As the Pittsburgh public school system struggles with dwindling student enrollment, reporter Lajja Mistry, writing for Public Source, revealed the many financial challenges the system is facing, and showed that fewer students mean the system must spend more on each pupil still in the school system. However, a higher investment per student does not necessarily reflect improved student outcomes or ...
Massoglia also investigated the extensive spending by former President Donald Trump’s political operation after it paid over $44 million to lawyers and major law firms that have represented potential witnesses and codefendants in his ongoing legal cases since 2020. The money represents about half of the operation’s legal expenses during that time. The OpenSecrets analysis, supported by the Fund, found ...
As part of Open Secrets’ ongoing investigation into the money behind election misinformation, reporters Olivia Buckley and Anna Massoglia charted the financial web of billionaire shipping supply magnates Richard “Dick” Uihlein and his wife, Elizabeth “Liz” Uihlein. With support from the Fund, the reporters showed how the couple has linked up with “dark money” groups, conservative super PACs, activists spreading ...
Following up on a June investigation that showed that Maine’s probate courts failed to closely track vulnerable adults under public guardianship, Samantha Hogan in Maine Monitor revealed that eight incapacitated people in the state’s care died during the past three years and authorities don’t know how. The adults, all under public guardianship, died of what medical examiners described as “undetermined” circumstances, while noting ...
As part of Honolulu Civil Beat’s investigation of the state’s system for removing children from their parents, reporter John Hill, with Fund support, told the story of a father who lost custody of his child because of allegations that he had abused him – and then three years later, the state government told him it had changed its mind. It ...
Natasha Gilbert investigated complaints of contaminated drinking water in Industry, Pa., a small community near Pittsburgh where residents have lived for years with murky drinking water. With support from the Fund, Gilbert exposed how companies have successfully lobbied to prevent tighter controls on manganese – a potentially toxic metal – in drinking water. Research shows that manganese in drinking water ...
In a related story for Circle of Blue, a news non-profit, Schneider chronicled the story of a community of Minnesota farmers whose cancer cluster may be linked to overuse of chemicals. Among the four families who lived for decades along one country road, 12 people developed cancer and seven died. Though the causes are not proven, a key suspect is believed ...
In the latest in his series on “Big Ag” and water pollution, veteran reporter Keith Schneider examined how taxpayer-funded public universities have played a major role in encouraging the over-use of fertilizer. Recommendations from a federal scientist, later refined at the University of Minnesota and other Corn Belt universities, encourage farmers to overuse commercial fertilizer and manure in the 10-state ...
America’s two-decade military occupation devastated Afghanistan’s environment in ways that may never be fully addressed, Lynzy Billing reported for New Lines magazine. With support from the Fund, Billing found American and allied military forces, mostly other NATO members, repeatedly used munitions that can leave a toxic footprint. These weapons introduced known carcinogens, teratogens and genotoxins – toxic substances that can ...
Journalist Laura Trethewey, with support from the Fund, published The Deepest Map, which chronicles the quest to map the last mysterious place on earth – the global seafloor – and tells the story of the private explorers, investors, militaries and mappers who are making that a reality. Trethewey’s reporting uncovered the role that the Nippon Foundation, Japan’s largest philanthropic organization ...