Extra Extra Special Edition: Second chemical involved in W. Va. leak

There’s been a lot of great reporting coming out of West Virginia recently as reporters continue to cover a chemical spill that contaminated water for about 300,000 people. National publications investigated the lax government oversight and toothless regulations that applied – or, perhaps, failed to apply – to Freedom Industries.

But let’s not forget the local reporters, the folks working at the Charleston (W. Va) Gazette, who have been chronicling the spill from the front lines. Every day they seem to unearth new, grim details about the leak. Instead of one big story, they’ve steadily covered the water crisis with daily articles that provide a wealth of important information for local readers.

Here are few stories that deserve recognition:

• A second chemical leaked into the water supply. Freedom Industries waited two weeks to tell state and federal officials. When they did, they refused to say much about the chemical, calling the information “proprietary.” A Bloomberg Businessweek writer covering the story a day later called the Gazette’s reporting “indispensable."
• The CDC erred by not warning pregnant women sooner about the amount of toxic chemical “Crude MCHM” that leaked into the water supply. Read the full story here. When the CDC gave the no-drink order, the Gazette was stonewalled by public health officials.
• The water-relief tankers brought in after the spill were filled with water from the contaminated Charleston system. You can read that story here.

"It’s been four months since record floods tore up roadways and transformed the geography of northeastern Colorado. Since then, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has spent millions helping people affected by the disaster.

Yet an investigation by FOX31 Denver found some neighborhoods are getting a lot less FEMA money than others."

Read the full story and explore the station's interactive map.

“Each day, trucks and railcars hauling hazardous materials share roadways with Iowa drivers and pass through Iowa towns and fields. But unless there is an accident, officials often don’t know what materials pass through the state.” Read the full story from IowaWatch/Investigative News Network here.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "the site of a West Virginia chemical spill that contaminated the water supply for 300,000 people operated largely outside government oversight, highlighting gaps in regulations and prompting questions on whether local communities have a firm grasp on potential threats to drinking water."

"Following an uproar by residents and some members of Congress, the Department of Homeland Security has opened an investigation into whether $15 million in tax dollars to build housing for Border Patrol agents here was improperly spent," The Arizona Republic reports. Read the full story here.

"It's widely believed that the 2007 rewrite of congressional travel rules spurred by the scandal that sent lobbyist Jack Abramoff to prison banned such international dalliances. But that's far, far from true," the National Journal reports. "A National Journal investigation has found that despite efforts to clip the wings of congressional travel planned and paid for by special interests, lawmakers are again taking flight." Read the Journal's full story here. 

"The U.S. Justice Department inspector general is reviewing the findings of a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation revealing how ATF used rogue tactics in storefront sting operations nationwide and is considering how he will investigate them." Read the full story here.

"A USA TODAY examination finds that MRSA infections, particularly outside of health care facilities, are much more common than government statistics suggest. They sicken hundreds of thousands of Americans each year in various ways, from minor skin boils to deadly pneumonia, claiming upward of 20,000 lives. The inability to detect or track cases is confounding efforts by public health officials to develop prevention strategies and keep the bacteria from threatening vast new swaths of the population."

"The Balitmore Sun reports that over the past year and a half, the Baltimore City Department of Social Services paid $40,000 of taxpayer money to send youths in foster care to a private Christian school in Philadelphia where they have obtained a high school diploma in one day."