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Posts Tagged ‘housing’
Complaints: A road map for killer investigations
By Hannah Schmidt Jill Riepenhoff, a projects reporter at The Columbus Dispatch, and Tisha Thompson, an investigative reporter for WRC-Washington D.C., use consumer and professional complaints to fuel their investigations. In these audio clips the two reporters offer advice on where to look for complaints and how to use them. In Columbus, Ohio, landlords allowing homes…
Read MorePANDA: Make the robots work for you
As expected, there was no shortage of swag at “Make the robots work for you,” a panel on implementing PANDA, data store of the gods, brought down the mountain to a newsroom near you. (In the interest of full disclosure, the integrity of your reviewer was compromised by a free T-shirt.) For those of you…
Read MoreBehind the Story: Tackling the unusual, problematic ‘contract for deed’ housing deal
Minneapolis Star Tribune photoRon Folger of Minneapolis lost his rental license last year city and began selling properties to low-income families on a plan known as a contract-for-deed transaction. In January, Jeffrey Meitrodt, Investigations Editor at the Star Tribune, reported on problematic contract-for-deed sales of homes in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. The sales are frequently used…
Read MoreBehind the Story: The big business of ‘green’ buildings and LEED certification
Can a 50-story Las Vegas hotel be environmentally-friendly? This is the question USA Today reporter Tom Frank sought to answer when he began reporting on the increase in construction of so-called environmentally friendly buildings. Through his investigation, Frank found that green commercial construction has increased. Non-profits are behind the movement, but few have assessed the…
Read MoreBehind the Story: The San Diego port, altered public records and interactive presentation
San Diego’s Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal is home to a rare deep water port that’s valuable to the maritime industry, but for the last ten years, developers have argued that the area should be transformed into an entertainment district. When two businessmen responsible for running the U-T San Diego began promoting the stadium, Brooke Williams…
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