Time
Bitter Pill: Why medical bills are killing us
“Breaking these trillions down into real bills going to real patients cuts through the ideological debate over health care policy. By dissecting the bills that people like Sean Recchi face, we can see exactly how and why we are overspending, where the money is going and how to get it back. We just have to follow the money.”

New York Times Magazine
The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food
“Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American ‘stomach share.’”

Columbia Journalism Review
Immigration reform and private prison cash
“Key lawmakers ...

"President Obama has indicated a move towards strengthening federal gun control measures, but the reality is that the majority of gun legislation in the US is enacted at the state level. That has brought broad variations across the country, with states taking different approaches to issues ranging from sales, permits, licensing, self-defense and carry laws." Use The Guardian's interactive app to view gun laws on a state by state basis.

In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, President Obama on Wednesday will announce new national gun control measures. He has already urged members of Congress to do the same. ProPublica has created an app that lets you take a comprehensive look at where lawmakers stand on guns, as well as political spending and voting history.

"The Tulsa World reports that nearly 18 years after the Oklahoma City bombing, more than $12 million in donated funds remains but survivors say the foundation in charge of most of it has denied requests for surgery, tuition and other needs donors intended to be funded."

An investigation by the Houston Chronicle has found that over the last five years several complaints, including red and yellow smoke, explosions and fire, have been reported around metal recycling plants.

These complaints led Houston air authorities to discover dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.

Consumer websites offer their users different prices and deals based on what data they have about the user, according to a Wall Street Jounal investigation. The Journal identified several companies, including Staples, Discover Financial Services, Rosetta Stone Inc. and Home Depot Inc., that consistently adjusted prices and product offers based on user characteristics they discovered, such as location.

Presented with the findings, companies told the Journal that their practices mirror real world store adjustments and that the changes reflect the cost of doing business in different locations. The practice is not illegal, save for a few exceptions for situations such ...

"Doctors with financial ties to drug companies have heavily influenced treatment guidelines recommending the most lucrative drugs in American medicine, an analysis by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and MedPage Today has found."

"In the latest installment in USA TODAY's "Ghost Factories" series, reporter Alison Young examines who is responsible for cleaning up lead contamination around old lead smelter sites."

"Reuters, in a multi-part series, explore how the government is either exacerbating inequality or doing less than it could to alleviate it."

"As the nation’s leaders debate whose taxes to raise and what social programs to cut before a Jan. 1 deadline, today’s story, “Redistributing Up,” shows that the government’s hand in income inequality is increasingly visible – especially in the capital of Washington, D.C."

"Wal-Mart de Mexico was an aggressive and creative corrupter, offering large payoffs to get what the law otherwise prohibited, an examination, starting back in April 2012, by The New York Times found."

"The Times has now picked up where Wal-Mart’s internal investigation was cut off, traveling to dozens of towns and cities in Mexico and gathering tens of thousands of documents."