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2011 – McNelly Torres reports for the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting: As part of the 2009 economic stimulus package, millions of federal dollars flowed to Florida’s public school districts. The money was intended to benefit low-performing schools as way of closing the so-called achievement gap. Starved for cash as a result of plummeting real estate values and dwindling property ...

McNelly Torres reports for the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting: As part of the 2009 economic stimulus package, millions of federal dollars flowed to Florida’s public school districts. The money was intended to benefit low-performing schools as way of closing the so-called achievement gap. Starved for cash as a result of plummeting real estate values and dwindling property tax revenues, ...

Jason Berry – author of Render Unto Rome, is the subject of a Washington Post profile in its Style section. The article focuses on the how Berry continues to practice his faith, while investigating the sexual abuse of children by priests, and most recently in this book, lifting the veil of secrecy that has cloaked the church’s financial affairs. Berry has received several awards from the Fund ...

2011 Kristin Palitza – At the height of the tobacco harvest season, Malawi’s lush, flowing fields are filled with young children picking the big green-yellow leaves. Some can count their age on one hand. Since the handling of the leaves is done largely without protective clothing, workers absorb up to 54 milligrams of dissolved nicotine daily through their skin, equal to ...

Kristin Palitza reports in The Guardian on child laborers in the tobacco fields of Malawi: At the height of the tobacco harvest season, Malawi’s lush, flowing fields are filled with young children picking the big green-yellow leaves. Some can count their age on one hand. Since the handling of the leaves is done largely without protective clothing, workers absorb up to ...

2011 The book Stealth of Nations, by the winner of the Robert I. Friedman award, Robert Neuwirth was published – When we think of the informal economy, we tend to think of crime: prostitution, gun running, drug trafficking. Stealth of Nations opens up this underground realm, showing how the worldwide informal economy deals mostly in legal products and is, in fact, a ten-trillion-dollar ...

The winner of the Robert I. Friedman award, Stealth of Nations by Robert Neuwirth, is coming out this fall. When we think of the informal economy, we tend to think of crime: prostitution, gun running, drug trafficking. Stealth of Nations opens up this underground realm, showing how the worldwide informal economy deals mostly in legal products and is, in fact, a ten-trillion-dollar ...

2011 The Chicago Reporter – Its investigation of the State of Illinois’ contracts with minority and disabled business owners finds limited impact, missed goals. Photo by: Jason Reblando. “Empty Jackpot“: Illinois celebrates its program to steer state contracts to businesses owned by minorities, women and people with a disability. But a closer look shows the state may not be fulfilling its goals. “Less ...

The Chicago Reporter’s investigation of the State of Illinois’ contracts with minority and disabled business owners has found limited impact, missed goals. Photo by: Jason Reblando. “Empty Jackpot“: Illinois celebrates its program to steer state contracts to businesses owned by minorities, women and people with a disability. But a closer look shows the state may not be fulfilling its goals. “Less ...

2011 Jarrett Murphy – In the September/October issue of City Limits, an investigative magazine based in New York City, Murphy explores whether the New York Fire Department has learned lessons from Sept. 11 and – as important – after firefighters die in routine fires.  “The prospect of another Sept. 11 is as unlikely as it is terrifying. Fires in basements and factories ...