Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
Here’s the dismal equation for food banks: Panic shopping and hoarding have led to supply shortages. Volunteers frightened of the virus have stopped showing up. And a newly jobless population has sent demand soaring.
Many states report coronavirus cases and COVID-19 hospitalizations differently, and the federal government is way behind on data tracking. Without consistent information, the U.S. won’t be able to properly respond as new coronavirus hot spots emerge.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a statewide stay-at-home order, though he declined to refer to it as such, that also designated religious services as essential. Some religious groups in Texas — it’s unclear just how many — are still welcoming parishioners.
Since 2007, the government had held off on releasing an official estimate of expectant and new mothers who died from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. It waited for the data to get better. But the new, long-anticipated number falls short.
Near America’s largest coal-fired power plant, toxins are showing up in drinking water and people have fallen ill. Thousands of pages of internal documents show how one giant energy company plans to avoid the cleanup costs.
El padrón electoral de Georgia ha aumentado en casi dos millones desde que el Tribunal Supremo de los EE. UU. invalidó la Ley de Derechos de Votación en 2013, pero los centros de votación se han reducido en casi un 10% y la zona metropolitana de Atlanta se ha visto particularmente afectada.
“It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, Holy shit, this is not the flu. Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube.”
The CDC and hospitals have put medical providers and patients at risk as they fail to address national supply shortages. One emergency room doctor who did not have proper equipment and learned he had COVID-19 said, “I’m sure I exposed everyone I saw.”
No, the coronavirus is not an “equalizer.” Black people are being infected and dying at higher rates. Here’s what Milwaukee is doing about it — and why governments need to start releasing data on the race of COVID-19 patients.
Jim Tucker, Troy Hebert and Nick Gautreaux are among 35 past lawmakers since 2010 who became lobbyists, agency heads, legislative influencers or state board appointees.
When Laura Whalen went to a hospital with COVID-19, she brought her kids. Her husband was already in an ICU, and she couldn’t risk them exposing their grandma. But the state told her to find someone to take them or it would.
States may shift primary dates, but only Congress can change the federal elections. We spoke to an elections expert to learn what you need to know about how coronavirus could affect the way voters cast their ballots in November.
USPS forced out 44,000 workers who got injured on the job. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says the effort, part of a five year program, violated the law. But the Postal Service has fought its workers’ claims since 2007.
Half the country votes on machines made by ES&S. Many experts and election officials say the manufacturer remains dominant because there’s little government regulation and almost no oversight.
“Caí por primera vez en la cuenta de lo diferente que es cuando vi deteriorarse a mi primer paciente de coronavirus. Pensé ‘Maldita sea, esto no es una gripa’, mientras veía a este hombre relativamente joven que se esforzaba por respirar y expulsaba secreciones espumosas de color rosa por su tubo”.
The tax agency, Justice Department and Congress have all taken aim at a much-abused deduction exploited by wealthy investors. Yet the crackdown is having minimal impact, costing the Treasury billions.
Hundreds of thousands of children are abused or neglected in the U.S. each year, but only one federal law directly addresses this tragic reality for children not in state care. The law is routinely violated — with heartbreaking consequences.
Gov. Jim Justice is West Virginia’s richest man. Over the last three decades, lawsuits over unpaid bills have cost his constellation of companies more than $128 million in judgments and settlements.
We found multiple Trump ethics pledge violations hidden in a little-noticed government report. They show inappropriate actions by government employees, lobbyists and former business clients.
More than 2,000 workers in eight states will lose their jobs after Amazon dropped three companies after reports by BuzzFeed News and ProPublica.
What to consider to avoid losing land that has been passed down through generations without a will and is shared among heirs.
When Mississippi lawmakers passed prison reform legislation in 2014, they pledged to devote some of the savings to drug rehabilitation, reentry programs and prison alternatives. That hasn’t happened.
Widely supported legislation would have allowed Uber and Lyft to operate throughout Louisiana. But John Alario took steps to kill it, and colleagues point to his long-standing ties to a power broker who sells insurance to cab companies.
A federal crackdown on professors’ undisclosed outside activities is achieving what China has long struggled to do: spur Chinese scientists to return home. In this crisis, it’s costing the U.S. intellectual firepower.
A trip that included a walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, drew a number of officials from states with controversial voting requirements.
One lawmaker supported a bill that would help his brother, who owns truck stop casinos. Another, a lawyer who represents physicians, sponsored a bill that helps doctors under investigation by the state medical board.
A New Jersey utility sparked outrage for charging customers to subsidize nuclear plants. Turns out, that was just one of 16 lurking surcharges.
Why are the rural poor audited more frequently than other groups, he asks, citing ProPublica. Another Democratic senator adds, “There are two tax codes in America, and there are also two enforcement regimes.”
Legislators own everything from gas stations to nursing homes, yet they rarely recuse themselves on bills that directly affect them.
Illinois will finally conduct a thorough study of the gambling problem in the state — the first such survey in nearly 30 years. It said it will spend more money to treat addiction, too.
Following up on ProPublica stories about the IRS, lawmakers pressed the commissioner on the agency’s disproportionate focus on auditing the working poor while examinations of the rich plummeted.
Adam Liptak, Supreme Court correspondent for The New York Times, give us some context and insight into the recent dust-ups over the death penalty and the case of Domineque Ray, who was executed on Feb. 7.
We spent a night at President Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. — and we met some interesting people.
Over three years, nearly 400 pregnant or new mothers died in Texas. Its system for helping the uninsured thwarts women at every turn, frustrates doctors and midwives, and incentivizes substandard care.
The state’s leaders want a federal loan guarantee to build a giant chemical storage plant that could cost as much as $10 billion.
And like the state’s last gambling expansion, in 2009, the massive new bill could bring trouble.
One state senator earned $836,000 in legal fees representing a sheriff. The amount he disclosed: $13,328.
At South Mississippi Correctional Institution, inmates have been on perpetual lockdown for seven months and gangs enforce rules. With frequent beatings, burnings and escapes, the prison has become a violent tinderbox.
The inquiry will evaluate whether the polluting practice is legal, and whether contractors have proper oversight.
In our second year of the Documenting Hate project, ProPublica and our partners have reported on everything from violent neo-Nazis to road rage to anti-Semitic vandalism.
The Department of Justice is moving away from taking on abuses by local law enforcement. This is what that means for Elkhart, Indiana.
Why are so many black families losing their land?
The Obama Justice Department thought Ville Platte, Louisiana — where officers jail witnesses to crimes — could become a model of how to erase policing abuses that plague small towns across the nation. Jeff Sessions decided not to bother.
An undocumented mother was reunited with her daughter. The first 36 hours brought a mix of joy, questions about the separation and worries about the future.
The federal government has released data on how states will spend $380 million set aside for election infrastructure. But questions remain about how much it will help secure the 2018 election.
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