KWTV in Oklahoma City and at News on 6 in Tulsa, Okla., examined a loophole in state law that allows teachers who have sexual relationships with students to be shuffled from district to district. The state Department of Education doesn’t track such allegations, and many times districts, teachers, parents and law enforcement keep the matter quiet to avoid humiliation.
"It happens thousands of times a year in Minnesota’s classrooms: Disabled students get punished for disruptive outbursts with severe forms of discipline — from forceful physical restraint to extended solitary confinement — that are either banned or more restricted in other states. State reports examined by the Star Tribune show that such discipline occurred nearly 22,000 times on more than 2,500 special education students last year." Read the full investigation by the Star Tribune here.
"The Tribune reported in October that the state regularly pays employees not to work, even as it faces wide budget gaps and service cutbacks. The paper's analysis found that, since 2007, more than 2,000 employees received their usual pay to stay home, amassing $23 million in state wages. More than five months after that report, the numbers remain troubling. For example, a Tribune analysis of state records from late February showed that 10 employees, including Campuzano, had been on leave for more than a year. Last fall, there were two." Read the full investigation by the Tribune here.
"During the last month, on two occasions, The Inquirer has spent a total of about eight hours in the room with Lehigh staff members as they made sometimes difficult and agonizing decisions. It was a window into a highly competitive, emotionally charged process, often kept secret. The Inquirer agreed not to identify applicants." Read the rest of the Inquirer's story here.
"Among thousands of Oklahoma students who could be held back in third grade for failing a state reading test next year, a disproportionate share will likely be low-income children, anOklahoma Watch analysis of state data found." Read Oklahoma Watch's story here,
As OSHA Emphasizes Safety, Long-Term Health Risks Fester | The New York Times
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the agency that many Americans love to hate and industry calls overzealous, has largely ignored the slow, silent killers that claim the most lives.
Corporations, pro-business nonprofits foot bill for judicial seminars | Center for Public Integrity
Conservative foundations, multinational oil companies and a prescription drug maker were the most frequent sponsors of more than 100 expense-paid educational seminars attended by federal judges over a 4 1/2-year period, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation.
Back-door school handouts | Chicago Tribune
Rolled ...
"Rolled into the usual state aid sent to districts, the subsidies are all but hidden and have been skyrocketing, starting at $46 million and increasing more than 1,000 percent in the years since lawmakers approved them, state data show. At its peak in 2008, the program cost taxpayers $805 million, with the majority of school districts not getting a penny," an investigation by the Chicago Tribune found.
Bloomberg reports that some of the biggest national fraternities, while facing lawsuits alleging negligent supervision, "shielded funds in hard-to-tap foundations and cast blame on local chapters with few or no assets. Rather than intensify monitoring of branches, some fraternities have ceded daily supervision to undergraduates."
VG of Norway reports that more than half of kindergartens in Norway have broken the law in the last three years. VG journalists sent hundreds of FOIA requests and analyzed roughly 31,000 pages of audit reports. They found a total of 6,400 violations during that span, including careless hygiene, poor security and failure to meet staffing requirements.
See the full report here. Using DocumentCloud, VG also created a database of the reports.
Center for Investigative Reporting
VA’s ability to quickly provide benefits plummets under Obama
“Internal VA documents, obtained by the Center for Investigative Reporting and authenticated by the agency, reveal that delays newly returning veterans face before receiving disability compensation and other benefits are far longer than the agency has publicly acknowledged. The documents also offer insight into some of the reasons for those delays.”
The Houston Chronicle
Pasadena Superfund site's owner indicted, missing
“In reality, prosecutors said, he is a polluter responsible for a 17-acre disaster - hundreds of dumpsters and concrete tanks vaporizing hazardous chemicals into the air ...