Here are this week's top must-read stories from #MuckReads, ProPublica's ongoing collection of the best watchdog journalism. Anyone can contribute by tweeting a link to a story and just including the hashtag #MuckReads or by sending an email to MuckReads@ProPublica.org. The best submissions are selected by ProPublica's editors and reporters and then featured on our site and @ProPublica.

Falsified Records Are Untold Story of California Nursing Home Care, The Sacramento Bee

At California nursing homes, neglect and mistreatment are often covered up by phony paperwork. In a review of 150 court cases, The Bee found a pattern of false accounts of medications and treatments given, signed by nurses who weren’t on duty or who didn’t exist.

Contributed by @DanielMorain

NYPD Eyed U.S. Citizens In Intel Effort, The Associated Press

New documents provide a glimpse into the NYPD’s program for monitoring Muslim communities. Residents in one Moroccan neighborhood, many of them U.S. citizens, were scrutinized as they engaged in all aspects of daily life. You can dive into the documents yourself.

Contributed by @AzmatZahra

Countrywide Protected Fraudsters By Silencing Whistleblowers, Say Former Employees, iWatch News

According to former employees at what was one of the country’s largest mortgage lenders, executives knew that paperwork was being doctored on a regular basis. Employees who expressed concern about these practices say they were punished, intimidated, or fired.

Contributed by @emmanator

Drug Deaths Now Outnumber Traffic Fatalities In U.S., Data Show, The Los Angeles Times

A review of government data shows that drug deaths have doubled over the past ten years, fueled in part by the booming prescription drug trade. For the first time since 1979, drugs have killed more people than car crashes.

Contributed by @shelbygrad

Inside Amazon’s Warehouse, The Morning Call

Former workers at one Amazon.com warehouse say it would get so stiflingly hot inside, paramedics would wait outside during summer. The situation got bad enough that a local emergency room doctor reported the facility to federal regulators after treating a string of warehouse workers.

Contributed by @KYWeise

Paralyzed Oregon Man, Living On $22,000 A Month And Able To Pay, Fights Foreclosure, The Oregonian

This is the story of one man’s Kafkaesque mortgage nightmare: Days after Bank of America told Robert Galanida it was investigating a discrepancy in his home loan and that he could withhold payments in the meantime, the bank moved his home into foreclosure. Though he had the money to pay, the bank quickly sold his home and moved to evict him.

Contributed by @writeo

S.E.C. Hid Its Lawyer’s Madoff Ties, The New York Times

According to an S.E.C. report released this week, an agency lawyer working on Bernard Madoff’s case had inherited $2 million from a Madoff account. The report singles out the lawyer’s role in deciding how Madoff victims would be compensated, a decision which would affect his own personal finances.

Contributed by @paulkiel

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