Social issues
Adoption deal raises concerns over surrogate program
Kevin Corcoran of The Indianapolis Star investigates a child welfare case involving a surrogate mothers program. The program granted an adoption to a 58-year-old, single, schoolteacher who was approved, despite “the absence of a legally required study of [Stephen F.] Melinger’s New Jersey home or a period of preadoption supervision by an Indiana-licensed agency, court…
Read MoreHospital faces deep problems
Julie Bell of The (Baltimore) Sun reviewed documents on the performance of Maryland General Hospital, finding that “from at least the mid-1990s until spring 2004, the hospital’s board and a changing cast of top executives failed to act quickly as oversight systems designed to protect patients failed.” Breakdowns at the hospital’s laboratory in early 2004…
Read MoreKentucky residents’ health plagued by bad habits, poverty
Laura Ungar of The (Louisville) Courier-Journal spent a year assessing the health of Kentucky’s residents, finding that “Kentucky is one of the sickest states in America, a place where too many people die too soon, and many who live endure decades of illness and pain.” Bad health habits ingrained in the state’s culture, including high…
Read MoreIllinois police pull over minorities at higher rate
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…
Read MoreUtah residents use border cities for gambling, lottery
As part of a series on gambling in Utah, Lee Davidson of The Deseret Morning News used Idaho state data to show that “the top six Idaho lottery sales sites are on the Utah border – and they sell up to 27 times as many tickets as the average Idaho lottery site.” One store just…
Read MoreHate crimes rise in Los Angeles school district
Naush Boghossian and Lisa M. Sodders of the Los Angeles Daily News use data from the Los Angeles Unified School District police to investigate an increase in hate crimes in the district. “Hate crimes in Los Angeles’ public schools have surged more than 300 percent over the past decade…” They found that almost all of…
Read MoreMinorities face tough discipline
Melissa Jenco of the Daily Herald analyzed Illinois education data to show that “racial disparities in discipline are not just a suburban trend. Statewide, during the 2002-03 school year, the expulsion and suspension rate for black students was three times higher than for white students. There were similar disparities for Latino students, too.”
Read MoreStreet gun dealers go to jail, while licensed dealers get a free pass
Susan Schulman, Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck of The Buffalo News uses public records to investigate gun dealers in a four-day series. The investigation found that while street gun dealers go to jail, licensed gun merchants get a free pass. “Gun shows are a prime source of crime weapons in many states…Despite those concerns, the…
Read MoreSchools fail to report all crime
An investigation by the Charlotte Observer has found that a lot more violent and threatening behavior takes place in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools than officials disclose in the state’s public report on crime. Observer reporters Lisa Hammersly Munn, Liz Chandler, Melissa Manware and Peter Smolowitz, along with database reporter Adam Bell, used school and police records and…
Read MoreSection 8 failing to provide adequate housing
Antonio Olivo, John Bebow and Darnell Little of the Chicago Tribune used local data to show that “private landlords are fast taking over government’s traditional role of housing Chicago’s poor. But these subsidized ‘Section 8’ landlords have been failing four out of every 10 inspections” during the last five years. “More than 6,000 landlords failed…
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