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Wasting Away series
In a city ravaged by the highest rate of AIDS case in the nation, the D.C. Health Department paid millions to nonprofit groups that delivered substandard services or failed to account for any work at all, even as sick people searched for care or died waiting. A ten-month Washington Post investigation found AIDS money was…
Read MoreEnvironmental violations continue due to uneven enforcement
A review of Pennsylvania environmental records by Christopher Baxter of The Morning Call (Allentown, Penn.) found eight years of stop-and-go enforcement by the Department of Environmental Protection that allowed a steel coating plant to continue operating despite violating dozens of environmental regulations.
Read MoreLocation essential to an informative interview
Andy Hall, executive director and reporter for the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, shares his thoughts on the art of the interview. He points out that a purposive or changing setting can elicit key details on your interview subject. Hall was a panelist at a recent Better Watchdog Workshop in Madison, Wis.
Read MoreInternational adoptions fraught with problems
David Shaffer of the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.) presented a detailed look at how foreign adoptions often lead to nothing but heartbreak for everyone involved, from the birth mother to the adoptive parent. The two-day series also exposed a glaring loophole in a newly implemented treaty aimed at cutting down on corruption in the international…
Read MoreTracking documents on your beat
By Doug Haddix IRE training director Each year, education reporter Chastity Pratt Dawsey of the Detroit Free Press files public records requests for five documents on her beat. She requests other records and data as story ideas emerge but makes sure that her sources know they need to produce key information regularly for her. Her…
Read MoreChildren failed by Los Angeles County child welfare system
A report by Kim Christensen and Garrett Therolf of The Los Angeles Times reveals that the Los Angeles County child welfare system is riddled with problems. In many cases, children died with little notice by the system or the public. “At least 268 children who had passed through the child welfare system died from January…
Read MoreA love note to NICAR-L
Editor’s note: This post appeared on NICAR-L, an IRE listserv dedicated to computer-assisted reporting techniques. The NICAR list has helped hundreds of journalists tackle technical issues large and small. Be sure to check out this list and its archives as well as all of the other listservs that IRE has to offer. By Jamie Smith…
Read MoreLoans brokered by nonprofits contributed to housing crisis
A review of government and court records by the Huffington Post Investigation Fund shows that two nonprofit groups worked closely with some of the nation’s biggest home builders to broker tens of billions of dollars in no-money-down mortgages. Now these loans are defaulting at up to three times the rate of other FHA loans, one…
Read MoreBureaucratic failings put childrens’ lives at risk
In their continuing series on child welfare in Wisconsin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Gina Barton and Crocker Stephenson focused on the case of Will Robert Johnson who died at five months of age. After reviewing hundreds of pages of documents about the case — many of which are not public and were obtained from outside…
Read MoreSuite deal on stadium boxes for city officials
Cincinnati’s mayor and Hamilton County commissioners are among those who have taken advantage of an obscure provision in stadium lease agreements with the Cincinnati Reds and Bengals allowing them free use of a luxury box. The Cincinnati Enquirer’s Gregory Korte reported that politicians have used the seats — often for free, and with free food…
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