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Sex offenders living in nursing homes
An investigation by KCRA-Sacramento “found that there are currently 52 registered sex offenders living in California nursing homes and not all are elderly men confined to their bed. Fifty-six percent are under 70.” An alarming number after reviewing a Nevada case in which a 86-year-old man was convicted of sexual assault against a 78-year-old women…
Read MoreCharity money goes to fund-raiser
Bill Smith of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch used tax records to show that “a foundation run by some of Missouri’s top police officials has raised millions of dollars on behalf of charity, but more than 80 percent of those contributions have gone to the foundation’s Texas-based fund-raiser.” The group raised about $3.1 million between 2000…
Read MoreHigh pay for civilian contractors
Kevin Begos and Phoebe Zerwick of the Winston-Salem Journal used details from federal contracts to contractors in Iraq to calculate a basic labor rate of $350,000 a year for a “liaison officer under the contract that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded Charlotte’s Zapata Engineering to help dispose of captured munitions. It’s 10 times…
Read MoreWar fatalities hit hardest in Vermont
Jody Tillman of the Valley News used state-by-state analysis to compare Vermont’s fatality numbers compared to other states. The Valley News found that Vermont had the “highest death rate of any state among soldiers and Marines deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan between March 1, 2003, and October 31, 2004: 5.6 per 1,000 troops.” They also…
Read MoreRacist covenants still exist
Judy L. Thomas and Gregory S. Reeves of The Kansas City Star studied homeowner association rules in the Kansas City area, finding that “more than 1,200 documents involving thousands of homes still contain racist language banning blacks, Jews and other ethnic groups. For the first half of the 20th century, racially restrictive covenants were routinely…
Read MoreLegislator used state funds for own benefit
Kim Chandler of The Birmingham News used state and local records to show that “an east Alabama lawmaker steered state money to pave the dirt road that led to a subdivision he and his wife were developing.” A $50,000 state grant in 2002 went to the paving project, but was also intended to be used…
Read MoreN. Texas high school athletes using steriods
Gregg Jones and Gary Jacobson of The Dallas Morning News found that steroids in north Texas high schools are “readily available and commonly used.” In a four-month investigation, “The News interviewed more than 100 current and former high school students, coaches and parents about steroids in high schools.” They found students buy the drugs from…
Read MoreWorking poor face tough challenges
Heath Foster, Paul Nyhan and Phoung Cat Le of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer have a series on the working poor in King and Snohomish counties, concluding that “nearly half a million people in King and Snohomish counties, about a quarter of them children, are surviving at no more than twice the federal poverty level
Read MoreElection records found fallible
Greg Borowski and Stacy Forester from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal investigated voter logbooks and found discrepancies between votes cast and number of people who voted. “The newspaper’s review found 24 cases where there is a discrepancy of at least 5%, with more ballots than voters listed in a ward. Logbooks for another 20 wards showed…
Read MoreLegislators wine and dine at wholesalers’ expense
An investigation by the Detroit Free Press has found that beer and wine distributers are taking Michigan lawmakers with them every winter to a convention on a luxury resort. “The legislators fly for free to beachfront retreats like the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas and the Hyatt Regency on Grand Cayman Island. They pay nothing…
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