Search results for: disability
Millions await disability benefits due to backlog
An enormous backlog of disability claims have left millions waiting for their benefits leading to “splintered families, foreclosed homes and suicides,” reports Clark Kauffman of The Des Moines Register. “During the past year, the number of people waiting to have their claims processed has increased more than 30 percent, from 556,000 to more than 736,000…Nationally,…
Read MoreDisability readily approved by Railroad Retirement Board
A investigation by Walt Bogdanich and Nicholas Phillips of The New York Times found that the federal Railroad Retirement Board has not held a formal meeting in over two years. The board oversees the retirement and disability benefits for railroad workers. “Operating out of public view, with little scrutiny from Congress and even from its…
Read MoreOccupational disability claims an epidemic at L.I.R.R.
An investigation by The New York Times has uncovered an epidemic of occupational disability claims among retirees of the Long Island Rail Road. “Virtually every career employee — as many as 97 percent in one recent year — applies for and gets disability payments soon after retirement, a computer analysis of federal records by The…
Read MoreDisability coverage fails workers in North Carolina
In North Carolina, access to federal disability insurance eludes those who need it most. Fred Kelly of The Charlotte Observer found bureaucratic snags hold up disability payments. “The disability program is supposed to provide a safety net for workers who become injured or mentally ill, but an Observer investigation found the system is flawed for…
Read MoreRise in disability retirements plague funds
Beth Musgrave and Delano R. Massey of the Lexington Herald-Leader used local records to find that the city’s pension fund for police and firefighters is ripe for abuse: “Police officers who have run afoul of the law or departmental policy have retired on disability pensions before internal investigations could be completed or discipline handed down.”…
Read MoreDisability program plagued with problems
Maxine Bernstein and Brent Walth of The Oregonian investigated Portland’s police and firefighter disability progam, finding that “the city’s system is an open checkbook, with rules that allow injured police and firefighters to collect checks until they retire, even if they can earn a living in another job.” One in nine Portland police officers and…
Read More2017 Award Winners
2017 Award Winners Philip Meyer Award Expand First Place “Dangerous Doses” | Chicago Tribune By Sam Roe, Karisa King and Ray Long Dangerous Doses was groundbreaking work that made a remarkable discovery: More than half of the 255 pharmacies that the Chicago Tribune tested failed to warn patients about potentially deadly interactions. To identify the…
Read More2019 Award Winners
2019 Award Winners Philip Meyer Award Expand First Place “Hidden Injustice” | Reuters By Benjamin Lesser, Dan Levine, Lisa Girion and Jaimi Dowdell with additional reporting by Charles Levinson, Charlie Szymanski, Andrea Januta, Nathaniel Okun and Erica Evans Judges’ comments: For nearly two decades, federal civil courts have without sufficient justification sealed evidence that detailed the role…
Read MoreMisconduct and millions of dollars: Uncovering secret deals in California’s police termination records
By Katey Rusch, UC Berkeley’s Investigative Reporting Program Since we exposed the widespread use of secret deals to bury police officers’ misconduct in California, we’ve been asked the same question repeatedly: How did you know these agreements existed when they were designed to evade detection? The honest answer is that it happened by accident. In…
Read MoreTwo journalists selected for IRE Koch Continuum Grant
IRE’s Koch Continuum Grant supports investigative journalists pursuing public health and disability reporting. Here are the 2025 recipients.
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