Social issues
Many to blame for social programs mess
Karen Augé of The Denver Post used state records to show that “nearly every agency, contractor and department that touched the state’s new $200 million computer benefits system in some way contributed to its debacle.” Colorado’s new system was a year late when it came online last fall, and the contractor and state officials have…
Read MoreConvicted youths escaping custody
Sheila Burke of The Tennessean used state data to show that “children convicted of crimes escaped from state custody more than 4,400 times during the past five years, often by simply walking away from foster homes or other unsecured facilities where they had been placed by the Department of Children’s Services.” Tennessee’s rate of escapes…
Read MorePolice fail to report missing children
Thomas Hargrove of Scripps Howard News Service analyzed data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to find that “dozens of police departments across the nation failed to report at least 4,498 runaway, lost and abducted children in apparent violation of the National Child Search Assistance Act passed by Congress in 1990. Seventeen…
Read MoreImmigrant women adapting, are as likely to work as U.S. women
Peggy O’Crowley and Carrie Stetler of The (Newark) Star-Ledger, with assistance from Robert Gebeloff, used Census data to show that “immigrant women, who comprise one of four mothers in New Jersey, are less likely to work outside the home — at least when they first arrive. After 10 years, though, they are as apt to…
Read MorePoor care at nursing homes leads to light punishments
Jeffrey Meitrodt, Jan Moller and Steve Ritea of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune used state data to show that “most of Louisiana’s 300 or so nursing homes have been cited since 1999 for mistakes that harmed or endangered residents. But in the sometimes illogical world of nursing home regulation, facilities in Louisiana often pay little or…
Read MoreMedicare schemes may have cost taxpayers millions
Erin McCormick of the San Francisco Chronicle investigated Medicare scams dealing with elderly immigrants. What the Chronicle discovered were two scams: the first was a sleep clinic, which billed Medicare for tests that were over-billed and unnecessary. The second scam, the electronic wheelchair scam, dealt with Medicare recipients receiving free motorized scooters. In both scams…
Read MoreWeb site lists day-care violations, not punishments
Robin Farmer of the Richmond Times-Dispatch used the Freedom of Information Act to investigate licensed day-care centers in Virginia. Parents can look-up online if their child’s center has violations, but the site does not reveal whether the center has been punished for them. The Times-Dispatch found that “nearly 95 percent of 2,600 centers had at…
Read MoreFaulty oversight put youth at risk
Jonathan D. Rockoff and John B. O’Donnell of The (Baltimore) Sun analyzed spending by 25 companies that run group homes for foster children, finding “a broad failure by the state to protect the interests of 2,700 youths who live in 330 privately run homes in Maryland. The state licenses and funds the facilities but does…
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 MoreCity shooting data shows race, location similarities
Nathan Gorenstein, Barbara Boyer and Rose Ciotta of the Philadelphia Inquirer summarized shootings in the city last year: “On average, more than four people a day were struck by bullets. About one in six died. On one day alone – Oct. 22 – 19 people were shot, one fatally. It’s a toll of injury and…
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