant obtained records showing that “at least four University of Connecticut officials were aware of problems found in a 1999 audit of a $1 billion construction program but not disclosed to state legislators. Most of those problems were never fixed, and the school failed in subsequent…
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