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Nonprofit tax breaks scrutinized for hospitals
Misti Crane and Geoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch reported a three-day series, “Prescription for Profit,” that examines the impact of specialty hospitals on general hospitals. The series also examines how nonprofit hospitals use aggressive collection tactics to collect from poor patients and whether the four hospital systems in Columbus deserve their $88 million tax…
Read MoreDelays, inconsistencies plague veteran affairs
Chris Adams and Alison Young of Knight-Ridder Newspapers sued the Veterans Administration to obtain records never before released to the public. They showed that “injured soldiers who petition the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for those payments are often doomed by lengthy delays, hurt by inconsistent rulings and failed by the veterans representatives who try…
Read MoreHelicopter problems put crew members at risk
Michael Fabey of the Savannah Morning News used Coast Guard data to find that “Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphin helicopter engines continue to lose power, threatening the lives of pilots and crew members. There were 423 incidents of power failure in the helicopters in the fleet between Aug. 4, 1985, and Sept. 30, 2004.” Air Station…
Read MoreAffluent residents more likely than minorities to show up for jury duty
Andrew Tilghman of the Houston Chronicle analyzed local court data to show that “residents of Harris County’s predominantly white, affluent neighborhoods are up to seven times more likely to show up for jury duty than those in the county’s lower-income, mostly minority neighborhoods.” The paper used the area’s more than 140 ZIP codes to divide…
Read MoreSerious workplace violation fines low
Marc Chase of The (Northwest Indiana) Times used OSHA data to investigate workplace safety violations. They found “that fines at or below the minimum are the rule, not the exception, in cases involving what OSHA considers serious violations. The average fine from 1991 to 2003 was $862.74 per serious violation, $637.26 less than the minimum…
Read MoreNew York City employees still use cars, despite mayor’s boast
David Seifman of the New York Post obtained city records to show that “more city workers are commuting in their government-owned cars, despite Mayor Bloomberg’s boast that his administration is slashing spending while maintaining services.” The number of civilian NYC employees who commuted in their city-provided cars increased 11 percent from 2003, even as the…
Read MoreTexas hispanics dying at an alarming rate in Iraq
Juan Castillo and Bill Bishop of the Austin American-Statesman studied military deaths from the war in Iraq to find that “Hispanic Texans are dying in Iraq at a rate more than 60 percent higher than the rate for the nation’s military-age population as a whole.” Texas Hispanics and rural Americans serving in Iraq have some…
Read MoreOhio drunk driver program flawed
Sheila McLaughlin of The Cincinnati Enquirer evaluated an Ohio program that requires drunk drivers to put special license plates on their vehicles, finding that “a year after Ohio started requiring the special tags, a sampling of more than 300 local cases and interviews with lawyers, judges, police officers and legislators indicate that the law is…
Read MoreTraffic stop study raises racial profiling questions
Karisa King and Kelly Guckian of the San Antonio Express-News analyzed 12 months’ of traffic and pedestrian police stops, finding that “blacks were more than three times as likely as whites to face certain types of police searches. Yet police found contraband in the searches at about the same rate for both races, a finding…
Read MorePoor districts failing despite recent education reforms
Mc Nelly Torres from the San Antonio Express-News investigated the progress of a Texas public school reform legislation dubbed “Robin Hood”. She focused on the Edgewood School District, where the high school has an hispanic population of 97 percent. She found that the “total revenue per student was $8,729 last year, compared with $4,315 in…
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