For six months, FIJ grantee, Rachel M. Cohen investigated the D.C. charter school lobby, tracing the history of how the charter sector has evolved over the past two decades. Using public records requests, document leaks, countless interviews and hours of archival research, Cohen pieced together for Washington City Paper How Charter Schools Won D.C. Politics, a story of how federal intervention, ...
“Juiced,” a report by Will Carruthers and FIJ grantee Peter Byrne, looks at how California power giant PG&E oiled political machinery after the 2017 and 2018 California wildfires that killed more than 100 people and caused vast destruction in residential communities. PG&E was found responsible for the most lethal fire and is implicated in others. It is part of an ...
Journalist Suman Naishadham, writing in VICE, reports on the first federal prosecution of a female genital mutilation case in the U.S., and traces the surprisingly vexed history of the tradition here. The case has reignited a longstanding debate over what constitutes the practice and how best to handle it. Secrecy around the issue in America means there is little data ...
A two-year investigation by The Voice of San Diego of sexual misconduct by teachers and other public school employees found that the employees seldom face termination, but often leave with hush deals that protect reputations and enable them to continue working in education.Records obtained show some teachers were quietly reprimanded for years as complaints piled up. Other times, school districts ...
A Los Angeles woman who alleges that her doctor raped her at home five years ago has tried in vain to get “people search” sites such as MyLife and Spokeo to stop posting her address, to no avail. The California Consumer Privacy Act, a statute approved last year and scheduled to become law in January 2020, could help victims like ...
Julie Grant, with The Allegheny Front, a Pittsburgh-based public media news outlet, examined how Ohio agencies are reacting when residents, landowners, and activists raise concerns about the oil and gas industry in their communities. Grant produced Who’s Listening, a 4-part public radio and online package for stations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Story 1: Some Ohio Citizens Who Complained ...
In 2017, the U.S. Navy scraped the hull of the decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Independence directly into Puget Sound, dumping tons of toxic, copper-laden debris into Sinclair Inlet near Bremerton, Washington. Now environmental groups, the Suquamish Tribe and the state of Washington seek to hold the Navy responsible for what they say is an “egregious violation” of water quality laws ...
The Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs investigates abuse and neglect in New York State facilities. But Alisa Partlan and Hella Winston found out the agency’s work procedures may be causing more harm to both residents and caregivers. They describe the Center’s flawed practices in their investigation Is the Justice Center just? published by City & ...
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra says his office is ill-equipped to prosecute violations of the state’s landmark data-privacy law, which takes effect in January, the San Francisco Public Press reported. Only a handful of the most egregious cases will be prosecuted per year. Instead, he wants aggrieved consumers to take violators to court on their own. The story was the ...
At the Los Angeles County Century regional detention facility for women, former and current inmates say prison deputies submit prisoners to a range of sexual abuse acts—from overt assault to more subtle misconduct. A recent federal audit found the jail, located in Lynwood, a small city adjacent to Compton and Watts, to be in violation of federal sexual safety laws, ...