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Clocking the Cops
Tisha Thompson of WMAR-Baltimore found that police officers in Baltimore continuously broke speed limits, sometimes by over 10mph, even in the absence of an emergency. The investigation revealed that in an emergency, fifty percent of the police cars drove at more than 10 mph over the speed limit.Armed with hidden cameras, the investigators also found…
Read MorePost-election mapping wrap-up
Cincinati Enquirer takes a county-by-county look at the Democratic shift in Ohio The Herald Tribune’s coverage of the 13th Congressional District recount and the vote breakdown by precinct The Fresno Bee covers the neck-in-neck race for sheriff with a map showing how the votes split
Read MoreViolent crime in Houston on the rise
Mark Greenblatt of KHOU-TV looks at a surge in violent crimes in Houston – an increase of 22% in the last 2 years. For the story, Greenblatt used Access, Excel, ArcGIS, and CrimeStat to first look for trends in rise in specific crimes, then mapped them out to find further trends. Included in the report…
Read More“Inquest for a Warrior”
The Associated Press has published a series, “Inquest for a Warrior”, which looks at the probe into the April 2004 death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. Startling findings in the Tillman probe Pat Tillman’s last day, reconstructed Penalties resulting from Tillman’s death Charges possible in Pat Tillman’s death Sources used by the AP in Tillman…
Read MoreCampaign finance at the local level
As the election nears, it’s nice to see a collection of state-level campaign finance stories, since most of the attention is on the federal races. Among the recent examples is a St. Louis Post-Dispatch piece on electric utility donations to state lawmakers and a story on gubernatorial donors related to the Trans-Texas Corridor in the…
Read MoreABC 15 investigators take a fresh look at the Bolles murder
ABC 15 investigator Abbie Boudreau looks at the murder of Don Bolles murder 30 years after his car was bombed. Bolles died 11 days later. With new evidence and questions about the killing of Don Bolles, ABC 15 calls into question whether an innocent man, Max Dunlap, was framed for one of Arizona’s most infamous…
Read MoreSuspiscious real estate deals in Ohio raise concern
Geoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch dissected unusual property deals worth more than $11 million involving Middle Eastern buyers who paid far above the list price on expensive houses. The catch: “the sellers must agree to immediately refund the difference between the asking price and the sale price“. Neighbors and real-estate experts fear that the…
Read MoreCriminal investigators tried to stop abuses at Gitmo
In a 2-part series for MSNBC.com, Bill Dedman details the investigations into detainee abuses at Guantanamo. “[F]ormer leaders of the Defense Department’s Criminal Investigation Task Force said they repeatedly warned senior Pentagon officials beginning in early 2002 that the harsh interrogation techniques used by a separate intelligence team would not produce reliable information, could constitute…
Read MoreTRAC data suggests shortcomings in FBI’s dealing with international terrorism
Data from the Justice Department indicates that federal prosecutors appear to have big doubts about the FBI’s criminal enforcement activities when it comes to fighting international terrorism. According to a TRAC report, federal prosecutors so far in FY 2006 have rejected 87% of the FBI’s referrals on international terrorism. The report also shows that despite…
Read MoreRemaking the U.S. Intelligence Community: Playing Defense
In this week’s U.S. News & World Report cover story — part two of their series — David E. Kaplan and Kevin Whitelaw reveal how America’s top spies are attempting the most sweeping reforms since the intelligence community’s creation nearly 60 years ago. The investigation is based, in part, on interviews with nearly two dozen…
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