I’ve spent the past few years stewarding collaborative projects between the Center for Public Integrity and local newsrooms. These partnerships have expanded the depth of our reporting and strengthened our ability to reach audiences — and, we hope, offered equal value to our partners. But that’s not a simple matter, or a safe assumption if […]
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Posted inInside Public Integrity
Former Public Integrity newsroom leader lifted up ‘forgotten voices’
Lisa Yanick Litwiller, a former Center for Public Integrity director of audience whose humor, compassion, leadership and talent contributed to award-winning projects that focused on inequality, died of cancer Monday surrounded by her family at home in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. She was 46. Yanick Litwiller came to Public Integrity in 2021, building an audience team […]
Posted inLabor
Worker death in Louisiana confined space showcases dangerous trend
Early this year, Elmer Perez began his Monday shift at 9 a.m., welding inside a ship at Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors in Houma, Louisiana. Hours after Perez skipped lunch, his coworkers went looking for the undocumented immigrant from Guatemala. They found him unconscious inside the small space he was working in. The workers removed his body […]
Posted inHigh Courts, High Stakes
Public Integrity state court investigation is a Toner Prize finalist
A Center for Public Integrity investigation that revealed an under-the-radar effort pushing state high courts rightward — with far-reaching consequences — is a finalist for a Toner Prize honoring excellence in political reporting. “High Courts, High Stakes” is one of six projects recognized in the journalism contest’s national category. Other finalists include ProPublica’s investigative reporting […]
Posted inUnhoused and Undercounted
Amid rise in student homelessness, federal funding set to expire
For decades, schools have struggled to identify and support homeless students. Investigations by the Center for Public Integrity and our reporting partners in 2022 and 2023 showed that schools often undercount such students and flout the federal law that promises them equal access to education. Advocates cite meager federal funding as one reason schools don’t […]
Posted inImmigration
New data shows why the U.S. needs more immigrants
As the fight over immigration reached peak chaos in the U.S. Senate earlier this month, the Congressional Budget Office held a press conference nearby. The director’s briefing about the latest economic forecast seemed disconnected from the political drama playing out a few blocks away. But its analysis was closely linked to immigration policy. The nonpartisan […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
What will generative AI mean for the racial wealth gap?
Kelcey Gibbons, a doctoral student who studies African Americans in technology and the Black middle class, is not quite sure what she makes of generative artificial intelligence and how it might impact the racial wealth gap. Gibbons anticipates that generative AI will force organizations to rethink which skills matter in the workplace, aggravating existing inequalities without […]
Posted inUnequal Burden
More tax cuts put states’ revenue at risk
At least a dozen proposals for income tax cuts that would primarily benefit wealthy residents and big companies are already on the table for state legislatures to consider in 2024 — and more are likely to come. This follows on the heels of 26 states cutting their personal income tax rates, corporate income tax rates […]
Posted inWho Counts?
In more places this year, people can vote in their first language
A larger swath of the country will have access to translated ballots this year than in any prior presidential election. Under federal Voting Rights Act requirements, 331 voting areas in 30 states must provide language access to more than 24 million voters with limited English proficiency. That’s a 26% increase in voting areas under the […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
The little-known corner of finance pitching heirs on fast cash
Don’t call them “lenders.” That’s the pushback David Horton got after an article he co-wrote called “Probate Lending” published in a law review journal in 2016. The article described the business practice of offering an estate’s beneficiaries an advance on their expected inheritance. In each deal he analyzed, the heir would get a slice of […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Denied
The decades-long fight in a community treated as a dumping ground
Protecting people’s health from environmental hazards, Maricela Mares-Alatorre and her family found out the hard way, is a never-ending fight. She was in high school in the late 1980s when her parents, both farmworkers, organized to help prevent the construction of a toxic waste incinerator in the landfill near Kettleman City, a tiny agricultural community […]
Posted inUnhoused and Undercounted
Homeless-student investigation honored in data journalism contest
A collaborative Center for Public Integrity investigation into the patchwork safety net for homeless students has been recognized with a special citation in the Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Philip Meyer Journalism Award. The contest honors “the best uses of social science research methods in journalism,” often sophisticated and groundbreaking data analyses. “Unhoused and Undercounted,” in […]
Posted inWho Counts?
More states are pushing for race and ethnicity data equity
Middle Eastern and North African people in Nevada who are often misclassified as white or undercounted by state service providers will have a choice to self-identify for the first time under a new sub-category that more accurately represents them. As of Jan. 1, a new state law requires that all government agencies in Nevada collecting […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Public Integrity wins January Sidney Award for debt collection investigation
A Center for Public Integrity investigation into states’ harsh and often counterproductive collections tactics for unpaid income tax has won the January Sidney Award. The prize is awarded by the Sidney Hillman Foundation to an “outstanding piece of journalism that appeared in the prior month.” Among the findings: at least nine states can suspend or […]
Posted inElections
Resolutions for a free and fair 2024 election
It’s a big election year with an imposing backdrop: swirling misinformation, changing laws around voting and deep concerns about the health of American democracy. On top of a monumental presidential election, U.S. voters will select 11 governors, 34 U.S. Senators and 82 state supreme court justices, decide dozens of statewide ballot measures and choose literally […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
How distrust in government leads to civic disengagement
Professor Manuel Teodoro did not set out to write a book about civic engagement and democracy. He was just curious about some roadside water kiosks. In “The Profits of Distrust,” Teodoro and his co-authors, Samantha Zuhlke and David Switzer, explore the relationship between civic engagement and the sale of bottled water or from a kiosk. […]
Posted inUnhoused and Undercounted
Proposed law aims to lock in protections for homeless students
Months after a Center for Public Integrity investigation showed that Pennsylvania school districts locked children out of class while investigating their families’ claims of homelessness, a bill winding through the state legislature would make the practice illegal. In November, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives unanimously passed legislation that would reverse a state law allowing schools […]
Posted inLabor
Millions of low-paid workers will benefit from this obscure new policy
It’s been a record year for labor strikes. Hollywood actors recently ended their historic, 118-day walkout. Thousands of auto workers in Detroit are returning to factories after more than 46 days on the picket lines. Their labor unions secured major gains during contract negotiations at a time when companies are struggling to find job candidates. […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Black financial institutions face new threat following Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court’s decision this summer to strike down affirmative action in higher education has had a chilling effect on racial equity efforts in the public and private sectors. Long considered a tool to correct systemic discrimination, affirmative action programs everywhere are at risk, advocates worry. Now, conservative activists are trying to block programs that […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
What backlash to landmark voting law tells us about debate today
Ronald Reagan praised the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as “vital.” Bill Clinton deemed it a “triumph.” George W. Bush said the law “broke the segregationist lock on the ballot box.” When the U.S. Senate reauthorized the law most recently, in 2006, it passed by a vote of 98 to 0. And even Chief Justice […]
Posted inWho Counts?
See which states are expanding — or restricting — voting rights
While restoration of the federal Voting Rights Act languishes in a split Congress, an already deep divide in Americans’ access to voting has widened over the past year. In part, that’s because blue states aren’t waiting. According to an analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, more […]
Posted inNational Security
Visions of a new national security paradigm
More than 20 years after 9/11, Muslim Americans continue to face discrimination at U.S. airports, at banks and in the security-clearance process, says the Muslim Public Affairs Council. These actions fuel anti-Muslim animus throughout the U.S. and abroad, warns the council’s president and co-founder, Salam Al-Marayati. Created in 1988, the nonprofit works to improve public […]
Posted inEducation
What’s the effect of school voucher programs on students with disabilities?
Several years ago, West Virginia parent Christy Black searched for an inclusive private school for her daughter Gracie, who has Down syndrome, but to no avail. “There wasn’t any in my area or a few counties over, even, that would accept my daughter,” Black recalled. So it concerned her when the West Virginia Legislature in […]
Posted inToxic Labor
Reporting on workers who rebuild after natural disasters
I felt anxious asking disaster restoration workers to share their experiences with exposure to toxins such as asbestos, lead and mold on the job in New Orleans this past spring during a reporting trip. The trip was at the heart of our project, Toxic Labor, which documents the hidden health impact workers face after prolonged […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Time for young migrants to ‘take the mic’ in U.S. immigration debate
In the past decade, more than half a million immigrant children have made the journey to the U.S. alone in search of their loved ones, refuge and a shot at their vision of the American dream. But once in the U.S., many of these children end up working hard jobs in exploitative conditions. In August, […]
Posted inImmigration
Es hora que jóvenes migrantes “tomen el micrófono” en debate sobre inmigración EEUU
En la última década, más de medio millón de niños inmigrantes han viajado a los Estados Unidos solos con el propósito de reunirse con sus seres queridos, en busca de refugio y en busca del sueño americano. Pero una vez en los Estados Unidos, muchos de estos niños terminan en trabajos duros y en condiciones […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Where are the homeless children? This struggling city isn’t finding them
School districts nationwide underestimate the number of homeless students they serve, cutting children off from assistance meant to help. An award-winning Center for Public Integrity investigation revealed the depth of the problem: Hundreds of thousands of students experiencing housing insecurity each year are likely falling through the cracks. While the issue cuts across geographic and […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Center for Public Integrity inks another milestone deal with union
The Center for Public Integrity and the union representing its newsroom and business-side staff today have signed the nonprofit organization’s second collective bargaining agreement. This unanimous ratification reaffirms a shared commitment by the union and Public Integrity to uphold the principles of fairness, inclusivity and transparency — values that guided our first collective bargaining agreement […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Katherine Hapgood joins Public Integrity as Charles Lewis fellow
Katherine Hapgood has joined the staff of the Center for Public Integrity as this year’s Charles Lewis American University fellow. She’ll be focusing in part on the nonprofit investigative news organization’s work on access to democracy issues ahead of the 2024 election. Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Hapgood recently graduated with a degree in journalism […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Jovi Dai joins Public Integrity as local data journalist
Zhaozhou (Jovi) Dai has joined the Center for Public Integrity as a data journalist supporting the investigative nonprofit newsroom’s partnership with the Central Valley Journalism Collaborative in California. Dai has worked as a data reporter at Storybench, a chatbot developer at the Boston Globe for The Emancipator, a reporter for The Global Observer and a […]
