Putting a face on human trafficking

As officials try to raise awareness about the existence of people who have been trafficked, a Seattle woman tells her unusual story. Her mother’s family was victimized by her father, a Ph.D. and concert violinist who worked with the U.N.

"And who would imagine the thieves would have unfettered access to the place for three days, propping open the door with a shoe and returning the next day with a moving truck to finish the job?" the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

Investigative Reporter Wendy Halloran exposed unethical conduct by members of the Phoenix Fire Department’s Fire Investigations Unit. Arson investigators are caught trying to manipulate the arson dog while investigating a house fire. The Phoenix Fire Department boasts the highest arson clearance rates in the country. Did they arrest a woman for arson with faked evidence? Arson investigators, under oath, testified the arson dog is far superior than any crime lab. But they never showed this video to the Grand Jury. And the City of Phoenix refuses to talk about it. Barbara Sloan says they’re trying to railroad innocent people into prison.

In its continuing series of investigative reports on gun crimes, Seattle’s KING TV found that police departments have not only been taking firearms off the streets with gun buyback events – some departments have been putting more firearms into circulation.

In an attempt to bust criminal operations in Milwaukee by purchasing drugs and guns from felons the ATF set up a storefront sting.

However, "the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun landing on the streets of Milwaukee and the agency having $35,000 in merchandise stolen from its store, a Journal Sentinel investigation has found."

U.S. Justice Department review, triggered by a USA Today investigation, has identified 175 prisoners who must be released or resentenced because they were improperly imprisoned. In June, USA Today reported that those prisoners should not have been imprisoned because they had not committed a federal crime, and others received longer sentences than the law allows.

The Washington Post
Review of FBI forensics does not extend to federally trained state, local examiners
The Washington Post reports that thousands of criminal cases at the state and local level may have relied on exaggerated testimony or false forensic evidence to convict defendants of murder, rape and other felonies, according to former FBI agents.

The Journal News
The gun owner next door: What you don't know about the weapons in your neighborhood
“In the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and amid renewed nationwide calls for stronger gun control, some Lower Hudson Valley residents would like lawmakers to expand the amount of information the public can find out about gun owners. About 44,000 people in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam — one out of every 23 adults — are licensed to own a handgun.”

The Seattle Times
Prosecutors here cracking down on felons with guns
"Felons prosecuted for firearms face long prison sentences under federal law, and U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan is using the law to crack down on career criminals in Western Washington. Cases referred for felons-with-guns charges have increased 45 percent here in the past three years."

The San Francisco Chronicle
Gun sales booming in Nevada
"State officials said 2,383 firearms transactions were recorded statewide last weekend, Friday through Sunday. It's unknown how many of those were assault weapons, like the kind used in the Connecticut shooting, because new laws - backed by Nevada's influential gun lobby - prohibit the state from collecting specific details on gun purchases."

The Tampa Bay Times
Gaps in gun laws a boon for felons in Florida, experts say
"Permissive in some respects, Florida firearms laws unequivocally aim to prevent gun ownership by convicted felons. But that prohibition is faltering."

The Sacramento Bee
Evaluation of UC Davis Medical Center's handling of neurosurgeons is scathing
“Investigators found hospital staff repeatedly failed to intervene or raise questions about three highly unusual surgeries on brain cancer patients, according to a Bee analysis of the findings, released earlier this month by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In its 92-page report, the federal watchdog agency detailed the secrecy and inaction that enveloped the ‘non-standard, experimental treatments.’”

The Asbury Park Press
How greed and politics nearly destroyed the coast
Countless homes and businesses could have been saved by better dune and flood protection - if not for the people, and government, that fought against them.

The Austin American Statesman
Management positions, salary increase at DPS while state trooper pay raises languish
For the past 10 years, the State Auditor’s Office has recommended that pay for state law enforcement officers be increased to compete with cities such as Austin, where the mid-range pay for a police officer is $74,705 per year compared to $61,793 for a state trooper. While trooper pay is capped at that level even after 20 years of service, veteran police officers can earn up to $95,464, according to the auditor.

Newsday
Where LIPA's money went: Billions spent to get power; not enough spent to protect it
“No matter how hot it got on summer's hottest day, with all of the Island's air conditioners at full blast, the Long Island Power Authority wanted to have more than enough electricity to deliver to its customers. And it did just that -- even if it meant spending billions of ratepayer dollars on questionable deals, Newsday has found.”

The Boston Globe
The story behind Mitt Romney’s loss in the presidential campaign to President Obama
“A reconstruction by the Globe of how the campaign unfolded shows that Romney’s problems went deeper than is widely understood. His campaign made a series of costly financial, strategic, and political mistakes that, in retrospect, all but assured the candidate’s defeat, given the revolutionary turnout tactics and tactical smarts of President Obama’s operation.”

The Arizona Republic
Saving Arizona’s Children: A system still in crisis
State leaders set out last year to reform the agency tasked with protecting Arizona's most vulnerable citizens. Twelve months later, Child Protective Services remains overwhelmed by children in need and the toll of budget cuts.

Los Angeles Times
Pot farms wreaking havoc on Northern California environment
“Burgeoning marijuana growing operations are sucking millions of gallons of water from coho salmon lifelines and taking other environmental tolls, scientists say.”

In three dozen cases of developmentally disabled patients accusing caretakers of rape and molestation during the past four years, police failed to complete even the simplest tasks associated with investigating the alleged crimes, according to a California Watch investigation.

"After a wave of unprecedented gun crime in Seattle during the first half of the year, KING television began a series of investigations into how criminals get their guns.  In the latest installment, the KING 5 investigators used federal gun trace records to find the firearms dealer who sold the most guns that ended up in the hands of criminals in Seattle."