Archive - Illinois
Big Insurance Met Its Match When It Turned Down a Top Trial Lawyer’s Request for Cancer Treatment
Blue Cross and Blue Shield denied payment for the proton therapy Robert “Skeeter” Salim’s doctor ordered to fight his throat cancer. But he was no ordinary patient. He was a celebrated litigator. And he was ready to fight.
Here’s What Can Happen When Kids Age Out of Foster Care
Two teens aged out of New Mexico’s child welfare system last year. This photo essay shows how different their lives have become.
The EPA Has Found More Than a Dozen Contaminants in Drinking Water but Hasn’t Set Safety Limits on Them
The inaction on regulating contaminants — including those that likely cause cancer, reproductive or developmental issues — found in the water of millions of Americans illustrates shortcomings in the U.S. response to environmental threats, say experts.
Los Angeles Mayor Orders Residential Hotels to Be Used for Temporary Homeless Housing
A 2008 city law intended hotels used as primary residences to be preserved as safety-net housing. But with little enforcement, some landlords had turned their buildings into tourist hotels.
The Scandal That Never Happened
The all-white judges of Louisiana’s 5th Circuit Court of Appeal systematically ignored thousands of claims from prisoners, most of them Black, who said they had been wrongly convicted. Efforts to expose the decadelong injustice went unheard.
The Supreme Court Will Decide if Domestic Abuse Orders Can Bar People From Having Guns. Lives Could Be at Stake.
The court’s ruling on United States v. Rahimi could clarify an earlier decision on guns. Or it could take away one of the best options to protect domestic violence victims. In states like Tennessee, the consequences could be deadly.
“The Night Doctrine”: ProPublica’s First Animated Documentary Traces Reporting on Afghanistan’s Zero Units
In 2022, reporter Lynzy Billing wrote a powerful investigation into squads of deadly commandos who had killed hundreds of Afghan civilians. “The Night Doctrine” is a short, animated documentary following her reporting.
A Texas Billionaire’s Associates Are Trying to Sink a School Tax Election via Their Dark Money Nonprofit
Tim Dunn’s public policy groups have helped ensure that tax hike language is attached to school bonds in the state. Now, that language is being used to undercut support for a bond in his hometown of Midland.
UC Berkeley Takes Significant Step to Repatriate 4,400 Native American Human Remains
It would be the largest repatriation by far at an institution that holds more than 9,000 ancestral remains and has lagged behind in returning its holdings under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
People Who Used Recalled Philips Breathing Machines Face Painful Choices
The devices at their bedsides were lifelines, until they learned the foam inside could break down and make them sick. Now, they’re plagued by illness, lost sleep and worry.
A Sweeping Report on a Michigan School Shooting Finds Multiple Failures and a Troubled Aftermath
Parents, already shaken by the fatal incident at Oxford High School, lost confidence in the school district when it hesitated to find and acknowledge accountability for the 2021 shooting.
This Billion-Dollar Plan to Save Salmon Depends on a Giant Fish Vacuum
Many endorse opening dams and letting fish coast the natural current as the best way to avoid extinction. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has other ideas.
¿El plan secreto del partido republicano para proteger los mapas electorales manipulados? Reclamar privilegios legales.
Las legislaturas republicanas en todo el país están blindando su labor en los mapas electorales presuntamente discriminatorios para que el público no se entere de cómo ni porqué hicieron sus decisiones.
In 2018, We Reported on an Abusive Cop. He Was Just Sentenced to a Year in Prison.
Five years after ProPublica and the South Bend Tribune partnered to investigate police misconduct in Elkhart, Indiana, reporter Ken Armstrong reflects on the incremental but powerful impact journalism can have on communities.
Top Philips Executive Approved Sale of Defective Breathing Machines by Distributors, Despite Tests Showing Health Risks
Philips argued in court that its U.S. subsidiary should be responsible for damages caused by its CPAP machines and ventilators. Patients’ attorneys say safety decisions were made at the Dutch company’s highest levels.
Secrecy Shields Powerful Adults in Our Juvenile Justice Systems. Kids Showed Me What’s Really Happening.
The three years I spent working on “The Kids of Rutherford County” podcast taught me one thing: Tennessee’s punitive policies aren’t leaving children in the legal system better off.
Los trabajadores de las granjas lecheras de Wisconsin están muriendo. Muchas de las muertes no son investigadas.
A veces la OSHA investiga las muertes en granjas pequeñas si éstas proveen viviendas a los trabajadores inmigrantes. En otras ocasiones, la agencia dice que no puede hacer nada.
