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The Color of Debt: How Collection Suits Squeeze Black Neighborhoods

In a first-of-its-kind analysis, ProPublica reveals that the suits are far more common in black communities than white ones.
Trekking With Refugees Across Europe: An Up-Close View
Your Smart Home Knows a Lot About You
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Has Your Health Professional Received Drug Company Money?

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ProPublica Is Hiring a Reporting Fellow

ProPublica is seeking a reporting fellow to join our newsroom and do great work.

Dealmakers Drop a Plan to Divert Millions from the Health Insurance of Retired Coal Miners

A bankruptcy plan for Patriot Coal Corp. would have thrown into question the medical coverage of 208 miners, wives and widows.

Bill Would Add Nurses, Physician Assistants to Pharma Payments Database

Drugmakers disclose their payments to doctors, dentists, even chiropractors. But spending on nurse practitioners and physician assistants is excluded. Legislation in the Senate would change that.

What Can Be Done Right Now to Fix the Legal System for Debt Collection

America’s out-of-date, unfair laws for collecting debts could be dramatically improved by these simple steps.

The Color of Debt

The black neighborhoods where collection suits hit hardest

How We Analyzed Racial Disparity in Debt Collection Lawsuits

An explanation of how we analyzed whether debt collection lawsuits disproportionately impact black communities.

Our Rebuttal to RAND’s Critique of Surgeon Scorecard

The think tank claims Scorecard’s methods aren’t reliable, but its commentary is undermined by supposition, conflicts of interest and a lack of evidence.

Verizon’s Zombie Cookie Gets New Life

Verizon is merging its cellphone tracking supercookie with AOL’s ad tracking network to match users’ online habits with their offline details.

An Arrest, a Suicide, a Year Later: The Lasting Tragedy of Kalief Browder

Podcast: New Yorker staff writer Jennifer Gonnerman discusses her reporting on a teenager who, after spending three years on Rikers Island without being convicted of a crime, took his own life.

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Major Projects

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Level 14

How a home for troubled children came undone and what it means for California’s chance at reform.

11 Stories in the Series. Latest:

Troubled California Group Home to Close

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Our Rebuttal to RAND’s Critique of Surgeon Scorecard

Our Rebuttal to RAND’s Critique of Surgeon Scorecard

The think tank claims Scorecard’s methods aren’t reliable, but its commentary is undermined by supposition, conflicts of interest and a lack of evidence.

See entire series

Red Cross

How one of the country’s most venerated charities has failed disaster victims, broken promises and made dubious claims of success.

25 Stories in the Series. Latest:

Senator Wants Names of Red Cross Officials Who Didn’t Cooperate With Government Inquiry

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What Can Be Done Right Now to Fix the Legal System for Debt Collection

What Can Be Done Right Now to Fix the Legal System for Debt Collection

America’s out-of-date, unfair laws for collecting debts could be dramatically improved by these simple steps.

See entire series

Killing the Colorado

The Colorado River is dying – the victim of legally sanctioned overuse, the relentless forces of urban growth, willful ignorance among policymakers and a misplaced confidence in human ingenuity. ProPublica investigates the policies that are putting this precious resource in peril.

10 Stories in the Series. Latest:

Amid Drought, California Experiments With Leasing Water Rights

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Insult to Injury

Driven by big business and insurers, states nationwide are dismantling workers’ compensation, slashing benefits to injured workers and making it more difficult for them to get care. Meanwhile employers are paying the lowest rates for workers’ comp insurance since the 1970s.

14 Stories in the Series. Latest:

ProPublica Partners With Beacon to Promote Workers’ Comp Reporting

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