Loopholes in hiring practices leave kids at risk

Flaws in how the city of Columbus handles background checks for street peddlers has created loopholes that allow child predators behind the wheels of ice cream trucks, reports Paul Aker of WBNS-TV. Prospective employees submitted their own background checks, and one ice cream truck driver simply omitted his history of child pornography charges. As a result of the investigation, the city's director of public safety said that the city "will start paying the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigations to run fingerprint-based background checks."

A series by The Washington Post explores the causes and implications of the current global food crisis, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1970s. "A complex combination of poor harvests, competition with biofuels, higher energy prices, surging demand in China and India, and a blockage in global trade is driving food prices up worldwide." The impact is not limited to impoverished countries; consumers in the U.S. and other countries are feeling the impact of rising food costs.

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.

In another installment of The Miami Herald's Poverty Peddlers series, reporters Scott Hiaasen and Jason Grotto reveal that the Miami-Dade Empowerment Trust, the county's largest anti-poverty agency, squandered millions of dollars on lavish parties, bad loans and insider deals. The reporters showed that public money for the poor went to pay for celebrities like Sean "Diddy" Combs and Shakira to fly to Miami for MTV award shows; the flights used a charter company run by a board member.

A Chicago Tribune analysis of federal data shows that enforcement efforts in the the war on drugs hits minorities far harder than whites. Darnell Little reports that inner-city dealers are hit much harder than the more discrete dealings in suburban areas. Prison populations also reflect harsher penalties for minorities. Analysis of Chicago's predominantly African-American neighborhoods revealed that "97 percent of East Garfield Park, 99 percent of West Garfield Park, 98 percent of Woodlawn, 96 percent of Englewood and 82 percent of Austin fall within 'safe zones'" — designated areas that are covered by mandatory sentencing rules.

A Dallas Morning News investigation into disciplinary records of employees at state schools for the mentally retarded " found hundreds of cases of abuse at the hands of those charged with caring for the mentally retarded

Fred Kelly reports on a two-week investigation by The Charlotte Observer which uncovered an "underground network" of shelters and safe houses, many run by religious ministries, which have sprung up as official shelters face issues of overcrowding. Exact numbers on how many of these make-shift shelters exist are unknown, but The Observer located 17 in the course of their investigation. Officials in the area worry about lack of oversight and regulation which could put residents at risk.

Scott Zamost and Jeff Burnside of WTVJ-South Florida update the 2001 "Selling Innocence" investigation by interviewing Savannah Haile, now 12 years old. Pictures of Haile were posted on a so-called "child-modeling" Web site without her consent, and her story became part of the WTVJ stories. The report exposed the two men behind the Florida-based Web site, and they currently face child pornography charges.

Jason Whitely of KHOU-Houston analyzed street-by-street crime data from the past two years to find out how close the city

Rukmini Callimachi and Frank Bass of the Associated Press report on a disparity in post-Katrina insurance claims. Based on analysis of Louisiana's insurance claims, they determined that residents of predominantly white neighborhoods "have been three times as likely as homeowners in black neighborhoods to seek state help in resolving insurance disputes." Their analysis suggests that those most in need of assistance are not aware of their options to dispute insurance settlements. "The findings surprise few on the front lines of a disaster that has reawakened issues of racial equality...Donelon, the insurance commissioner, said his department made an extra effort to reach as many people as possible and let them know the agency was willing to press their case with insurers."