Are U.S. border agents crossing the line?

"In partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, Need to Know investigates whether U.S. border agents have been using excessive force in an effort to curb illegal immigration."

"The report raises questions about accountability because border agents are part of the Department of Homeland Security and therefore are not subjected to the same public scrutiny as police officers who use excessive force. It also questions whether, in the rush to secure the border, agents are being adequately trained. And it raises the question: why aren’t these cases being prosecuted?"

"USA Today’s investigative team found the EPA failed to tell people about or take action on hundreds of former lead smelting sites they’d known about for years. Alison Young and Pete Eisler tested the soil around former plants in 13 states and found potentially dangerous levels of lead remain in people’s yards and in parks."

This multi-part look into long-forgotten lead factories includes nearly 370 site-related documents, using DocumentCloud; video interviews with parents whose children play in their lead contaminated back yards; an interactive map telling you where smelters once were in your area; tips on how to make your home and yard safer and much more.

An investigation, by Sandy Brundage of The Almanac, has revealed many holes in the process California schools take while checking the background of teachers.

"According to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the state maintains a confidential database of complaints against teachers in public schools, but can only publicly disclose "final adverse actions" taken. The state doesn't maintain a similar database for private schools, which don't require teaching credentials and essentially operate as independent businesses, according to the California Department of Education."

"Suspicious test scores in roughly 200 school districts resemble those that entangled Atlanta in the biggest cheating scandal in American history, an investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shows." To learn how the reporters gathered information click here.

"The newspaper analyzed test results for 69,000 public schools and found high concentrations of suspect math or reading scores in school systems from coast to coast. The findings represent an unprecedented examination of the integrity of school testing."

Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, for the Associated Press, report that undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.

Elmira Star-Gazette reporter Jason Whong showed that despite having the benefit of the newspaper's archives and knowing where to look and which dates to research, New York's Freedom of Information and open records law couldn't help him -- or any parent -- find much evidence of an accused sexual predator's history of similar crimes and convictions going back 42 years.

The Huffington Post reports that the New York Police Department collected information on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims, according to newly obtained secret documents. They show in the clearest terms yet that police were monitoring people based on religion, despite claims from Mayor Michael Bloomberg to the contrary.

A six-month Palm Beach Post investigation into unregulated Florida summer camps has revealed that the state's lax laws have allowed convicted child molesters to get jobs in Florida camps, where they went on to molest still more victims.

For every child who was harmed, many more are at risk -- especially in the state's poorest neighborhoods. The Post also found that Florida lawmakers have known of the dangers for 30 years yet have failed to safeguard kids in camps.

An expired federal program aimed to benefit former logging communities means massive budget wholes for hundreds of schools and communities across the country, an investigation by California Watch found.

The Secure Rural Schools and Communities Self-Determination Act provided nearly $3.8 billion for schools and roads in more than 700 counties in 42 states in the past decade, but the fund will be out of money by the year's end.

"In a multi-part series, The Seattle Times has found that almost 300 sex offenders in the state of Washington are detained indefinitely in a civil-commitment program. The center protects society from these predators, but is has been plagued by runaway legal costs, a lack of financial oversight and layers of secrecy"