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Governor’s office political dealings in question
Alan Judd of The Atlanta-Jounal Constitution investigated claims that the Georgia governor’s office put heat on the state’s consumer regulatory office over dealings with a major car dealership and donor to the governor’s campaign. “In the Bill Heard Chevrolet case, Hills’ inquiry became a key point in a series of events that, Smith says, undermined…
Read MoreWal-Mart cashes in incentives, while many employees taking in medicaid
Sydney P. Freedburg and Connie Humburg of the St. Petersburg Times used state records to show that “Wal-Mart and four other large companies that receive state incentives have an estimated 29,900 employees or their family members enrolled in Medicaid. The figures suggest taxpayers may be double-subsidizing low-wage employment by paying companies to create jobs and…
Read MoreTrain delay rates climbing
Sewell Chan and Jo Craven McGinty of The New York Times studied delays on New York’s subway system, finding that “a typical weekday rider on the subway today is likely to experience a train delay roughly once every three weeks, compared with about once every five weeks in September 2003, when the number of stalled…
Read MoreOil tanker regulations ignored, trimmed back
Eric Nalder of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer investigated the inner-workings of a tanker fleet owned by the third-largest oil company in the nation, ConocoPhillips. The series was inspired by a mystery spill in Puget Sound. The company had denied that its ship, the Polar Texas, was the spiller, while the U.S. Coast Guard said the oil…
Read MoreDot com insiders made millions, while investors lost
Reporters Sharon Pian Chan and David Heath of The Seattle Times used unsealed documents successfully won in state and federal lawsuits to investigate Infospace’s rise and downfall. At its peak, Infospace was worth over $31 million, but a bad investment on a Canadian wireless investment and questionable business dealings led to the eventual collapse of…
Read MoreDetroit high on list of top spenders
Kathleen Gray and Marisol Bello of The Detroit Free Press used federal data to show that “Detroit spends more on city government than most of the nation’s big cities.” The city ranks fourth in government employees per capita and fifth in overall general fund spending per capita, “behind New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago,…
Read MoreMayor spends taxpayer money on meals
Joseph L. Wagner and Martin Stolz of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reviewed local records to show that “Beachwood Mayor Merle Gorden has dunned taxpayers for more than $20,000 for meals over four years, including $1,943 for 66 private meals he had with his assistant, Tina Turick.” The mayor of neighboring Solon also spent thousands on…
Read MoreLand swap deals net big profits for brokers
Adrienne Packer and J.M. Kalil of the Las Vegas Review-Journal continue their investigation into land swap deals, finding that “on at least three occasions, land broker Scott Gragson traded property to McCarran International Airport and then reacquired it nearly two years later for less than he originally sold it for…That means the properties depreciated hundreds…
Read MoreWhite coaches lasting longer than black coaches in NBA
David Leonhardt and Ford Fessenden of The New York Times used regression analysis to show that “over the last decade, black NBA coaches have lasted an average of just 1.6 seasons, compared with 2.4 seasons for white coaches … That means the typical white coach lasts almost 50 percent longer and has most of an…
Read MoreCity program accountability questioned
Toni Coleman of the St. Paul Pioneer Press analyzed data on the city’s Sales Tax Revitalization (STAR) grant program, finding that “accountability under STAR is uneven because of the program’s complicated structure. Most projects go through a structured review process, for example, but individual City Council members circumvent that if they want. In addition, some…
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