A series by The Kansas City Star explores the problem of human trafficking, and how the U.S. is failing in its promise to end trafficking and other human rights abuses.  Their investigation "found that, in spite of all the rhetoric from the Bush and Obama administrations, the United States is failing to find and help tens of thousands of human trafficking victims in America."  The investigation also found that the Kansas City area has emerged as a hub for human trafficking.  36 alleged traffickers have been prosecuted in western Missouri in the past three years — more than anywhere else ... Read more ...

Patricia Decker and Robert Porterfield have found the construction project on the east span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will be the most expensive project ever done in the state of California. While overall costs have been presented to the public, Decker and Porterfield report that the interest on the money borrowed to pay for construction will double the price of the bridge, making the final price tag about $12 billion. In several stories, Decker and Porterfield outline the history and costs of the span, as well as investigations into who profits most from the construction. The investigation, conducted ... Read more ...

Mark Benjamin of Salon.com reports of continuing problems at Arlington National Cemetery.  Burial mix-ups include cremated remains being dumped in a landfill before being recovered and buried as an unknown soldier. Careless record keeping has contributed to others being buried as unknown soldiers. "In some cases cemetery officials lost track of the identity of remains during burial operations and simply erected an 'Unknown' headstone above those graves when they could not straighten it out."

A three-day series by students from Columbia College Chicago, in collaboration with Illinois Statehouse News, examines Illinois' century-old legislative scholarship program. The program doled out $12.5 million during the 2007-2008 academic year. The investigation found there is "virtually no regulation of the scholarship program." The only requirement is that applicants must live in the awarding lawmakers district.

Ken Dilanian, Tom Vanden Brook and Ray Locker of USA Today report that the Army circumvented its own ethics code to hire two former generals as contractors before the mandated yearlong "cooling off" period. The Army wanted to hire former generals John Vines and Dan McNeill as "senior mentors," but the mentorship program is run by defense contractor Northrup Grumman and federal ethics law prohibits newly retired senior employees from representing a company before their former agency for one year. The USA Today investigation also found that of the 158 retired generals and admirals identified as senior mentors, 80% had ... Read more ...

Alison Young of USA Today reports that vaccine distribution data from three states shows that thousands of doses of the H1N1 vaccine went to corporate clinics when the supply was scarce.  Walt Disney World, Toyota and Norwegian Cruise lines were three such recipients.  "Of the 2.42 million doses in Texas and 2 million in Florida distributed through mid-November, fewer than 1% went to employers, according to USA TODAY's analysis of data obtained under state open-records acts. Thousands of registered providers — doctors, hospitals, schools, pharmacies — in Texas alone got no doses in that period."

Pam Louwagie and Glenn Howatt of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune have finished their three-part investigation into falling deaths in Minnesota nursing homes. According to the newspaper's analysis, more than 1,000 Minnesota deaths were related to falls in nursing homes from 2002 through 2008, but few were fully investigated. In fact, less than 10 percent of fall-related deaths in nursing homes are fully investigated by the Minnesota Department of Health; usually nursing homes themselves are left to privately probe the cause of fatal falls on their premises. Of the 1,000 Minnesota deaths attributed to falls in nursing homes ... Read more ...

A series by the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier exposed problems with Virginia's mineral rights leasing program. Landowners have been forced to lease their mineral rights to private companies with the promise of royalties in return. "But instead of reaching the pockets of mineral owners, the money is funneled into an opaque state-run escrow fund, where it has accumulated with scant oversight for nearly 20 years. As of October, the fund held more than $24 million – and that isn’t everything it should hold."  The state has failed to monitor the companies' compliance with the escrow and the Herald Courier ... Read more ...

A nine-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity looks at sexual assaults on college campuses. "According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the schools themselves doesn’t begin to reflect the scope of the problem."

The New England Center for Investigative Journalism found that 13 of the 21 companies awarded federal stimulus contracts from the Massachusetts Transportation Highway Division failed to disclose serious pollution or workplace safety penalties leveled against them, as is required by law. Together, these companies have received $54 million dollars of federal money. As a result of the investigation, the Massachusetts Highway Division is now demanding written explanations from at least seven of the 21 companies awarded contracts through Sept. 30. The New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University is a reporting collaborative that includes the Boston Globe, WBUR-FM ... Read more ...