Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
This year, ProPublica investigated racial disparities in the child welfare system, the “wild west” of unregulated prenatal tests, junk science like 911 call analysis and more. Here are the best visuals from our investigations in 2022.
Following our reporting, a federal agency says that a proposed grain elevator in Louisiana could harm a historic plantation and asks why a report was changed to minimize discussion of possible damage.
Making data public isn’t enough when it’s incomprehensible to the people it affects. ProPublica set out to decode a complex EPA data set to expose hot spots of industrial air pollution across the U.S.
After Hurricane Katrina, struggling homeowners said, they were told not to worry about the fine print when they received grants to elevate their homes. Now the state is going after them because they did exactly that.
Through new and expansive assertions of privilege, Republican legislatures around the country are shielding their work on allegedly discriminatory voting maps to prevent the public from finding out how and why they made their decisions.
A ProPublica investigation found the U.S. lagging other developed nations in reducing the number of stillbirths. Lawmakers say increased funding will be key to any improvement.
From a rubber plantation in Southeast Asia to a repair shop in Mississippi, the story of a tire highlights the turmoil of the post-pandemic economy and its uncertain future.
A ProPublica analysis of 313 studies conducted by the agency’s inspector general in recent years shows repeated failures in behavioral care. The breakdowns have had fatal consequences.
A whistleblower says a plan to build a grain elevator on an old plantation would disrupt important historic sites, and that her firm tried to bury her findings.
State audits point to troubling conditions in juvenile detention centers, but no agency has strong enough oversight to bring about change.
FEMA told survivors of the largest wildfire in New Mexico history that it aimed to put temporary housing on their land. But because of its strict, slow-moving bureaucracy, that has happened only twice.
The Badger Mountain solar project reveals gaps in the state’s permitting system that tribal nations say perpetuates a legacy of “cultural genocide.”
Federal relief had improved access to child care. But when funding expired, the state rejected proposals to replace it. Some advocates say the historical influence of the LDS church has added to the resistance.
Lauren Davila made a stunning discovery as a graduate student at the College of Charleston: an ad for a slave auction larger than any historian had yet identified. The find yields a new understanding of the enormous harm of such a transaction.
Never-before-seen IRS records show that CEOs are sometimes making multimillion-dollar bets on the stocks of direct competitors and partners — and doing so with exquisite timing.
Rhonda Fratzke’s oncologist asked if she had ever worked with vinyl chloride, a potent carcinogen. She had not, but she lived near a Westlake Chemical plant that was just fined a million dollars for polluting the air with the dangerous chemical.
The EPA announced a raft of targeted actions and specific reforms in the wake of ProPublica’s investigation into toxic hot spots.
Catastrophes don’t affect all Americans equally. We want to hear about your experiences applying for aid and paying for flood insurance.
College students arrested. A parking lot altercation. A retired teacher waking up to a broken window. Events at a school district in Conway, Arkansas, illustrate the alarming trend of unrest at school board meetings across the country.
Even as the Republican Attorneys General Association has leaned further into promoting Trumpism and sowing doubt about U.S. elections, major sponsors including Amazon, Walmart and Home Depot have resumed their contributions to the group.
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.
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter.
As other countries outlawed asbestos, workers in a New York plant were “swimming” in it. Now, in a fight against the chemical industry, the United States may finally ban the potent carcinogen. But help may come too late.
An abortion ban struck down. The lone female justice retiring. And a majority-male legislature rallying behind the one male candidate to replace her. This is how South Carolina ended up with an all-male Supreme Court as new abortion legislation looms.
Video showed the officer, who has been named in at least nine excessive force lawsuits, grabbing the woman by her hair and slamming her to the ground. The sheriff now says the actions were justified and the woman is “looking for a paycheck.”
Lawmakers introduced a House bill to fund air monitoring after ProPublica highlighted pollution in its “Black Snow” and “Sacrifice Zones” investigations. The bill is nearly identical to one introduced in the Senate last summer.
Phyllis Taylor’s company is responsible for the longest-running oil spill in U.S. history. That’s been a disaster for the Gulf of Mexico — but a tax bonanza for Taylor.
In Louisiana, law enforcement agencies have been accused of targeting Hispanic drivers in traffic stops and identifying them as white on tickets. Misidentification makes it impossible to track racial bias, experts say.
The world’s largest chemical maker, BASF, produces ingredients for America’s most popular products, from soaps to surface cleaners to dishwasher detergent. Emissions from their U.S. plants elevate cancer risks for an estimated 1.5 million people.
ProPublica found more than 1,000 hot spots of toxic air pollution across the country, and determined Black residents were disproportionately at risk. Environmental experts called the EPA’s response to our investigation historic and a “radical change in tone.”
Police can arrest people for “cover charges,” like resisting arrest, to justify their use of excessive force and shield themselves from liability. In Jefferson Parish, 73% of the time someone is arrested on a “cover charge” alone, they’re Black.
Despite years of complaints against the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, the DOJ has not stepped in to help. Following our investigation, the ACLU renews the call to action and has asked the DOJ to launch an investigation.
The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis.
La EPA permite a los contaminadores que conviertan barrios en “zonas de sacrificio” donde los residentes respiran carcinógenos. ProPublica revela dónde están esos lugares en un mapa, el primero de este tipo, y con análisis de datos.
The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus called the practice of sending infected coronavirus patients home to die “disturbing” after ProPublica found that one New Orleans hospital system had done so numerous times.
The cemetery’s disappearance cleared the way for the expansion of a Microsoft data center, despite layers of federal and state regulations nominally intended to protect culturally significant sites.
For decades, federal safety regulators ignored credible scientific research and failed to take simple steps to stop gruesome roadway crashes involving heavy trucks. Meanwhile, the bodies piled up.
The announcement comes two months after an investigation by ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News detailed the deadly cost of the government’s failure to regulate portable generators.
Tracing the fallacy of 911 call analysis through the justice system, from Quantico to the courtroom.
The high-profile children’s hospital uses donor money to engage in long and costly legal battles over wills. Here’s how St. Jude has created one of the most lucrative charitable bequest programs in the country.
From a powerful chemical industry that helped write the toxic substances law to an underfunded EPA lacking in resolve, the flaws in the American chemical regulatory apparatus run deep.
Portable generators are among the deadliest consumer products. Two decades after the government identified the danger, people are left vulnerable by a system that lets the industry regulate itself.
One in three Black children in Maricopa County, Arizona, faced a child welfare investigation over a five-year period, leaving many families in a state of dread. Some parents are pushing back.
Black residents of Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish have long accused the Sheriff’s Office of targeting them. A new video, which shows a deputy slamming a Black woman’s head into the ground, raises more questions.
ICE helps maintain the status quo of prolonged detentions by releasing immigrants without having their cases vindicated in court, according to a new report.
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