Featured Stories

How Unemployment Insurance Fraud Exploded During the Pandemic

Bots filing bogus applications in bulk, teams of fraudsters in foreign countries making phony claims, online forums peddling how-to advice on identity theft: Inside the infrastructure of perhaps the largest fraud wave in history.

by Cezary Podkul

“Don’t You Work With Old People?”: Many Elder-Care Workers Still Refuse to Get COVID-19 Vaccine

Amid a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” more than 40% of the nation’s nursing home and long-term health care workers have yet to receive vaccinations.

by Jenny Deam, Ryan Gabrielson and Bianca Fortis

Operation Fox Hunt

China sends covert teams abroad to bring back people accused — justifiably or not — of financial crimes. One New Jersey family was stalked as part of a global campaign that takes families hostage and pressures immigrants to serve as spies.

by Sebastian Rotella and Kirsten Berg

“We’re Not Allowed to Hang Up”: The Harsh Reality of Working in Customer Service

In their own voices, seven customer service representatives reveal what it’s like being caught between abusive callers and demanding employers.

by Ariana Tobin, Ken Armstrong and Justin Elliott, illustrations by Laila Milevski

COVID-19

Featured Reporting on the Crisis

A Postal Worker Begged for Stronger COVID-19 Protections. She Ended Up Spending Six Weeks in the Hospital.

The limited response to postal workers’ repeated appeals for help provides a window into the failures of two federal agencies: the Postal Service, which is one of the country’s largest employers, and OSHA, which is supposed to protect workers.

by Maryam Jameel

This Company Got a $10 Million PPP Loan, Then Closed Its Plant and Moved Manufacturing Jobs to Mexico

Many American businesses received millions in federal pandemic aid intended to protect workers, but exploited loopholes and rule changes to lay off those employees anyway.

by Lydia DePillis

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

Future of Program for Brain-Damaged Children Now Rests With Powerful Florida Official

Florida’s chief financial officer must name new board members for the Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Association, as his office undertakes an audit and an investigation prompted by our reporting.

by Carol Marbin Miller and Daniel Chang, Miami Herald

Tax-Funded Forest Institute in Oregon Misled Public, May Have Broken State Law, Audit Finds

State auditors found that an agency intended to educate the public about forestry presented biased information favoring the timber industry and possibly violated state law. The audit was prompted by our investigation last year into the agency.

by Rob Davis, The Oregonian/OregonLive, and Tony Schick, Oregon Public Broadcasting

GOP Legislators in Missouri Oppose Vaccine Efforts as State Becomes COVID Hotspot

Representative Bill Kidd joked that he didn’t get a vaccine because he’s a Republican. Now he has COVID.

by Jeremy Kohler

Campaign Spending at Trump Properties Down, but Not Out

New filings show federal political committees significantly scaled back spending at Trump-owned hotels and restaurants, though some loyalist campaigns remain.

by Derek Willis

Testing the Air to Tell a Story: How We Investigated Air Pollution Near Florida’s Sugar Fields

A look at the community engagement and citizen data-collection that made our major investigation in the Florida Glades come to life.

by Logan Jaffe

TurboTax-Maker Intuit Will Leave Free Tax Filing Partnership With IRS

The company’s decision throws the future of the Free File program, which was created as an alternative to an IRS free tax filing system, into doubt.

by Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel

State Attorneys General Push Federal Government to Follow the Law and Finally Create Side-Impact Tests for Kids’ Car Seats

A co-leader of a group of 18 attorneys general calls ProPublica’s story about the lack of side-impact tests for children’s booster seats “horrifying” and says it’s about time federal regulators stepped in to protect kids.

by Patricia Callahan

Have You Had Trouble Renting an Apartment and Don’t Understand Why? It Might Be Your Tenant Screening Score.

Did a tenant screening company, such as LeasingDesk, On-Site, Credco or RentGrow, send you a score or report? We want to understand their effect on tenants.

by Erin Smith and Heather Vogell

Democratic Senators Call for Investigation of Tax Avoidance by the Ultrawealthy

Calling ProPublica’s Secret IRS Files series a “bombshell,” Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Sheldon Whitehouse demanded an investigation into how the rich use “legal tax loopholes to avoid paying their fair share of income taxes.”

by Jesse Eisinger, Paul Kiel and Jeff Ernsthausen

County Officials in Texas Settle Lawsuit Alleging Mishandling of Sexual Assault Cases

Local agencies reform how they handle sexual assault allegations and pay compensation to survivors following a lawsuit and a 2018 investigation by Newsy, Reveal and ProPublica.

by Mark Greenblatt and Mark Fahey, Newsy

The Investigative Reporting Behind America’s Obsession With Britney Spears’ Conservatorship

Years ago, ProPublica Managing Editor Robin Fields investigated California conservatorships. Recently, she interviewed New York Times Senior Story Editor Liz Day about the reporting in the “Framing Britney Spears” documentary.

by Robin Fields

ProPublica Local Reporting Network Partner Amy Silverman Named Arizona Journalist of the Year

by ProPublica

The Smoke Comes Every Year. Sugar Companies Say the Air Is Safe.

To harvest more than half of America’s cane sugar, billion-dollar companies set fire to fields, a money-saving practice that’s being banned by other countries.

by Lulu Ramadan, The Palm Beach Post, and Ash Ngu and Maya Miller, ProPublica

Sugar Companies Said Our Investigation Is Flawed and Biased. Let’s Dive Into Why That’s Not the Case.

ProPublica and The Palm Beach Post published an investigation into the air quality in Florida’s heartland, where more than half the country’s cane sugar is harvested, often by burning the fields. Sugar companies challenged our reporting. We respond.

by Lulu Ramadan, The Palm Beach Post, and Maya Miller and Ash Ngu, ProPublica

The Billionaire Playbook: How Sports Owners Use Their Teams to Avoid Millions in Taxes

Owners like Steve Ballmer can take the kinds of deductions on team assets — everything from media deals to player contracts — that industrialists take on factory equipment.

by Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Ellis Simani

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