Posts Tagged ‘public safety’
Localize coverage of the Oroville Dam collapse with our national database
The NICAR Data Library has updated the National Inventory of Dams (NID), a database kept by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on dams in all 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico with details that include structure type, purpose, owner, most recent inspection date and inspection frequency. The data also includes latitude and longitude.…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Forgotten Dead
Every reporter has their own version of the story bucket list – a collection of ideas or issues they can’t die without covering. On this episode, we’ll hear how G.W. Schulz of The Center for Investigative Reporting crossed one off of his. G.W. spent nearly eight years reporting on America’s missing and unidentified dead, unearthing…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | The Bite Ratio
You don’t want to have a run-in with a police dog in North Port, Florida. A year-long investigation by Michael Davidson of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune found that North Port’s canines have been biting people at an alarming rate. And the dogs aren’t just drawing a little blood. Many of suspects on the receiving end of…
Read MoreIRE Radio Podcast | ICE’s Secret List
What happens to immigrants convicted of sex crimes? The answer, Maria Sacchetti found out, is often unsettling. Her investigation for the Boston Globe revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was quietly releasing violent offenders back into the U.S. when their home countries wouldn’t take them. On this episode, Sacchetti talks about the reporting process…
Read MoreAUDIO: How to track and report on gun violence
There is no perfect or universal way to classify a mass shooting. As such, reliable, nuanced data on the topic is sparse. And further complicating the reporter’s job is the way even the most human stories can become fuel for the right-versus-left fire. It’s with these challenges in mind that three reporters and researchers came…
Read MoreBehind the Story: New Jersey reporter finds inconsistencies in 2008 death investigation
Chris Baxter Chris Baxter and NJ Advance Media wrestled out a compelling and untold story, let the digital presentation take the lead and came away with a “smashing” investigative success. Using a system he developed to keep tabs on lawsuits involving state police, Baxter came upon the stifled story of Kenwin Garcia, a Newark man…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How Chicago Magazine exposed the truth about the city’s crime rates
Chicago Magazine | June 2014 A story that helped change the way Chicagoans digest crime stats started with suspicion. Immersed in a different crime-related piece, Chicago Magazine Features Editor David Bernstein and Contributing Writer Noah Isackson noticed something amiss with the statistics. When their trusted police sources voiced skepticism, the early trappings of an idea…
Read MoreBehind the Story: The Desert Sun’s investigation into off-duty Marine deaths
Brett Kelman | The Desert Sun In 2011, three car crashes caught the attention of Greg Burton, executive editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, California. The first involved a 100 mile-per-hour road race that led to a deadly wreck at a park. The other two also ended with fatalities. All three involved Marines. The news…
Read MoreLouisiana failed to turn over key public records about execution drugs
Documents entered into court record in the lawsuit of one prisoner on death row show that the Louisiana Department of Corrections had documents that would have fulfilled a records request made by The Lens in 2013. The Lens, a non-profit newsroom in New Orleans, had previously requested records pertaining to the purchase and inventory of the state’s…
Read MoreBehind the Story: How USA TODAY pieced together a confidential FBI database to count fugitives who go free
Brad Heath Lamont Pride was a wanted man the day he fatally shot a New York City police officer during a 2011 robbery. Officials had already passed up opportunities to lock up Pride, who was wanted in connection with a North Carolina shooting. And when the fugitive appeared in a Brooklyn court on a drug…
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