Center for Investigative Reporting

The Sacramento Squeeze: Big campaign donations = big political...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:09:08 -0700

The Sacramento Squeeze: Big campaign donations = big political rewards

Last year, California’s top Democrat managed to sidestep donation limits and got his fellow Democrats to donate $5.8 million to key races. In return, those who donated the most were rewarded with powerful leadership positions on “juice committees” that influence the state’s wealthiest interest groups.

But hey, that’s all legal. Our animated video explains.

Yet another head of military harassment prevention program arrested

Thu, 16 May 2013 16:57:51 -0700

Yet another head of military harassment prevention program arrested:

The manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., was arrested in a domestic dispute and relieved of his post, authorities said Thursday.

This marks the third time in recent weeks that an official in charge of preventing sexual assault in the military has been accused of sexual harassement.

(On Tuesday, the Army’s prevention coordinator at Ford Hood, Texas was arrested for allegations of sexual misconduct – including promoting prostitution. Last week, the chief of the Air Force’s prevention program was accused of groping a woman in a Northern Virginia parking lot.)

This comes just a week after a new report revealed a 35% rise in sexual assault instances since 2010.

A separate survey also found that last year, servicemen and women reported 3,374 instances of sexual assault to the military chain of command – 238 of those cases led to a conviction.

As the debate around the longstanding issue heats up, critics say seeking justice comes down to the culture that governs the military: reporting to your superior.

For more on how this breaks down, you should really check out The Invisible War. The filmmakers do an excellent job following the backlash of what happens when service members speak out. Watch a clip —> here.

theifiles: globalpost: Palestinians marked the 65th...

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:52:12 -0700

theifiles:

globalpost:

Palestinians marked the 65th anniversary of the “Nakba” or the Day of Catastrophe, which marks their displacement after the creation of the state of Israel.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians protested Wednesday on the 65th anniversary of the “Nakba” or the Day of Catastrophe, which marks their displacement after the creation of the state of Israel.

May 15 is the day Palestinians choose to commemorate the displacement of hundreds of thousands of their kinsman in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli conflict in 1948.

Protesters chanted, “The right of return will not die.”

Palestinians mark Nakba (Day of Catastrophe) with protests

Photos by AFP/Getty Images

For background, our editors put together a playlist highlighting some of the best reporting about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Mother Jones, our friends and partners at Climate Desk, mapped...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:50:00 -0700

Mother Jones, our friends and partners at Climate Desk, mapped out renewable energy usage by state and type of power, using the latest data from the federal Energy Information Administration. (Click here for the interactive).

Which states use the most green energy?
California consumes the most solar power.
Texas consumes the most wind power.
Big winner overall in 2011: Washington state. (60% of Washington’s energy comes from hydroelectric dams).

What kind of renewable energy are we consuming nationally?
67 percent = hydro
25 percent = wind power
4.5 percent = geothermal power
3.5 percent = solar power

The range in resources between, say, California and Mississippi can be pretty stark. It can come down to a difference in industrial-scale power generation vs. rooftop solar panels.

Why the gap? Mother Jones explains:

The gap is partly explained by the relative size of states’ energy markets, but not entirely: Washington uses less power overall than New York, for example, but far outstrips it on renewables (the exact proportions won’t be available until EIA releases total state consumption figures later this month). Still, the actual availability of resources—how much sun shines or wind blows—is far less important than the marching orders passed down from statehouses to electric utilities, says Rhone Resch, head of the Solar Energy Industries Association.

More on how upcoming legislative battles could change the renewable energy game.

Documents: White House releases Benghazi e-mails

Wed, 15 May 2013 15:58:00 -0700

Documents: White House releases Benghazi e-mails:

The White House released more than 100 e-mails on Wednesday in a bid to quell critics who say President Barack Obama and his aides played politics with national security following the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

You can read the e-mails for yourself, courtesy of CNN.

motherjones: Pima County, Arizona, is the only county in the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:19:25 -0700

motherjones:

Pima County, Arizona, is the only county in the United States that tracks migrant deaths. Here’s every one since 2001.

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets today to...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:45:00 -0700

Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets today to commemorate the “nakba,” or “catastrophe,” when they fled or were expelled from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. Palestinians clashed with Israeli security forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and a shell was fired into Israel from Gaza, though it landed in an open field.

Today, almost half of the world’s Palestinian population are refugees, according to a recent report. While most Palestinians cling to the right of return to their ancestral lands as a fundamental tenant of any peace deal, a resolution remains elusive.

For more background on this issue, the editors of The I Files have put together a playlist highlighting some of the best reporting about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Exploiting legal loopholes, Democrats in the California Assembly...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:39:17 -0700

Exploiting legal loopholes, Democrats in the California Assembly pumped $5.8 million into key campaigns designated by Speaker John A. Pérez last year, our new data analysis shows. Not only did the infusion of cash help the Democrats win a supermajority in the Capitol, the system also paid off for the speaker’s biggest fundraisers.

According to the data, Pérez gave lawmakers who raised the most money the best assignments in the new Legislature – posts on the speaker’s leadership team and seats on the powerful “juice committees. They control bills affecting the financial bottom line for the Capitol’s wealthiest interest groups: from banks, insurance companies and public utilities to casinos, racetracks and liquor distributors.”

Read more

poptech: Yikes. This from the New York Times on the impact of...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:25:31 -0700

poptech:

Yikes. This from the New York Times on the impact of mass incarceration of African American men on voter turnout.

$6 million of hair donations to Locks of Love unaccounted for

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:00:31 -0700

$6 million of hair donations to Locks of Love unaccounted for:

104,000: The estimated amount of donated hair Locks of Love receives each year.

2,080: The amount of hairpieces they should be making each year, when you factor in that only 20% of what they receive is usable.

317: Number of hairpieces Locks of Love actually made in 2011.

Nonprofit Investor, who conducted the analysis, explains their math here.

Experts Say Prize-Winning Photo Of Gaza Funeral Is Authentic : NPR

Tue, 14 May 2013 15:05:21 -0700

Experts Say Prize-Winning Photo Of Gaza Funeral Is Authentic : NPR:

The World Press Foundation, which commissioned an independent forensic analysis of the image after signs of a controversy over its authenticity emerged, agrees with Hansen. World Press announced the results of that analysis Tuesday evening.

World Press announced the results of that analysis Tuesday evening.

wnyc: The photo above won the 2013 World Press Photo of the...

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:29:12 -0700

wnyc:

The photo above won the 2013 World Press Photo of the Year. Now some are claiming it was photoshopped.

the event itself isn’t a fake — there are lots of other photos online that show the children being carried through the streets of Gaza — but the photo itself is almost certainly a composite of three different photos, with various regions spliced together from each of the images, and then further manipulation to illuminate the mourners’ faces.

Here’s more, and a response from the photographer.

-Jody, BL Show-

Can you tell?

latimes: An end to zero tolerance for willful defiance in L.A....

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:14:48 -0700

Manual Arts High School student Damien Valentine, 16, is photographed at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

Manual Arts High School student Damien Valentine, 16, is photographed at Community Coalition in South Los Angeles.

David Chinchilla, 15, of Augustus Hawkins High School in South L.A., was suspended for interrupting and cursing at a teacher.

latimes:

An end to zero tolerance for willful defiance in L.A. schools?

California schools have long brought about swift punishments for instances of so-called willful defiance, which have disproportionally led to suspensions of many minority students not just in our home state, but nationwide.

Take the case of Damien Valentine, a Manual Arts Senior High School sophomore fighting against the practice, who says that several such punishments earlier in his school accomplished nothing but setting him back.

So just what is “willful defiance?”

That offense is now widely criticized as an arbitrary catchall for any behavior a teacher finds objectionable, such as repeatedly tapping feet on the floor, refusing to remove a hat or failing to wear the school uniform. It accounted for 48% of 710,000 suspensions issued in California in 2011-12, prompting both state and local efforts to restrict its use in disciplinary actions.

A resolution moving through Los Angeles County would make L.A. Unified the first school district in California to ban suspensions for the aforementioned offenses.

Said Tonna Onyendu of the Liberty Hill Foundation, a Los Angeles nonprofit:

“This will be a transformational shift. Instead of punishing students, we’re going to engage them.”

Read more on the matter in Teresa Watanabe’s report.

Photos: Christina House / For The Times

Use our data, share your story: CIR launches VA backlog...

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:12:00 -0700

Use our data, share your story: CIR launches VA backlog API

Attention data-nerds (and everyone, really): we recently released a widget that tracks the progress of backlog claims at each regional VA office. The dashboard is powered by our API — which is free for your taking!

If you’re a journalist or developer, we’d love to see you localize this story your area. If you’re a veteran with experience applying for disability benefits, we want to hear your insights. Our goal is to feature at least one veteran’s story for each of the 58 regional offices in our map of the backlog nationwide.

All the details —> here.

"There is nothing to prevent sex offenders and others with criminal records from becoming alcohol and..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:37:00 -0700

“There is nothing to prevent sex offenders and others with criminal records from becoming alcohol and drug counselors in California, even though such roles give them direct contact with people, including teens, at their most vulnerable.”

- Hole in California law allows sex offenders to become addiction counselors

How much do public university presidents make? A new report...

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:42:00 -0700

How much do public university presidents make?

A new report from the Chronicle of Higher Education reveals that between 2011-2012, the average compensation package for a public research university president rose by $441,392 — up 4.7 percent from last year.

Among the top earners:

Penn State, Graham Spanier*: $2,906,721 (most of which was severance pay; Spanier was fired following the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal)
Auburn University, Jay Gogue: $2,542,865
University of California, Mark Yudof: $847,149

audiovision: California is home to 2.2 million veterans and...

Sun, 12 May 2013 16:13:00 -0700

audiovision:

California is home to 2.2 million veterans and Southern California has the largest population of vets in the county.

Today hundreds of thousands of vets are looking ahead to the next chapter in their lives and enrolling in higher education.

Listen to KPCC’s Off-Ramp to hear more from these vets and the mentors supporting them.

See more of Mae Ryan’s photos on KPCC’s AudioVision.

theifiles: Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has...

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:57:52 -0700

theifiles:

Former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt has just been convicted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 80 years in prison.

The 86-year-old is the first former Latin American leader to be found guilty of such charges.

“Granito” is the follow-up to Pamela Yates’ 1983 film, “When the Mountains Tremble,” which became a key piece of evidence against the ex-military leader. Watch an excerpt.

Imagine you’re a pot reporter. Pot as in weed, marijuana,...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:01:35 -0700

Imagine you’re a pot reporter. Pot as in weed, marijuana, bud. What could possibly go wrong when you cover a drug that is legally contentious but widely tolerated? Center for Investigative Reporting reporter Michael Montgomery finds out the hard way. Watch our new animated video to find out more …

In case you missed it, three stories that will get you to rethink the U.S.-Mexico border:

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 12:12:00 -0700

In case you missed it, three stories that will get you to rethink the U.S.-Mexico border:

1. Who is getting caught with drugs at the border? A recent CIR report shows that four of five Border Patrol drug busts — most of it marijuana — involve U.S. citizens.

2. Who is Border Patrol? Would-be Border Patrol agents are confessing to rape, kidnapping and other shocking crimes during the final steps of the application process — the polygraph test. How recent polygraph admissions by border agency applicants are raising questions about previous hires:

3. How effective is Border Patrol? U.S. Border Patrol only caught a fraction of border crossers spotted by a sophisticated radar dubbed VADER, which was originally used to identify roadside bombers in war zones.