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Highly connected, highly paid official’s job questioned
Sean P. Murphy and Connie Paige of The Boston Globe tracked the activities of Massachusetts’ director of the Department of Labor, Angelo R. Buonopane, finding that his “work days average two hours and 51 minutes, according to Globe reporters who observed him over a series of days during February and March. On many days he…
Read MoreLegislators took gifts, trips from lobbyists
Nolan Clay of The Oklahoman used state disclosure reports to find that “Oklahoma politicians, their aides and relatives accepted at least $125,000 worth of meals, drinks, football tickets and other gifts last year.” Many of the freebies were associated with the state’s college athletic programs, including season tickets to football games at Oklahoma University and…
Read MoreWashington D.C. drives Baltimore housing boom
Jamie Smith Hopkins of The (Baltimore) Sun used data on home sales to find “clear signs that proximity to D.C. is driving the boom in Baltimore and its five surrounding counties, over and above what extraordinarily low mortgage interest rates have achieved nationwide. This region’s fastest appreciation came in Howard, Anne Arundel and Carroll counties,…
Read MorePolice failing to notify schools about sex offenders
Ofelia Casillas of the Chicago Tribune investigated juvenile sex offenders in schools, specifically looking into school knowledge of the sex offender(s) in their school. They found that “some principals were not told that young sex offenders had enrolled in their schools, because the state system designed to notify them is mired in confusion.” They found…
Read MoreHigh-risk drivers make up majority of DUI offenses
Matthew Junker of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review used arrest data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts to determine that fully 56 percent of the people arrested last year were in the most intoxicated category under Pennsylvania’s .08 DUI law. “Statistics for the law’s first 11 months — from Feb. 1, 2004, to the end of…
Read MoreBaseball doctor overstates credentials
Duff Wilson of The New York Times found errors in Dr. Elliot Pellman’s stated credentials and education. Pellman is the medical adviser to Major League Baseball, whose testimony praised the recent congressional hearing on steroids. Pelman “has said repeatedly in biographical statements that he has a medical degree from the State University of New York…
Read MoreEmergency fund used by legislators
Eric Eyre and Scott Finn of the Charleston Gazette examined records of a contingency fund controlled by West Virginia’s governor, finding that “Hardy County received $6.7 million from the contingency fund since 1997 – more than any county in the state – even though the county ranks 42nd out of 55 counties in population.” The…
Read MoreHispanic girls lack high school sports participation
MaryJo Sylwester, in her swan song at USA TODAY before joining the St. Paul Pioneer-Press, used federal education data to help illustrate the comparative lack of participation in high school sports by Hispanic girls. “Nationally, about 36% of Hispanic sophomore girls played interscholastic sports, compared with 52% of non-Hispanics for the 2001-02 school year.” Money…
Read MoreInmates awating trial drive up costs
Curtis Johnson of The (Huntingdon) Herald-Dispatch used Cabell County court and jail records to show that .”inmates facing felony charges, most of whom were awaiting trial, accounted for 62 percent of the month’s bill. That’s important, because if convicted, the state takes over the cost of their imprisonment.” The records show that “reducing the jail…
Read MoreCounty jails outdated fail to meet standards
Leon Alligood of The Tennessean reviewed state data to report on overcrowding in county jails. He found that “a total of 26 of the 129 jails statewide have been ‘decertified’,” because of varying reasons, ranging from unhealthy living conditions, to out-dated facilities. Of the 26 jails that were decertified, the average age of the facilities…
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