Featured Stories

Pollution Profiteers

Lawsuit Reveals New Allegations Against PG&E Contractor Accused of Fraud

Former PG&E employees are accused of taking bribes to funnel business to a waste-hauling company.

by Scott Morris, Bay City News Foundation

The Murder Chicago Didn’t Want to Solve

In 1963, a Black politician named Ben Lewis was shot to death in Chicago. Clues suggest the murder was a professional hit. Decades later, it remains no accident authorities never solved the crime.

by Mick Dumke

Sheryl Sandberg and Top Facebook Execs Silenced Enemy of Turkey to Prevent Hit to Company’s Business

Amid a 2018 Turkish military campaign, Facebook ultimately sided with Turkey’s demand to block the page of a mostly Kurdish militia. “I am fine with this,” Sandberg wrote.

by Jack Gillum and Justin Elliott

“Power Companies Get Exactly What They Want”: How Texas Repeatedly Failed to Protect Its Power Grid Against Extreme Weather

Texas regulators and lawmakers knew about the grid’s vulnerabilities for years, but time and again they furthered the interests of large electricity providers.

by Jeremy Schwartz, Kiah Collier and Vianna Davila

COVID-19

Featured Reporting on the Crisis

Why We Can’t Make Vaccine Doses Any Faster

President Biden has promised enough doses for all American adults by this summer. There’s not much even the Defense Production Act can do to deliver doses before then.

by Isaac Arnsdorf and Ryan Gabrielson

Cuomo Still Underreporting the Total Count of COVID Nursing Home Deaths

The governor finally released data on nursing home cases after lawsuits and demands from lawmakers, but hundreds of presumed COVID-19 deaths have yet to be included in the state's official total.

by Joe Sexton

Resources

Coronavirus Contracts: Tracking Federal Purchases to Fight the Pandemic

Tracking PPP Loans: Search Every Company Approved for Federal Loans

What Coronavirus Job Losses Reveal About Racism in America

ProPublica’s COVID-19 Stories Win Polk Award for Health Reporting

by ProPublica

Lawyers Who Were Ineligible to Handle Serious Criminal Charges Were Given Thousands of These Cases Anyway

In the only state with no public defenders, people charged with murder and other serious crimes can get assigned attorneys who are legally ineligible to take on their cases. The state claims it was unaware.

by Samantha Hogan, The Maine Monitor, and Agnel Philip, ProPublica

Mueren en la lista de espera

En el condado de Los Ángeles, y en todo el país, médicos han tenido que decidir quién recibe un tratamiento para COVID-19 que salva vidas, y quién no.

por David Armstrong y Marshall Allen

Dying on the Waitlist

In Los Angeles County and around the country, doctors have had to decide who gets a lifesaving COVID-19 treatment and who doesn’t.

by David Armstrong and Marshall Allen

Richard Tofel to Retire as ProPublica President; Board Launches Search for Successor

ProPublica

People Over 75 Are First in Line to Be Vaccinated Against COVID-19. The Average Black Person Here Doesn’t Live That Long.

Prioritizing COVID-19 vaccinations for people 75 and up can leave out Black Americans, who tend to die younger than their white counterparts. In majority-Black Shelby County, this gap raises questions of how to make the vaccine rollout equitable.

by Wendi C. Thomas and Hannah Grabenstein, MLK50: Justice Through Journalism

ProPublica’s “NYPD Files” Wins John Jay College/Harry Frank Guggenheim Award for Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting

by ProPublica

Fauci: Vaccines for Kids as Young as First Graders Could Be Authorized by September

For this to happen by the start of the next school year, trials need to prove the vaccine is safe and effective in children. Experts say manufacturers aren’t moving quickly enough.

by Caroline Chen

Utility Companies Owe Millions to This State Regulatory Agency. The Problem? The Agency Can’t Track What It’s Owed.

When a whistleblower alleged that $200 million was missing from the California Public Utilities Commission, the agency says it took steps to collect. Yet an audit uncovered more missing money and cited flaws in the agency’s accounting system.

by Scott Morris, Bay City News Foundation

Megan O’Matz Joins ProPublica’s Midwest Newsroom

by ProPublica

Twenty-Six Words Created the Internet. What Will It Take to Save It?

Jeff Kosseff wrote the book on Section 230, the law that gave us the internet we have today. He talks with ProPublica Editor-in-Chief Stephen Engelberg about how we got here and how we should regulate our way out.

Stephen Engelberg

Two ProPublica Local Reporting Network Projects Named Finalists for Shadid Award for Journalism Ethics

by ProPublica

How We Found Pricey Provisions in New Jersey Police Contracts

ProPublica and the Asbury Park Press scoured hundreds of police union agreements for details on publicly funded payouts to cops.

by Agnes Chang, Jeff Kao and Agnel Philip, ProPublica, and Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press

How the Police Bank Millions Through Their Union Contracts

The public funds six-figure “sick day” payouts, $2,500 “perfect attendance” bonuses and lucrative “extra duty” assignments identified in a ProPublica, Asbury Park Press analysis of New Jersey police union contracts.

by Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press, and Agnes Chang, Jeff Kao and Agnel Philip, ProPublica

Hawaii’s Beaches Are Disappearing. New Legislation Could Help ... if It’s Enforced.

A legal loophole allowed wealthy property owners to protect their real estate at the expense of Hawaii’s coastlines. Now, the state Legislature is considering bills to crack down on the destructive practices, but questions around enforcement remain.

by Sophie Cocke, Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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