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From Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones, the story of tankers filled with volatile crude oil extracted through fracking operations in North Dakota, traveling by rail through Canada and the U. S. Five shipments of crude have exploded during the past two years. The railroad cars are old and defective, wooden rail structures are crumbling, and 47 residents of a Canadian ...

Roza Hovhannisyan reports from Armenia for Iragir.am on the frustrations of people evicted from the old town center of Yerevan, waiting more than ten years for decent housing. An excerpt: The European Court of Human Rights will resume the examination of applications of three families evicted from 25 Buzand Street at the center of Yerevan. These families were deprived of ...

(Washington) The Fund for Investigative Journalism has extended its grant proposal deadline to Monday, February 2, 2015 – 5pm Washington DC time (EST). The typical grant is $5,000. Qualified grant expenses include out-of-pocket costs such as travel, document production and equipment rental. Small stipends may be considered as a part of the grant. FIJ is currently accepting proposals for domestic and overseas investigations. Visit the FIJ website ...

Dear friends and colleagues, Greetings from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. We sincerely hope you find yourself surrounded by family and good friends during this holiday season – and that you have the time to enjoy it all. Amid the hustle and bustle this time of year, we hope our friends in and outside the world of journalism can take ...

(Washington) – The Fund for Investigative Journalism is pleased to announce The Morton K. and Jane Blaustein Foundation has awarded a two-year $60,000 grant to support the Fund’s grant-making program. The general operating grant underwrites the Fund’s program for independent reporters who have the ideas, sources, and know-how to produce groundbreaking investigative journalism, but need help paying the expenses of ...

From the investigative team at KBOO Community Radio, Portland, an investigation of the influence that the American Legislative Exchange Council [ALEC] has on laws passed in the state of Oregon. KBOO reporters found that ALEC model bills are introduced, virtually word-for-word, to benefit the corporate-profit mission of ALEC, at the expense of consumer and environmental protection. The reporting team cited ...

From Mariah Blake, for Mother Jones, the story of “energy diplomacy” that promotes drilling in foreign countries. An excerpt: “Clinton then sent a cable to US diplomats, asking them to collect information on the potential for fracking in their host countries. These efforts eventually gave rise to the Global Shale Gas Initiative, which aimed to help other nations develop their ...

From Joseph Sorrentino, for In These Times and The Santa Fe Reporter, an investigation of working conditions at diaries in New Mexico. Workers routinely work overtime without extra pay, and are subjected to dirty, dangerous conditions. But since most New Mexico dairy workers are undocumented immigrants, they are afraid to complain. Sorrentino tells the story of a worker who, despite ...

From Wallace Roberts, for The Crisis Magazine, an investigation of the demise of nursing homes serving poor and minority neighborhoods, due to historic underfunding rooted in Jim Crow decision-making. Roberts probes the case of the Lemington Home for the Aged, a microcosm for a national problem. The Pittsburgh home, a long-standing community-based institution, closed after a death investigation found chronic ...

From Joseph Mazige, for Munno Voice of Uganda, an investigation of newly developed oil fields, which have failed to meet expectations for reducing joblessness and poverty. Instead, the oil companies provide good jobs for skilled foreign citizens but offer local residents positions as guards and laborers. Local business owners also complain they are denied service contracts; the foreign oil firms do ...