First Amendment & FOIA Archives - Page 15 of 33 - Investigative Reporters & Editors

Pete Thamel and Duff Wilson of The New York Times used academic transcripts and documents obtained through a freedom of information request to show that University High, a correspondence school which has no classes and no educational accreditation, offered students little more than a speedy academic makeover. "Athletes who graduated from University High acknowledged that they learned little there, but were grateful that it enabled them to qualify for college scholarships. " The man who founded University High School and owned it until last year, Stanley J. Simmons, served 10 months in a federal prison camp from 1989 to 1990 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud for his involvement with a college diploma mill in Arizona. Among the activities Simmons acknowledged in court documents were awarding degrees without academic achievement and awarding degrees based on studies he was unqualified to evaluate.

Editor and Publisher reports that The Associated Press leads news organizations in using the Freedom of Information Act to obtain documents from the Pentagon. A log of such requests from 2000 to early 2005 was compiled by a San Francisco-based activist. The AP filed 73 such requests, followed by the Los Angeles Times with 42 and The Washington Post with 34. Trailing far behind among major newspapers was The New York Times with 21, USA Today with nine and The Wall Street Journal with six. On the TV side, CBS News led with 32 queries; Fox News followed with 22; and NBC with 21. CNN made just 11 inquiries. "The results, which came in response to a FOIA request by blogger Michael Petrelis, are summarized by John Byrne at the Raw Story web site. " The request was sparked by interest in whether former New York Times reporter Judith Miller had ever made such a FOIA request. It was found that she had not.

A nine-month investigation by Tom Knudson and Hector Amezcua of The Sacramento Bee "has found pineros [Latino forest workers in the United States] are victims of employer exploitation, government neglect and a contracting system that insulates landowners — including the U.S. government — from responsibility." The report, "based on more than 150 interviews across Mexico, Guatemala and the United States and 5,000 pages of records unearthed through the Freedom of Information Act" shows responsibility for these "guest workers" is spread among several federal agencies and private contractors with no effective oversight. Part two shows the government has been aware of problems with the program but has failed to do anything to fix it. "First in 1980 and again in 1993, Congress expressed shock at the abuse of Latino forest workers in America's woods and the hypocrisy of undocumented workers doing government work." The third part of the series focuses on "The number one cause of death among pineros" — van accidents. "They are the byproducts of fatigue, poorly maintained vehicles, ineffective state and federal laws, inexperienced drivers and poverty-stricken workers hungry for jobs."

Jim Davenport of The Associated Press wrote a series of reports detailing the costs of public records and abuse of executive sessions, as part of a statewide Freedom of Information audit completed by The Associated Press and the South Carolina Press Association. The investigation found that a quarter of elected officials in a statewide survey say they have broken state law by letting their closed-door session stray beyond what they promised the public they would discuss while out of sight and earshot. When asked about open meetings and open records most city or county officials in South Carolina became suspicious. "Police and sheriff's departments around the state turned out to be the biggest source for denial. More than a dozen law enforcement agencies, about one-fourth of those visited, refused to provide copies of incident reports that residents should be able to review without delay."

Jean Guccione and Doug Smith with contributions from William Lobdell of the Los Angeles Times tracked the assignments of 228 priests from 1950 through 2003 who have been named or identified as the subject of abuse complaints. The analysis reveals that because the accused priests moved around the archdiocese on average every 4.5 years, the total number of parishes in which alleged abusers served is far larger

The Kentucky Press Association, The Associated Press, various newspaper and professional groups and several university student programs carried out a public records survey to determine whether public offices are allowing citizens to view government documents. "More than 100 students, volunteers and newspaper employees visited four local government offices on Oct. 21 seeking specific public records. They were told to act as any ordinary citizen when making their requests in the government offices." The survey showed that while most offices abide by the state's Open Records Act, compliance is not consistent. A request to inspect the city budget was readily met whereas a request made to the County Jail led to jail employees becoming intimidating.

Seth Hettena of The Associated Press reports the Navy issued contracts for planes "reportedly used to fly terror suspects to countries known to practice torture." The AP says documents from the Department of Defense, obtained through a FOIA request, involve more planes (33) than previously reported. While there was "scrutiny in 2001, but what hasn't been disclosed is the Navy's role in contracting planes involved in operations the CIA terms 'rendition' and what Italian prosecutors call kidnapping."

Kelby Hartson Carr of The Times in Munster, Ind., looks into the accuracy of IRS 990 forms filed by nonprofit organizations. After an examination of all 990s filed for "fiscal year 2003 by nonprofit agencies based in Lake County, Porter County and Chicago's south suburbs," the paper found that 70 percent that raised public donations reported no fund-raising expenses. Experts say it is difficult to raise money without spending money and "zero-expense fund-raising claims always should be questioned." The project includes a database of the nonprofits that includes the data from their 990 forms. Other parts of the series look at nonprofit employees who make six figures and have generous benefits packages, the powerful part nonprofits play in the local economy and tips to evaluate a charitiy before donating.

Geoff Dutton and Jill Riepenhoff of The Columbus Dispatch investigated Ohio's high foreclosure rate, "a problem fueled by a weak economy, aggressive mortgage brokers, financial overreaching and tepid state oversight.". The newspaper analyzed Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data, obtained U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit reports of homebuilders through the federal Freedom of Information Act, and analyzed state and county foreclosure records and sheriff's sales data. On the second day of the series, state lawmakers from both political parties vowed to tighten Ohio's loose regulation of the mortgage industry. (Note: For reporters interested in pursuing similar stories, IRE and NICAR offer a beat book, "Home Mortgage Lending: How to detect disparities," as well as Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.)

Michael R. Shea of The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette delved into the South Carolina State Ports Authority, the state agency that manages "the fourth-largest waterborne shipping network in the country through marine terminals in Charleston, Georgetown and Port Royal, South Carolina." The stories show that political contributions, political appointments and no-bid contracts blur the line between state agency and a private business. It also discusses its battle for records from the agency. The 18-story project includes more than a dozen of the public records, received through FOIAs, that were used in the reporting.

Correspondence school offers speedy academic makeover