Carolina Public Press has launched a multi-part series examining “charge stacking” in North Carolina and its role in plea bargaining and disparities in sentencing. This is the practice prosecutors use to bring multiple charges against defendants to pressure them to plead guilty to some charges. With support from the Fund, Jacob Biba reported on the experience of Terence Smith, a ...
The federal Indian Child Welfare Act has enjoyed bipartisan support and is widely seen as the gold standard for U.S. child welfare systems. But it came under fire from a little-known network of attorneys, corporate law firms and conservative political organizations. Murat Oztaskin, with support from the Fund, examined these connections for the New York Review of Books, exposing ties ...
Writing for Grist, with support from the Fund, reporters Naveena Sadasivam, Clayton Aldern, Jessie Blaeser, and Chad Small documented so-called “excess emissions,” the intentional and at times inevitable pollution emitted beyond levels allowed by government permits. From petrochemical refineries on the Gulf Coast to oil and gas wells in West Texas, hundreds of polluting facilities routinely spew millions more pounds of chemicals ...
Rejecting a plea deal can mean life behind bars and minorities often bear the brunt, grantee reports
Carolina Public Press, with support from the Fund, has launched a probe of “charge stacking,” a method prosecutors use to pressure suspects to plead guilty and avoid a trial. Reporter Jacob Biba looked into the case of Terence Smith, a Black 17-year-old who faced two charges for his alleged role in an armed robbery and a failed drug deal. Smith, ...
During Investigate Midwest’s continuing probe of Seresto pet collars and deaths and injuries to dogs and cats linked to the collar, which repel and kill pests, reporters Johnathan Hettinger of Investigate Midwest and Emily LeCoz of USA Today were puzzled by the lack of response from veterinarians after the stories were published. With support from the Fund, the reporters kept ...
Pittsburgh’s public schools system has doubled the amount of overtime it is paying to staff, and it has made no progress in increasing staff diversity, reporter Lajja Mistry of Public Source found, with support from the Fund. Public Source also analyzed payroll data and found that white employees are paid about $19,000 more than Black employees, on average. ...
Working from a tip from a couple fighting a conservatorship for their elderly relative in southeast Mississippi, reporter Jimmie E. Gates found systemic problems with the state’s system that allows non-related individuals to be appointed to make medical, financial and personal decisions for people who are elderly or disabled. Writing for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting with support from ...
The company providing health care in Illinois prisons was the subject of several confidential court settlements about complaints of poor care, even as it held the $1.4 billion state contract for prison health care, Clarissa Donnelly-DeRoven found in an investigation for the Chicago Reader, with support from the Fund. The company, Wexford Health Services, has worked with the Illinois state ...
Speculators have rushed to the Western U.S. to mine for lithium, a sought-after metal that is used in electric-car batteries – but many of the companies involved intend to stake a claim to land with lithium and sell the land, rather than actually mining it, reporter Alex Lubben reported with a grant and editorial support from the Fund. For Vice, ...
Grantee finds evidence that Wisconsin company is using prison labor in China to make workers’ gloves
Zhen Wang, who is working at Wisconsin Watch on the Fund’s Diversity Fellowship, found that prisoners in China’s central Hunan Province were forced to make Milwaukee Tool-branded work gloves under grueling conditions at Chisan Prison, earning pennies each day. A supplier for Milwaukee Tool subcontracted work to the prison, two former prisoners said in separate interviews conducted in Mandarin. Regulatory ...