Emails reveal backlog of unprocessed tax returns dating to 1994

Internal emails requested by The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) showed that the North Carolina Department of Revenue had an undisclosed backlog of unprocessed tax returns going back to 1994 and, in thousands of cases, taxpayers were owed money for unknowingly overpaying their taxes. The e-mails also showed the department had quietly changed its policy on these kinds of overpayments so that it could get rid of the backlog without having to refund the money. After our reports, the governor announced that the backlog would be tackled immediately and cleared up by year's end. Shortly after, the Revenue Secretary resigned. Thousands of taxpayers now stand to receive checks for their overpayments, and the total amount of refunds could reach into the millions.

"A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal," reports The New York Times.  The documents were released online by WikiLeaks.org, but The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and the German magazine Der Spiegel had been given access to the documents weeks ago on the condition that they not report on the material until WikiLeaks had released it.

This WXYZ-Detroit report exposed the tactics employed by officials in Wayne County, Michigan's largest county to avoid releasing public information. The story featured a 20-year Wayne County official whose own requests for routine salary information were stonewalled, as well as unions whose requests were simply ignored, causing them to file suit. Legal fees for these requests are being footed by the taxpayers. WXYZ's own efforts to enter the county's new $47 million headquarters were resisted for a month until the station's reporter and photographer showed up unannounced. Inside the building, they found an ornate "staircase to nowhere" that serves only the executive floors and was constructed at a cost of $100,000. Six elevators and two staircases were already provided access to the floor.

Homeowners with toxic drywall have reported eight deaths to federal consumer safety officials, though no direct linkage has been found. That's according to a Scripps Howard News Service analysis of almost 2,700 drywall complaints to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, and 467 follow-up inspections by the CPSC, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Aside from the deaths documented in federal records, Scripps Howard reporter Isaac Wolf also located another death suspected to be linked to toxic drywall.

MSNBC.com investigative reporter Bill Dedman revealed the influence of Todd Palin, the husband of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, during Palin's time as governor. MSNBC.com staff combed through nearly 3,000 pages of e-mails to show Todd Palin involved in a judicial appointment, monitoring contract negotiations with a public employee union and passing  "financial information marked marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney."  Working with Crivella West, MSNBC  published a searchable database of all the e-mails and detailed the open records request process with the state of Alaska that took more than two years.  In August 2008, the state of Alaska claimed it would cost as high as $15 million for state technicians to find the e-mails.

"Seniors for Sale", a Seattle Times investigation, found that inside the state's 2,843 adult family homes, thousands of vulnerable adults have been exploited by profiteers or harmed by amateur caregivers. With videos and searchable database, the three-day series by reporter Michael J. Berens also reveals how Washington has pushed out the poor from nursing homes to save millions of dollars, but often resulting in harm to residents.

The News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.) won what may be the first court ruling of its kind in Washington state, when a judge ordered the Tacoma City Council to video and audio record its executive sessions. The newspaper's lawsuit comes on the heels of reporting by the News Tribune's Lewis Kamb on the city council's appointment process, during which council members likely violated Washington's Open Public Meetings Act by taking a private vote on applicants seeking appointment to the council. The newspaper's ruling could have broader implications to help assure open government laws are being upheld, legal experts say.

For two years, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich has been seeking documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on a local gun store that has been the subject of controversy. Despite heavy redactions by the agency, and differing responses to various FOIA requests, Diedrich was able to confirm the ATF recommended revocation of the store’s firearms license after a 2006 inspection. The store remains open, however, after players in the operation took on new roles to gain a clean slate. Diedrich’s package included a sidebar that looks at a budget provision that severely limits public access to ATF information.

An investigation by Daniel Chacón of The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found that the "Colorado Springs Police Department’s tracking of dozens of take-home government-owned vehicles is so incomplete no one can say if officers are using them to respond to emergencies, commuting or personal errands."  The police department was not aware of the issue until The Gazette made an open-records request for the information.

Through the Freedom of Information Act, CUNY graduate student Valerie Lapinski was able to obtain previously unreleased FBI file of Studs Terkel.  The file revealed that the agency suspected Terkel was a Communist.  "The 269-page paper trail spans 1945 to 1990 – covering everything from Terkel’s McCarthy-era blacklisting to his involvement with Paul Robeson and third-party presidential candidate Henry Wallace to a birthday party toast he once made."  The agency never confirmed its suspicion, and stopped compiling information on him in 1990.  Terkel died October 31, 2008.