How the Dominican Baseball Factory Traps Young Players
Teams make handshake deals with players as young as 11 while moneylenders prey on their families. The industry is corrupt, but Major League Baseball and the players union have done little about it.
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The Rising Baseball Star, a Fatal Car Crash and the Fixer
When an accident involving top prospect Oneil Cruz left three dead on a darkened road in the Dominican Republic, secret payoffs helped rescue his career and launched a shadowy business empire.
The Predatory Industry Behind MLB’s Dominican Superstar Pipeline
Major League Baseball built a pipeline in the Dominican Republic to scout superstars like David “Big Papi” Ortiz. But there’s an open secret: It enables an industry that financially exploits scores of kids and their families each year.
Vouchers Promise Students With Disabilities a Path to Private School. Parents Say That’s Not the Reality.
To give voucher programs a toehold in state legislatures, politicians touted how students with disabilities would gain access to private education. But those students’ families often have the hardest time finding schools that will accept them.
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How to Research Private Schools Like an Investigative Reporter
EPA to Loosen Methane Rules, Boosting Pollution From Oil and Gas Wells
The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing a rule that’ll drastically weaken restrictions on “stripper wells,” which tend to be old, poorly maintained and prone to leaking methane, the highly potent greenhouse gas.
25 Years After 9/11, Questions About the FBI’s Pursuit of Saudi Suspects in the Case Have Only Grown
FBI agents quickly identified a Saudi suspect who helped two of the 9/11 hijackers. But families of the victims are demanding to know what happened in the bureau’s investigation of Omar al-Bayoumi.
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Digging Into Omaha’s Lead Contamination
Omaha and the Environmental Protection Agency spent decades cleaning up dust from a lead smelter that poisoned residents. But the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica found that contamination remains.
The EPA Spent Millions Cleaning Up a Massive Superfund Site. Our Tests Found Toxic Levels of Lead in Many Yards.
The agency spent hundreds of millions on lead remediation in Omaha, Nebraska, home of the nation’s largest residential Superfund site. New soil tests by the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica show that many yards still have harmful levels of lead.
More Than Half the Homes in East Omaha Have Unsafe Lead Levels. That Doesn’t Mean the EPA Will Clean Them Up.
The EPA hasn’t reevaluated its cleanup guidelines for homes in a residential Superfund site in Omaha, Nebraska, in 17 years, despite research showing that even small amounts of lead can cause IQ loss in children and heart attacks in adults.
Lead Contamination Is Still a Problem in Omaha. Why Is the City Cleaning Up Some Yards and Not Others?
The EPA Doesn’t Typically Retest Homes in the Country’s Largest Residential Lead Superfund Site. So We Did.
The EPA Spent Millions Cleaning Up a Massive Superfund Site. Our Tests Found Toxic Levels of Lead in Many Yards.
Private Schools, Public Money
Inside America’s Unregulated Private School Boom
As private schools fueled by taxpayer-funded vouchers proliferate, the impacts are far reaching. States have little interest in monitoring them, and some parents are finding they won’t serve children with intensive needs.
This Private School Had Students Scrub Floors and Attack a Fellow Classmate. The State Still Funds It.
One of the few requirements for Arkansas private schools is that they have an American flag and a flagpole. But millions in state funds go to the largely unmonitored schools while complaints about safety and fraud have gone unanswered, parents say.
At “Quasi-Public” Private Schools, 100% of Students Get Tuition Vouchers. There’s Almost No Accountability.
Private schools — even those that are heavily dependent on taxpayer funding — often operate without the scrutiny public schools are subject to. Following the money at one Milwaukee private school reveals an opaque world with little oversight.
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Looking at Nursing Homes? See Which Ones Have Been Cited for Deficiencies
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Explore Financial Disclosures From President Trump and 1,600 of His Appointees
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