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Harsh policing tactics employed during RNC assessed
G.W. Schulz of the Center for Investigative Reporting investigated the policing tactics used during Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. last year. “Officials took unprecedented advantage of new laws to halt potential subversives before they attack. But the effort resulted in heavy-handed tactics, according to interviews and documents obtained by the Center for Investigative…
Read MoreLax board, hazardous lending lead to bank’s failure
Hazardous lending practices approved by the directors of Cape Fear Bank appear to have contributed to the bank’s failure, according to a report by Stella M. Hopkins of The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer. John Davie Waggett, a successful pharmacist, tried his hand at real estate development securing over $18 million in loans. The largest lender was…
Read MoreStudents: Join now for resources to help you all semester
Now is the time for college and university students to take advantage of the special student rate that allows you to join IRE and take advantage of all of the member-only resources we offer. For only $25 a year, you’ll get access to more than 3,000 tip sheets that can give you a quick roadmap…
Read MoreAccidental deaths remain a problem for the medical industry
Hearst Newspapers reveals widespread failure ten years after a federal report implored the medical industry to cut in half the annual death toll from medical errors and hospital-caused infections, estimated at 200,000. Among the failures: the federal government doesn’t even tally the nation’s leading category of accidental deaths. Some states tried but most failed. Hospital…
Read MoreArmy ends practice of profiling journalists covering war efforts
Stars and Stripes (Washington, D.C.) reporter Kevin Baron reports that less than a week after the paper first revealed that the Pentagon was routinely profiling journalists, the Army decided to cancel the program. “The U.S. military is canceling its contract with a controversial private firm that was producing background profiles of journalists seeking to cover…
Read MoreAtlanta schools under scrutiny for how cheating is handled
A story by Heather Vogell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution raises questions about whether Atlanta is doing enough to probe allegations of cheating on state tests at its schools. Vogell used the state’s Open Records Law to obtain more than 2,400 pages of internal investigations into testing misconduct at six large metro school districts.
Read MoreDetails revealed about deaths at Memorial Medical Center after Katrina
An investigation by Sheri Fink of ProPublica reveals “what really happened to some of the patients who died at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.” Among her findings, Fink reports that more patients than had been previously reported were given lethal injections, and some of those patients were near death…
Read MoreProPublica series shakes up California nursing board
By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, ProPublica In examining the California Board of Registered Nursing, we found widespread problems. Most troubling, perhaps, is that the board took more than three years, on average, to investigate and discipline errant nurses. When we compared the board’s performance to its peers in other large states, we found that…
Read MoreChemical industry fought ban of bisphenol A
Reporters Meg Kissinger and Susanne Rust of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reviewed thousands of pages of public records, from IRS documents to financial disclosure filings, to get inside the chemical industry’s push to fight a ban on bisphenol A, a chemical used in hard, clear plastics, including baby bottles. Their analysis showed the industry has…
Read MoreThousands of petroleum leaks go uncleaned in Florida
Matt Dixon of The News Herald (Panama City, Fla.) reports that budget cuts and strict state regulations have prevented the clean-up of thousands of underground petroleum leaks throughout Florida. Analysis of discharge data maintained by the Florida Department of Environment Protection shows more than 17,000 uncleaned leaks dating back to the mid-1980s.
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