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The Sacramento Bee
Guns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood
“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.”
The Denver Post
Denver's 911 call review shows a pattern of problems
In nearly 240 of the calls reviewed for performance, police officers never received crucial scene information from the dispatchers or call takers. This included situations where they failed to notify officers that suspects were armed and had been violent in the past.
KIROTV
Crime inside NFL stadiums hidden from police
A months-long investigation by KIRO-TV in Seattle (CBS/Cox Media Group) found that many local police departments are helping the NFL’s cause, by either failing to create crime reports or underreporting incidents that occur in the stands and nearby parking lots during football games.
The Omaha World-Herald
Sheehy steps aside after phone records reveal 2,300 calls to 4 women
“A monthlong investigation by The World-Herald uncovered a secret life during that travel, involving 2,300 phone calls to four women, other than his wife, during the past four years.
The Dallas Morning News
Chronic Condition
“Parkland Memorial Hospital is the nation's largest healthcare facility ever forced into federal oversight to remedy patient-safety dangers. How did the landmark Dallas County public hospital reach this precipice? The problems have been years in the making.”
The Seattle Times
Boeing 787’s problems blamed on outsourcing, lack of oversight
“Company engineers blame the 787’s outsourced supply chain, saying that poor quality components are coming from subcontractors that have operated largely out of Boeing’s view.”
Mother Jones
To Recruit Cops, the NRA Dangles Freebies Paid for by Gun Companies
“Free memberships and insurance, steep discounts on gear. How could an officer say no?”
The Los Angeles Times
A fatal toll on concertgoers as raves boost cities' income
Struggling local governments welcome large music events staged by L.A.-based promoters, but reports reveal a tragic pattern of drug overdoses.
Austin American-Statesman
Crime lab backlogs weighing down court system
A mounting backlog of samples awaiting testing at the Austin Police Department crime lab is causing unprecedented delays in the resolution of criminal cases, preventing some from going forward for at least six months and stressing an already bustling county judicial system, documents obtained by the American-Statesman show.
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics threw away 355,000 servings of food worth $181,600 last year, according to The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The hospital prepared roughly 3 million total servings of food in 2012, not counting patient meals. The Gazette found that the hospital's dining room serving doctors and nurses from operating rooms threw away 32 percent of its food.
These complaints led Houston air authorities to discover dangerous levels of hexavalent chromium, a known carcinogen.
“Medicare fraud costs taxpayers an estimated $60 billion annually. One problem area is power wheelchairs, which cost the program hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Over the course of a several month "CBS This Morning" investigation, numerous people who have sold and prescribed these wheelchairs told CBS News that the industry bullies doctors, and that Medicare is writing checks that should never be cashed.”
Welcome to IRE's roundup of the weekend's many enterprise stories -- the last one of 2012 -- from around the country. We'll highlight the document digging, field work and data analysis that made their way into centerpieces in print, broadcast and online from coast to coast. Did we miss something? Email tips to web@ire.org.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Do teachers’ absences affect student learning?
Seventy-three Western Pennsylvania public school districts paid nearly $25 million for substitute teachers to cover classes when full-time educators were not in the classroom during the last school year, according to records for 17,000 teachers reviewed by the Tribune-Review.
Bloomberg News
For-Profit Nursing Homes Lead in Overcharging While Care Suffers
“Thirty percent of claims sampled from for- profit homes were deemed improper, compared to just 12 percent from non-profits, according to data Bloomberg News obtained from the inspector general’s office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services via a Freedom of Information Act request.”
The Miami Herald
How Florida limits care for disabled kids
“A private company boasts it has saved Florida tens of millions — by helping ration care for families with severely disabled children. Here’s how the process works.”
The Washington Post
Rising painkiller addiction shows damage from drugmakers’ role in shaping medical opinion
“A closer look at the opioid painkiller binge — retail prescriptions have roughly tripled in the past 20 years — shows that the rising sales and addictions were catalyzed by a massive effort by pharmaceutical companies to shape medical opinion and practice.”
The Los Angeles Times
Dying for Relief: Reckless doctors go unchecked
“Law enforcement officials and medical regulators could mine the data for a different purpose: To draw a bead on rogue doctors. But they don't, and that has allowed corrupt or negligent physicians to prescribe narcotics recklessly for years before authorities learned about their conduct through other means, a Times investigation found.”
The New York Times
Drone War Spurs Militants to Deadly Reprisals
“For several years now, militant enforcers have scoured the tribal belt in search of informers who help the C.I.A. find and kill the spy agency’s jihadist quarry. The militants’ technique — often more witch hunt than investigation — follows a well-established pattern.”
The Salt Lake Tribune
Driven by suicide, gun deaths are increasing in Utah
“Data from the Utah Department of Health show gun deaths from 2007 to 2011 were 23 percent higher than from 2001 to 2005.”
The New York Times
Ruthless Smuggling Rings Put Rhinos in the Cross Hairs
“Driven by a common belief in Asia that ground-up rhino horns can cure cancer and other ills, the trade has also been embraced by criminal syndicates that normally traffic drugs and guns, but have branched into the underground animal parts business because it is seen as “low risk, high profit,” American officials say.”
The Oregonian
Medical marijuana: A few high-volume doctors approve most patients
“The Oregonian's examination of high-volume marijuana doctors -- including interviews with physicians and clinic operators as well as a review of state documents, medical licensing reports, court records and caseload data -- paints a picture of a highly specialized industry.”
Bloomberg News reports that more than 244,00 Americans with injuries are consigned to nursing homes, where patient lawyers say they are warehoused with inadequate care. In many cases, they are housed in institutions designed for geriatric care, not the specialized care they need, and in some cases they are in facilities graded poorly on measures like quality and cleanliness.
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.”
“Its relationship with Amazon has made Integrity Staffing Solutions the biggest temporary-employment firm in the Lehigh Valley and one of the fastest-growing agencies of its kind in the country. Part of its role is fighting to keep its workers from collecting unemployment benefits after they have lost a job at Amazon.”
"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."
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