Most traffic chases caused by minor infractions

Eunice Trotter, Tom Spalding and Mark Nichols of The Indianapolis Star analyzed police pursuit data to investigate the 86 deaths Indiana saw in the last decade following police chases. They found that "initiated pursuits that ended with at least one injury or death in one of five cases." Most of the pursuits were found to be for minor infractions, with almost three out of four set off by a traffic violation.

Eric Gorski of The Denver Post uses church documents and interviews to investigate claims that the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver was told "at least three times of child sex-abuse allegations against one of its priests but continued to allow him to serve and moved him from parish to parish for years." The paper has received seven additional stories of abuse, following the one allegation detailed on Tuesday.

Jo Craven McGinty at The New York Times reported this weekend that hate crimes in the city are down 44 percent between 2000 and 2004. The crimes are broken down in graphics and maps. A member of New York's hate crimes unit credits people "just behaving better" in the city in the wake of a hate crime law put on the books in 2000.

John Diedrich and Bob Purvis at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel detail a sharp rise in the number of murders in Milwaukee this year, finding that "through Friday, 72 people have been killed this year, compared to 49 at that time last year. In response, police last week beefed up patrols in the hottest parts of Milwaukee and community agencies increased their presence, trying to address social and economic issues underlying the violence."

Ryan Keith of the Associated Press analyzed the results of a state-mandated study on Illinois traffic stops, finding that "black and Hispanic drivers in large downstate cities are pulled over by police at a rate that far exceeds their share of the local population." The state legislature had every police agency turn over data on its 2004 traffic stops to the state, which then compiled more than 2 million records.

John W. Allman and Michael Fechter of The Tampa Tribune investigated the activities of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Sarasota/Tampa Bay, finding that:
"For much of that time, it used money intended for sick children to pay for questionable expenses such as lavish dinners for chapter leaders and volunteers. It permitted and covered up a rogue fundraising operation in Sarasota through which hundreds of thousands of dollars passed, some of which has never been accounted for. It failed to comply with state and federal laws regulating charities. The charity says everything is as it should be now but refuses to substantiate that." Many of the details came from a former executive directory who was jailed for making personal use of her foundation credit card.

Gordon Russell of The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reports that while New Orleans has a residency requirement for its police officers, "dozens of Police Department sergeants and lieutenants and at least seven captains — the department's highest civil-service rank — have been promoted in recent years despite claiming homestead exemptions outside the city." The 10-year-old residency rule has suffered from lax enforcement and poor record-keeping make it difficult to tell exactly how many officers live outside the city.

A team of reporters from the Detroit Free Press analyzed drunken driving arrests over a four-day period in May. They found those arrested were "... ordinary people taking ordinary chances." The project looks at drunken driving from the perspective of a defense lawyer, bartenders and a deputy, as well as offering a sample of the more-than-100 arrests. "People are stopped while heading to day care to pick up kids, after a night at a restaurant or a theater. They say they've only had a couple of drinks, but the Breathalyzer tells a different story."

Cameron McWhirter and Steve Visser of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution use public documents and interviews to identify crucial missteps that led to the March 11 attack that left three people dead at the Fulton County Courthouse. The investigation found long-standing problems including "... a sick day for a deputy who may not have been sick, a quick breakfast run, a delayed response to an emergency call, and a failure to close off fire exits." Since the shooting, security upgrades recommended by the Marshals Service have been slow to implement. Among the recommendation yet to be implemented are building new holding cells for some courtrooms, discontinuing the practice of escorting prisoners through public corridors and increasing safety and security training.

Debra Erdley of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that police agencies in Western Pennsylvania don't always comply with the state's public records laws: "About 40 percent of 217 police agencies surveyed declined to provide access to daily call sheets or police blotters." Police usually cite ongoing investigations or confidentiality concerns when withholding access, but "the law and court rulings consistently say that the public has a right to examine police blotters or call sheets that detail the time, location and nature of daily police activities."