First Amendment & FOIA
Correspondence school offers speedy academic makeover
Pete Thamel and Duff Wilson of The New York Times used academic transcripts and documents obtained through a freedom of information request to show that University High, a correspondence school which has no classes and no educational accreditation, offered students little more than a speedy academic makeover. "Athletes who graduated from University High acknowledged that…
Read MoreFOIA request reveals media’s use of FOIA
Editor and Publisher reports that The Associated Press leads news organizations in using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents from the Pentagon. A log of such requests from 2000 to early 2005 was compiled by a San Francisco-based activist. The AP filed 73 such requests, followed by the Los Angeles Times with 42…
Read More‘Guest workers’ suffer from exploitation, neglect
A nine-month investigation by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua of The Sacramento Bee “has found pineros [Latino forest workers in the United States] are victims of employer exploitation, government neglect and a contracting system that insulates landowners — including the U.S. government — from responsibility.” The report, “based on more than 150 interviews across Mexico,…
Read MoreFOI audit shows S.C. officials suspicious, uncooperative
Jim Davenport of The Associated Press wrote a series of reports detailing the costs of public records and abuse of executive sessions, as part of a statewide Freedom of Information audit completed by The Associated Press and the South Carolina Press Association. The investigation found that a quarter of elected officials in a statewide survey…
Read MoreVast scope of priest abuse in Los Angeles
Jean Guccione and Doug Smith with contributions from William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times tracked the assignments of 228 priests from 1950 through 2003 who have been named or identified as the subject of abuse complaints. The analysis reveals that because the accused priests moved around the archdiocese on average every 4.5 years, the…
Read MoreOpen records survey carried out in Ky.
The Kentucky Press Association, The Associated Press, various newspaper and professional groups and several university student programs carried out a public records survey to determine whether public offices are allowing citizens to view government documents. "More than 100 students, volunteers and newspaper employees visited four local government offices on Oct. 21 seeking specific public records.…
Read MoreNavy contracted for planes in CIA operation
Seth Hettena of The Associated Press reports the Navy issued contracts for planes “reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture.” The AP says documents from the Department of Defense, obtained through a FOIA request, involve more planes (33) than previously reported. While there was “scrutiny in 2001, but what hasn’t…
Read MoreNonprofits mislead about destination of donations
Kelby Hartson Carr of The Times in Munster, Ind., looks into the accuracy of IRS 990 forms filed by nonprofit organizations. After an examination of all 990s filed for “fiscal year 2003 by nonprofit agencies based in Lake County, Porter County and Chicago’s south suburbs,” the paper found that 70 percent that raised public donations…
Read MoreLax oversight contributes to high foreclosure rate
Geoff Dutton and Jill Riepenhoff of The Columbus Dispatch investigated Ohio’s high foreclosure rate, “a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight.”. The newspaper analyzed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, obtained U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit reports of homebuilders through the federal Freedom of…
Read MoreS.C. port authority operates like a business
Michael R. Shea of The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette delved into the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the state agency that manages “the fourth-largest waterborne shipping network in the country through marine terminals in Charleston, Georgetown and Port Royal, South Carolina.” The stories show that political contributions, political appointments and no-bid contracts blur the line between…
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