Some of the best #MuckReads we read this week. Want to receive these by email? Sign up to get this briefing delivered to your inbox every weekend.
Machine Bias, ProPublica
Fab story on a mystery algorithim used in courts that gets it wrong for whites and blacks. But not in the same way. https://t.co/lX2FCA7fRJ
— T. Christian Miller (@txtianmiller) May 24, 2016
Can algorithms be biased? There is an algorithm being used across the country to predict criminal conduct. Turns out it's nearly twice as likely to "falsely flag black defendants as future criminals" than white defendants.
Making The Grades, Buzzfeed
This story is just nuts: @mollyhc on a CA college that faked grades and flipped its student body to 99% foreigners https://t.co/lxPdILdrUf
— Shani O. Hilton (@shani_o) May 26, 2016
In 1991, Northwestern Polytechnic University in California had just 16 students. Today, the school boasts a student body of more than 6,000, with virtually all of the students coming from overseas. This investigation asserts that NPU has turned itself into an "upmarket visa mill" and inflated – or made up – grades to allow students to stay in the country.
America's atomic vets: 'We were used as guinea pigs – every one of us', Reveal
Wild story by @j_la28 on the *hundreds of thousands* of veterans exposed to nuclear tests: https://t.co/P0zl7D9DzRpic.twitter.com/YyKOIStKQf
— Cole Goins (@colegoins) May 27, 2016
In the years following World War II, "the U.S. detonated 200 above-ground and undersea nuclear bombs," according to this story. As many as 400,000 veterans, as a result, may have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiations. Many of those veterans today are still fighting – for recognition of the risks they faced and compensation for the harm they suffered.
'On Like Donkey Kong': How a Dubious Super PAC Boosted a Questionable Penny Stock, ProPublica
A convicted stock market fraudster I talked to for this story told me he wished he'd gone into super PACs instead https://t.co/hSTVWwmalN
— Robert Faturechi (@RobertFaturechi) May 27, 2016
Following Hillary Clinton's announcement that she would seek the Democratic nomination for president, the stock of a small publicly traded company that once built beer pong tables soared twelve-fold in value in a month. The story behind that rise illustrates one of the many problems spawned by loose regulations of super PACs.
#MuckReads Local
A Failure of Oversight, APM Reports
A Failure of Oversight: State, county and federal supervision didn't convey worry about Mesabi Academy https://t.co/oSs1AXK52T#muckreads
— APM Reports (@apmreports) May 26, 2016
Hospital drugs leading to hospital highs, 9News
Rock solid investigation here on drug diversions and missing fentanyl in Denver: https://t.co/BMuOrwVvKj by @chrisvanderveen#muckreads
— Nick Penzenstadler (@npenzenstadler) May 24, 2016
