Posts Tagged ‘government’
Investigating the Workforce
Unions and pensions may sound like daunting subjects to cover, but Tom McGinty of The Wall Street Journal and MaryJo Webster of the St. Paul Pioneer Press lay out compelling reasons to get past that impression, and helpful tools to get you there. McGinty (who stresses he is not a labor reporter, but learned a…
Read MorePublic records in Arlington County, Va., come at high price
The Arlington Gazette Packet reports that public records in Arlington come at a high price compared to neighboring areas in northern Virginia. Throughout Virginia, access to open records remains spotty. The State Integrity project, which ranks states based on their level of transparency, placed Virginia 47 and gave it a failing grade. Now, Michael Lee…
Read MoreIRE & NICAR Office Holiday Schedule
Most of our staff will be in and out of the office during the holidays from Thursday 12/20 through Wednesday 1/2. If you need assistance, please e-mail or leave a voice mail and your call will be answered as soon as possible. We apologize for any inconvenience during this time.
Read MoreOutrageous cost estimates for open records requests
This past week, journalists on the NICAR Listserv began discussing the most outrageous price quotes they’d received for open records requests. Canadian journalist David Weisz started the thread as research for a presentation he was giving to the Information Resource Management Association of Canada on the state of data journalism. “Having filed ATI requests myself and hearing the horror…
Read MoreBehind The Story: Analyzing and mapping salary data for small-town mayors
In August, reporter Kate Martin of the Skagit Valley Herald analyzed salary data for mayors across Washington state and ended up with a story about mayors from small towns in her coverage area — Mount Vernon and Anacortes — who had salaries on par with mayors from cities several times larger. In reporting the story,…
Read MoreState of New Jersey sues itself over release of records
Mark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog reports that the State of New Jersey is suing itself over a possible release of records to the website. Lagerkvist reports that on Oct. 15, the state attorney general filed a motion seeking to stop the state Government Records Council from reviewing files, which on Aug. 31 had ordered state…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Investigating a building collapse, creating an interactive timeline
A normal day on the local government beat became two months of investigating for Lansing State Journal reporter Lindsay VanHulle. After a portion of the residential St. Anne Lofts building collapsed in East Lansing, Mich., VanHulle discovered problems in the city’s building code and development programs. Prior to the building’s collapse, these problems allowed unpermitted…
Read MoreFollow the money with IRE’s election coverage webinar
There are several ways that political funds can play a role in key states, especially during an election year. In IRE’s 2012 election coverage webinar from Derek Willis of The New York Times, you’ll see how to trace money that comes from outside sources to state-based political groups, and how to follow the path of…
Read MorePANDA Project Turns 1.0
If you were at NICAR 2012 in February you may remember a man in a PANDA suit wandering the conference halls, flanked by a small group of news developers. At that time the PANDA Project was still a young project. We demoed our first beta release and helped folks install it using our very first…
Read MoreDive in deep, swim to the top – tips on building your career
By Pamela Cyran @CyranStar Graduating? Mid-career? These job-hunting tips from veteran reporters are for everyone in the business. El Nuevo Herald Executive Editor Manny Garcia was joined by Stephen Stock, KNTV-San Francisco, Sarah Cohen, Duke University, and Len Downie of the Washington Post, on “Building your career: A roundtable discussion.” The panel offered advice on how to get ahead in today’s…
Read More