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Gannett bolsters watchdog work
By Doug Haddix, IRE training director Attorney Herschel Fink brandished a copy of a $400,000 check from the city of Detroit – payable to the Detroit Free Press for legal fees in a public records battle involving former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. While large, the payment didn’t cover the newspaper’s full costs in its aggressive investigation,…
Read MoreSecondary chemo exposure a threat to healthcare workers
An InvestigateWest investigation revealed that the same powerful chemotherapy drugs that have saved hundreds of thousands of patients’ lives for decades have at the same time taken a potentially deadly toll on the health of hospital and clinic workers who handled them. The federal government, despite knowledge of the potential risks, continues to let these…
Read MoreIRE board protests State Dept’s visa denial for Colombian investigative journalist
The board of Investigative Reporters and Editors joins other journalism organizations in the United States to protest the U.S. State Department’s recent decision to deny a visa for Colombian investigative journalist Hollman Morris, who was selected as a Nieman fellow for the 2010-2011 year at Harvard University. Morris is among the most prominent investigative TV…
Read MoreGulf of Mexico littered with abandoned oil and gas wells
Associated Press reporters Jeff Donn and Mitch Weiss discovered that more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one – not industry, not government – is checking to see if they are leaking. The oldest…
Read MoreBlast at BP Texas Refinery in ’05 foreshadowed Gulf disaster
An on-going investigation by ProPublica and FRONTLINE traces the story of a deadly but much lesser-known BP refinery explosion in 2005. The report explains how the company’s record of cutting corners on safety to maximize profits may have led to the blast. The explosion at a refinery in Texas City, Texas killed 15 people. “The…
Read MoreFEMA trailers reappearing in Gulf to house oil spill workers
FEMA trailers are appearing in the Gulf region to serve as temporary housing for workers involved in cleanup of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to an investigation by Ian Urbina of The New York Times. “The trailers were discovered to have such high levels of formaldehyde that the government banned them from ever being…
Read MoreCradle of Secrets series
An six-part investigation by The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer “examined autopsies for more than 550 baby deaths from 2004-2008 that were classified as SIDS, a category that means natural and unpreventable.” The investigation revealed that at least one well-known and potentially fatal risk factor was present 69 percent of those deaths.
Read MoreFollow the money: Gulf oil spill
By Jaimi Dowdell, IRE training director While oil is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, the government is pouring resources into the cleanup effort. Track how much is being spent, which agencies are awarding it, and where it’s going with data from the Federal Procurement Data System. The FPDS’s Gulf Oil Spill Report, updated regularly,…
Read MoreBoard members profit from part-time work
An accountant, a lawyer and two retired executives each collected more than $475,000 last year – and one topped $600,000 – doing part-time work for multiple Wisconsin companies, according to review of Securities and Exchange Commission data by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Cary Spivak. The men are members of corporate America’s most elite club: the…
Read MoreAugust Boot Camps — seats are still available, register today!
Mapping Boot Camp August 13-15, 2010 (University of Missouri, Columbia, MO) Take your CAR skills to the next level by learning how to uncover the “where” in your data. Instructors Jennifer LaFleur of ProPublica and David Herzog of NICAR will show how to use ArcView geographic information system (GIS) software in this intensive three-day session. …
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