Local Reporting Network Archive
Inside Public Housing Where Cockroaches Drop From the Wall and Kids are Getting Sick
Illinois’ HUD inspection failure rate is among the worst in the nation. A housing authority has delayed replacing one property for more than a decade. As the need for public housing rises, conditions in the aging structures are deteriorating.
We Investigated Magistrates. Now, Lawmakers Want to Overhaul the System.
State lawmakers in South Carolina are proposing changes to how lower-court judges are selected after a Post and Courier-ProPublica investigation. The probe found a system that places connections over qualifications.
Sen. Chuck Grassley Wants a Hospital System That Sued Poor Patients to Explain Itself
After an investigation by MLK50 and ProPublica, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee criticized the practices of Memphis’ largest hospital system for aggressively suing low-income patients.
See How This Political Boss and His Associates Bought Up Valuable Land After A Tax Break Law
Camden’s waterfront sat vacant for decades, but George E. Norcross III helped to usher in lucrative tax breaks. The land went to his friends and allies. Now, federal investigators are looking into some of the deals.
Why Are Cops Around the World Using This Outlandish Mind-Reading Tool?
The creator of Scientific Content Analysis, or SCAN, says the tool can identify deception. Law enforcement has used his method for decades, even though there’s no reliable science behind it. Even the CIA and FBI have bought in.
Chemical Companies Are Building Their Plants Overseas and Shipping Them Back In. They Still Get State Tax Breaks.
Louisiana attracts chemical companies with one of the country’s most generous tax exemptions. The idea is to bring jobs to the state. Instead, construction often happens offsite, and automation has cut down on the jobs that remain.
These Cops are Supposed to Protect Rural Villages. They’re in the Suburbs Instead.
Many remote Alaska Native villages have no law enforcement at all. But state troopers can be found in wealthier, and mainly non-Native, suburbs, where growing communities have resisted paying for their own police department.
This Judge Is Married to the Sheriff. Ethics Complaints Have Piled Up.
Magistrate Angel Underwood was suspended after conflicts involving her husband, the sheriff. But she wasn’t required to disclose that before her reappointment this year. She’s still on the bench, and complaints say her conflicts have continued.
A Misplaced Breathing Tube Can Be Fatal. New Studies Suggest They Should Be Used Less Often.
EMS agencies perform intubations to help restore breathing to cardiac arrest patients. New studies show patients fare as well or better with less-invasive alternatives.
EMS Crews Brought Patients to the Hospital With Misplaced Breathing Tubes. None of Them Survived.
In the world of emergency medicine, an unrecognized esophageal intubation is a “never event,” meaning that it shouldn’t happen under any circumstances. In Rhode Island, it’s occurred 12 times in the last three years. In each case, the patient died.
He Defended the Confederate Flag and Insulted Immigrants. Now He’s a Judge.
Former state Rep. Mike Pitts made anti-immigrant and racially charged remarks seemingly at odds with South Carolina’s judicial code. He sailed through an appointment process as a magistrate nominee with little scrutiny and no debate.
This Doctors Group Is Owned by a Private Equity Firm and Repeatedly Sued the Poor Until We Called Them
After the Blackstone Group acquired one of the nation’s largest physician staffing firms in 2017, low-income patients faced far more aggressive debt collection lawsuits. They only stopped after ProPublica and MLK50 asked about it.
These Judges Can Have Less Training Than Barbers but Still Decide Thousands of Cases Each Year
South Carolina’s system for magistrate judges is unlike any state in the country, creating fertile ground for incompetence and corruption. Most aren’t lawyers, but their decisions can have lasting effects on the vulnerable people who come before them.
Health Officials in “Cancer Alley” Will Study if Living Near a Controversial Chemical Plant Causes Cancer
Louisiana officials will knock on every door within 2.5 kilometers of the only plant in the country that emits chloroprene, which the EPA calls a likely carcinogen. An analysis said the airborne cancer risk near the plant was the highest in the nation.
Separated by Design: Why Affordable Housing Is Built in Areas With High Crime, Few Jobs and Struggling Schools
Connecticut’s approach to affordable housing creates pockets of poverty, where low-income people are locked out of opportunities that are just around the corner.
New Jersey Political Boss Defends Tax Breaks, Denounces “King George” Critics
George E. Norcross III, facing a panel of friendly New Jersey lawmakers and a room of boisterous demonstrators, said the tax breaks had laid the groundwork for a “rapid and stunning renaissance” in Camden.
What Could Happen if a $9.4 Billion Chemical Plant Comes to “Cancer Alley”
In St. James Parish, Louisiana, a Taiwanese industrial giant seems likely to be granted a permit to build a billion-dollar plastics plant. Its proposed emissions could triple levels of cancer-causing chemicals in one of the most toxic areas of the U.S.
New EPA Rules Aim to Reduce Toxic Emissions. But Many “Cancer Alley” Chemical Plants Won’t Have to Change.
The proposed rules reducing emissions across the country would not apply to many of Louisiana’s chemical plants. These facilities release tons of dangerous, cancer-causing chemicals like ethylene oxide, and more plants are on the way.
We Investigated the Crisis in California’s Jails. Now, the Governor Calls for More Oversight.
Gov. Gavin Newsom wants the state to have more power to scrutinize local jails. This comes after a McClatchy and ProPublica investigation found the agency meant to oversee the jails is toothless and that some jail conditions are inhumane.
