Tracking gang activity in Tennessee

The Tennessean's three-part series on gangs reveals a growing problem across the state, particularly in suburbia and small towns. Law enforcement is overwhelmed and schools are ripe recruiting grounds in what's part of a national trend of gangs expanding their influence to areas outside the urban core to sell drugs. The newspaper gained access to gangs, taking readers inside their world, while providing the most complete public accounting to date of gang activity across the state. Included in the online presentation is an interactive map of known gangs that operate in each of Tennessee's 95 counties. Relying on a confidential report, interviews, police records and court records, the newspaper's series found there's no consistent system to track gang activity. The lack of information leaves the public, and sometimes even law enforcement, in the dark about the scope of the problem. The paper also found some homicides with links to gangs never get reported as such by police.

San Diego's First 5, a social service program focused on early childhood development, is under scrutiny for the disproportionate allocation of grant money to organizations linked to its advisers. "The county's First 5 Commission has awarded at least $67 million in the past three years to nonprofits and other groups that employ people who serve on its top advisory committee, according to an analysis by The San Diego Union-Tribune. The share of early childhood grants given to groups with ties to insiders has grown over the years, from 37.1 percent three years ago to 59.6 percent last year, the newspaper found." Charlene Tressler, former commissioner of First 5, resigned last week amid questions surrounding $8.3 million in grants the agency gave to a charity and preschool run by her.

The last three decades have seen the Seminole Tribe of Florida ascend from extreme poverty to substantial wealth thanks to their lucrative Indian gaming endeavors. A South Florida Sun-Sentinel investigation found that, while this wealth is shared throughout the tribe, a "a handful of tribal leaders have especially benefited, steering millions of the tribe's money and business to themselves, their families and their friends." As a sovereign nation, the Seminole's are not obligated to open their records, but the Sun-Sentinel obtained thousands of pages of documents and conducted extensive interviews providing a rare glimpse inside the tribe.

St. Petersburg Times reporter Sydney Freedberg, with CAR analysis from Connie Humburg and research from Carolyn Edds, investigated the dealings of the Orlando-based Enterprise Florida -- "a public-private partnership that helps determine where incentive money gets spent to create jobs in the state" -- and found questionable dealings. Their "investigation shows that a corporate seat on the board - which in most cases requires a $50,000 annual donation - often benefits board members' companies." Included in the report is an illuminating sidebar outlining who makes up the Board of Enterprise Florida.

Staff at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, along with Aaron Kessler used the social network analysis program UCINET and more than 50 interviews to investigate who really wielded power in Richmond, Va. The series includes a story about the four men central to Richmond's power, a story about minorities and how political influence does not equal power, as well as a sidebar on how the series was done. The series includes an interactive network map detailing the Web of power.

Daniel Chacón of the San Diego Union-Tribune analyzed county grant receipts finding a multimillion-dollar system riddled with shoddy bookkeeping and lax oversight. The investigation "found that records for 54 grants totaling nearly $1 million are missing. Receipts that have been collected show that money has been spent on everything from Cheetos to seared ahi crostini." Many of the organizations receiving grants are considered grassroots organizations and don't have paid staffers to handle financial reports.