From Emma Jacobs of WHYY – Philadelphia, the story of traffic checkpoints used to catch undocumented immigrants. An excerpt: “Thomas Decker, the head of ICE’s regional enforcement and removal operations, said that during operations such as those in Norristown, immigration officials exercise independent judgment in each case. ‘Once we determine alienage, then is it somebody that falls into a priority. ...
From City Limits, a report on New York campaign consultants who help elect, then lobby their candidates. An excerpt: “The firms that both consult and lobby turn the typical pay-to-play concerns of government watchdogs on their head. The issue here is not who’s giving money to a campaign, but who’s receiving candidates’ money—in exchange for valuable help. Consultants are, according to ...
From D.B. Grady and Marc Ambinder, an investigation into secrecy and leaks, based on thousands of recently declassified documents and interviews with more than one hundred officials. From the book jacket: “Real secrets can’t be kept, trivial ones are held forever, and sensitive ones are far too susceptible to political manipulation.” An excerpt from Chapter One: “With so many secret keepers, ...
From Shawn Musgrave for the Boston Globe, concerns about the privacy of law abiding motorists whose whereabouts are tracked by the expanding reach of law enforcement technology. An excerpt from the article: “… high-tech license readers, now mounted on 87 police cruisers statewide, scan literally millions of license plates in Massachusetts each year, not only checking the car and owner’s legal ...
From Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer, the story of an aggressive federal immigration policy that fills the cells of privately run prisons. An excerpt from Wilder’s report: “Instead of simply detaining undocumented immigrants who have done nothing more than cross the border and sending them out of the country or releasing them, the U.S. government would now file criminal charges and ...
Journalist and author Brad Tyer moved to Montana for the picture-postcard scenery, looking for pristine waters where he could set down a canoe. What he found was entirely different. From the book: “I gradually began to gather that the Clark Fork [River] wasn’t quite what I thought it was. The river I had shadowed on my drive in had long ...
From VTDigger in Vermont, the story of a project that would lure foreign investors with the prospect of US residency – on hold after running into trouble with Vermont authorities. An excerpt from the article by Nat Rudarakanchana and Anne Galloway: “Last spring, state officials became aware that a key participant in the project recently stepped down from a leadership role in ...
From Madeline Ostrander, reporting for The Nation, the story of California’s Cap-and-Trade program, and whether it will be fair to communities suffering from the state’s worst air pollution. Excerpts: “California has been nearly alone in its efforts to curtail greenhouse gases, after attempts to pass federal climate legislation collapsed in Congress in 2010 and several states abandoned plans to pursue ...
From Leah Samuel for PublicSource, the story of “Lottery Losers” and broken promises to use a substantial portion of Lottery proceeds for programs that assist the elderly. An excerpt: “Lottery ticket sales have increased by five percent over the past five years, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery. But funding has decreased overall for county agencies that are supposed to receive lottery proceeds, resulting ...
From Rome, Jason Berry reports for GlobalPost on the battle between the Catholic Church leadership, and the nuns in the United States. In a series of reports entitled, “A New Inquisition: The Vatican’s Investigation of American Nuns,” Berry reports that the Bishops investigating US nuns have poor records on sex abuse cases and that disinformation permeates the Vatican crackdown. From his series: ...