Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
Officials Say the Darndest Things
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N.Y. Congressman Will Reimburse Costs for $22,000 Taiwan trip
Democrat Bill Owens said he "did not understand" that contacts between his office and lobbyists for the Taiwan government who helped arranged the trip could be in violation of House ethics rules.
Top MuckReads: Toxic Chemicals, Sexual Abuse and ‘Hiroshima’ War Tactics
The best watchdog journalism of the past week.
Lobbyists Arranged N.Y. Congressman’s $20,000 Trip To Taiwan
Four-day Visit by Rep. Bill Owens and Wife Was Set Up by Ex-Sen. Al D’Amato’s Firm; House Ethics Rules Forbid Participation In Lobbyist-Organized Trips.
Timeline: How Obama Compares to Bush on Torture, Surveillance and Detention
As the terrain and debate around national security shifts, we took a look back at some of the most controversial elements of George W. Bush’s national security policy, to see how much has changed under Obama – and how much has stayed the same.
American Pain Foundation Shuts Down as Senators Launch Investigation of Prescription Narcotics
Sens. Baucus and Grassley demand evidence of financial support from the drug industry to nonprofit groups that advocate use of opioid painkillers, including the newly defunct American Pain Foundation.
40 Acres and a Rule: Draft Federal Fracking Regs Cover Only A Sliver of Land
The Obama administration’s newly proposed fracking rules contain some strong measures but apply to only a fraction of the country
At Last! After 15 Years, Govt Tells Phone Companies to Follow Low-Price Rule for Schools
Following years of neglect and a ProPublica story last week, regulators are about to tell phone companies to comply with a rule that they charge bargain rates to schools.
The Best, Most Disgusting Reporting on Food Safety
Because really — what could be more important than the food on your plate?
Major Projects
Dollars for Doctors
How Industry Money Reaches Physicians
American Pain Foundation Shuts Down as Senators Launch Investigation of Prescription Narcotics
Sens. Baucus and Grassley demand evidence of financial support from the drug industry to nonprofit groups that advocate use of opioid painkillers, including the newly defunct American Pain Foundation.
Fracking
Gas Drilling's Environmental Threat
Vast deposits of natural gas have brought a drilling boom across much of the country, but the technique being used, called hydraulic fracturing, is suspected of causing hundreds of cases of water contamination. Now environmentalists and lawmakers are pushing for closer oversight of the gas industry, which is pushing back.
142 Stories in the Series. Latest:
New Study Predicts Frack Fluids Can Migrate to Aquifers Within Years
Post Mortem
Death Investigation in America
A year-long investigation into the nation’s 2,300 coroner and medical examiner offices uncovered a deeply dysfunctional system that quite literally buries its mistakes.
27 Stories in the Series. Latest:
Foreclosure Crisis
Banks and Government Fail Homeowners
Systemic failures at the country’s banks and mortgage servicers have exacerbated the most severe foreclosure crisis since the Great Depression, making it extremely difficult for struggling homeowners to win a loan modification. Government efforts to limit the damage have fallen woefully short.
149 Stories in the Series. Latest:
10 Questions – And Answers – To Help You Understand the Foreclosure Crisis
Redistricting
How Powerful Interests Are Drawing You Out of a Vote
Opaque redistricting groups are being quietly bankrolled by corporations, unions and others to influence redistricting. They aim to help political allies—and in the process they’re hurting voters.
17 Stories in the Series. Latest:
California Congresswoman’s Redistricting Shenanigans Catch Eye of Ethics Committee
Presidential Pardons
Shades of Mercy
Pardon Attorney Torpedoes Plea for Presidential Mercy
The prosecutor and trial judge urged federal officials to commute Clarence Aaron's sentence, but the Justice Department had other ideas.
The Wall Street Money Machine
As investors left the housing market in the run-up to the meltdown, Wall Street sliced up and repackaged troubled assets based on those shaky mortgages, often buying those new packages themselves. That created fake demand, hid the banks’ real exposure, increased their bonuses — and ultimately made the mortgage crisis worse.
38 Stories in the Series. Latest:
Four Whistleblowers Who Sounded the Alarm on Banks' Mortgage Shenanigans