Volunteer firefighting companies riddled with problems

The News Journal’s three-part series on Delaware’s volunteer firefighters exposed slow response times, manpower shortages, archaic rules and lopsided funding formulas, as well as potential solutions and alternatives to the current system. The package includes an interactive map with operation and financial data on the 60 volunteer companies in the state.

Oklahoma voters gave Republican Sen. John McCain one of his largest margins of victory over Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential election earlier this month. But an analysis of precinct results from across the state by The Oklahoman shows Obama claiming heavily populated urban areas and pockets of support in eastern Oklahoma. McCain outpolled Obama almost everywhere else.

A project by CTV-British Columbia and ESRI Canada mapped parking ticket trends in Vancouver.   Through a freedom of information request, CTV received digital copies of all the parking tickets issued during a two-week period and analysed the information to determine numerous trends including spikes in ticketing at certain points in the day and neighborhoods where cars are more likely to get tickets.

A series by Brad Branan of The Fresno Bee looks at problems with how the city of Fresno, Calif. regulates development. Despite a plan to curb urban sprawl, it continues to plague the area leading to some of the country's worst air quality and the most concentrated poverty in the nation. Lawsuits filed under the California Environmental Quality Act have accused the city of "failing to fully consider air pollution, traffic, historic buildings and other factors when approving development." Since 2005, the city has only won one of 10 actions filed against it.  Of the other nine actions, the city lost three and settled six of the cases.

Keegan Kyle, Grant Smith and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed more than 11,000 pothole fixes in the city of Milwaukee and found that the city repaired potholes at a slower rate in minority neighborhoods in the first half of the year. Using SPSS, the analysis found that minority areas on the north side were waiting significantly longer for repairs. Even major arterials in minority neighborhoods took longer to repair than problems in largely white residential neighborhoods. The reporters mapped all the pothole repairs from January through mid-July of this year and overlaid census tract data to find disparities.

A series by The Cincinnati Enquirer analyzed a daily price database of gas prices at 716 stations in the Greater Cincinnati region, including northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana, to better understand the many aspects of retail gas pricing. Rising gas prices and stiff competition are causing many major oil companies, like BP and Shell, to sell their retail stores and focus on drilling and refining operations. Depending on who owns a gas station - whether independently run or company-owned - gas prices can vary widely within a brand. The Enquirer's analysis showed BP had the widest variance with price differences averaging 38 cents between 107 of its stations.

Marisol Bello of USA TODAY reported that billions of dollars will be needed to repair deficient bridges throughout the U.S. Twelve percent of the bridges throughout the U.S. currently rate as deficient. "It would cost $9.4 billion a year for 20 years to eliminate all bridge deficiencies in the USA, according to the latest estimate, made in 2005, by the American Society of Civil Engineers." The report includes a roll-over map listing the number of deficient bridges by state.

An examination of records from Oklahoma's Medical Examiner’s Office and Health Department by the Tulsa World showed that over 500 people have been murdered in Tulsa over the past 10 years. The stories looks at the impact of the homicides on victims' families, and maps hot spots in the city where deaths have been concentrated. The report found the murder rate to be sporadic, making it harder for police to predict and prevent crimes. An online database allows readers to search and map all 507 homicides from the last 10 years.

Patrick Lakamp and Susan Schulman of The Buffalo News mapped lottery sales and total winnings for more than 1,500 lottery retailers in western New York. The data showed that $60 was paid out for every $100 wagered in the lottery, but the distribution of these winnings was not equitable. "Poorer neighborhoods tend to be popular spots for the lottery. Statewide, communities with median household incomes below $30,000 spent almost twice as much per adult on lottery tickets as communities with incomes exceeding $50,000." The winning percentage in these poorer areas was below the state average, meaning those spending the most are winning the least.

A Dallas Morning News investigation has found dozens of sites with hazardous chemicals that are in close proximity to residential neighborhoods. It is a problem throughout Dallas County. In some cases, plants and warehouses are within blocks &#8212 and even across the street &#8212 from homes, apartment complexes, and schools. Of the over 900 sites that story hazardous chemicals in Dallas County, 52 have quantities high enough that they must submit a worst-case scenario plan to the Environmental Protection Agency. This investigation explores how it happened and what can be done.