Search results for:
Force used for minor offenses in boot camp
Carol Marbin Miller of The Miami Herald used juvenile justice records and found that force was used against teenage boys in spite of nonviolent behavior at a Florida sheriff’s boot camp. “In only eight of the 180 instances documented since January 2003 were the teenagers described as hitting guards, fighting with other youths, threatening to…
Read MoreSonics’ owners are a secretive team
Jim Brunner of The Seattle Times used public records to construct the most complete roster to date of the investors of Seattle’s basketball team, the Sonics. “Some were announced when they bought the team in 2001; others were identified in public records or interviews. Several were recently confirmed by the team for the first time…
Read MoreTax breaks prove costly for Detroit
David Josar of The Detroit News used State Tax Commission data, property assessments and tax records to show that Detroit is losing more than $63 million in annual revenue because of property tax breaks given to people moving into new houses, condos and lofts. The tax breaks have cost the city and school district more…
Read MoreDrug companies sponsored FDA staff travel
Alexander Cohen of The Center for Public Integrity analyzed FDA reports of privately sponsored trips taken by agency officials between October 1999 and September 2005 that cost more than $250 and found a loophole in the agency rules that has allowed its employees to receive more than $1.3 million in sponsored travel from groups closely…
Read MoreVoters duped into GOP registration
Tony Saavedra, Kimberly Kindy and Brian Joseph of The Orange County Register used voter records to show that more than 100 Orange County residents who thought they were simply signing petitions to cure breast cancer, punish child molesters or build schools were duped into registering as Republicans. The petition circulators were paid as much as…
Read MoreAgency’s spy satellite technology loses relevance
Michael Fabey of the DefenseNews looks into the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office’s fading imaging- and signals-intelligence program that reportedly has an annual budget of about $7 billion. “A satellite communications technology called spot beaming might help the NRO regain some of its fading signals-intelligence relevance, but imagery’s place as an intel centerpiece may have gone…
Read MoreClerk reports erroneous juror response rates
Carl Jones of the Daily Business Review in South Florida analyzed Miami-Dade County juror response rates and found the county actually had about a 25 percent response in 2004-05 — rather than 54 percent as reported by the Office of the State Courts Administrator. And its true average monthly percentage for the last six months…
Read MoreN.C. drinking water safety in doubt
In a three-part series, Pat Stith of The (Raleigh, N.C.) News & Observer shows the “state’s regulation of drinking water reveals disregard for safety of private wells, weak regulation of public water systems and widespread problems with lead testing.” The series includes an interactive map and a sidebar about how the state closely followed Stith’s…
Read MoreMortgage industry employs felons
Geoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch continues to follow the predatory lending business and practices in Ohio. He finds that “leaders of the brokers association have urged lawmakers to reject new proposals designed to crack down on predatory lending and increase state oversight. The mortgage industry, they argue, can police itself without new state regulations.”…
Read MoreNev. rural emergency services face challenges
Reporters Steve Timko, Jason Hidalgo and Jim Sloan of the Reno Gazette-Journal examine rural emergency services in Nevada. Timko used data from the Department of Transportation’s Fatal Accident Reporting System to identify Nevada’s deadliest roads. Other stories in the series look at ambulance response times — finding they are the worst in the country &mdash…
Read More