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NYPD denies FOIA request for department FOIA guide
The New York Police Department’s Freedom of Information Law Unit is refusing to release its FOIL guide. Yes, you read that right. Public records request service MuckRock asked for the document in late December. Last week a lieutenant in the department’s records unit denied the request, calling the guide “privileged as an attorney-client communication.” You…
Read MoreBehind the Story: The Boston Globe’s 4-year battle for secret settlement records
Boston Globe reporter Todd Wallack thought it would be a simple, short-term project to look into settlements made between the state of Massachusetts and some of its employees. After all, he’d done the same thing in California, uncovering an agreement between UC Davis and one of its administrators to avert a nasty lawsuit. But the…
Read MoreEmail shows effort to shield bin Laden photos
According to the Associated Press, “A newly-released email shows that 11 days after the killing of terror leader Osama bin Laden in 2011, the U.S. military’s top special operations officer ordered subordinates to destroy any photographs of the al-Qaida founder’s corpse or turn them over to the CIA.” When the AP initially asked for emails…
Read MoreFamily wants DNA testing after FBI admits error in 1983 murder case
During the 26 years that James Preston spent incarcerated for murder, he always told his family that he didn’t commit the crime. Now, the FBI says their analyst’s testimony about key hair evidence in the case exceeded the boundaries of science, raising the possibility that Preston, who died in custody, was wrongfully convicted if not,…
Read MoreHeroin overdoses increasing in suburban and rural areas
Heroin, long a scourge of inner cities, has infiltrated suburbia and rural towns and is claiming the lives of an increasingly younger, middle-class and white male clientele at an alarming rate. But new statistics compiled for the Democrat and Chronicle by the office, which investigates suspected drug-related deaths across the region, show that more often than not…
Read MorePCE contaminates costly problem in Colorado
Spills releasing PCE, the cancer-causing chemical used in dry cleaning and metal degreasing, have produced at least 86 underground plumes across Colorado that are poisoning soil and water and fouling air inside buildings. Cleaning up this chemical is a nightmare — a lesson in the limits of repairing environmental harm. The best that Colorado health…
Read MoreCalifornia database shows water consumption disparities between coastal and inland areas
The historic drought is making average residents think twice every time they turn on the tap, despite the weekend rain. But there is nothing average about the way Californians consume water: A little-known state database that measures water use in every community shows huge — sometimes shocking — differences between California’s water sippers and guzzlers.
Read MoreConnecticut casinos use home liens to recoup gambling debts
Two Connecticut tribal casinos have placed dozens of liens on homes across the state since the early 2000s, for amounts as small as a few thousand dollars, according to a Globe review of land and court records. Experts interviewed by the Globe — including current and former casino executives, academics, problem gambling counselors, and a…
Read MoreFederal government reduces fines for deadly “gas blow” incident, still no ban against practice
After six workers were killed in a massive gas explosion at the Kleen Energy plant in Middletown four years ago, federal investigators tallied hundreds of violations at the site and issued $16.6 million in penalties against more than a dozen companies — the third-largest workplace-safety fine in the nation’s history. But in the years since…
Read MoreFederal program aimed at dangerous criminals, used to deport nonviolent immigrants
Although President Obama maintains that federal officials are focusing deportation efforts on violent criminals, a Baltimore Sun analysis revealed that a high percentage of the cases in Maryland and some other states involve immigrants with no criminal record. In Maryland, for example, more than 40 percent of the immigrants deported under a sweeping federal program…
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