The Center for Public Integrity

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  1. June 15, 2009

    Thousands of Free Trips Taken by Pentagon Staff

    Thousands of Free Trips Taken by Pentagon Staff WASHINGTON, D.C., June 10, 2009 — Despite the Pentagon’s hefty budget, Department of Defense personnel routinely accept free flights, accommodations, and hospitality from private and foreign interests that do business with the Pentagon, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of thousands of travel disclosure records. From 1998 through 2007, the Center’s year-long analysis found, outside sources paid for more than 22,000 trips worth at least $26 million. The travel was sponsored by an array of companies, foreign governments, and other groups. Read more

  2. May 21, 2009

    The Climate Lobby’s Mushrooming Growth

    The Climate Lobby’s Mushrooming Growth WASHINGTON, D.C., May 20, 2009 — As Congress focuses this week on landmark legislation to reduce global warming, nearly 140 new businesses and interest groups — led by a diverse array of technology firms — have joined in the already intense lobbying on climate change, according to "The Climate Lobby’s Nonstop Growth," a new analysis by The Center for Public Integrity. Read more

  3. May 05, 2009

    Who’s Behind the Financial Meltdown?

    Who’s Behind the Financial Meltdown? WASHINGTON, D.C., May 6, 2009 — The top subprime lenders whose loans are largely blamed for triggering the global economic meltdown were owned or backed by giant banks now collecting billions of dollars in bailout money, according to Who’s Behind the Financial Meltdown?, a new investigation by the Center for Public Integrity. Read more

  4. April 01, 2009

    Dramatic Decline in Defense Contracting Fraud and Corruption Cases, Center Finds

    Dramatic Decline in Defense Contracting Fraud and Corruption Cases, Center Finds WASHINGTON, D.C., April 1, 2009 — The number of defense contracting fraud and corruption cases sent by government investigators to prosecutors dropped precipitously under the Bush administration, even as contracting by the Defense Department almost doubled, according to “Fraud Cases Fell While Pentagon Contracts Surged,” a new investigative story by the Center for Public Integrity. Read more

  5. February 25, 2009

    Latest Center Analysis Reveals Explosive Growth in the Climate Change Lobby

    Latest Center Analysis Reveals Explosive Growth in the Climate Change Lobby WASHINGTON, D.C., February 25, 2009 — The number of lobbyists seeking to influence federal policy on climate change has grown more than 300 percent in five years, with a slew of new interests from Main Street to Wall Street adding to the challenge of addressing global warming, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report, The Climate Change Lobby. The report provides a first-of-its-kind look at the universe of special interests shaping debate in the United States and how it has sharply expanded between 2003 — when Congress previously voted on climate change — and 2008. Read more

  6. February 19, 2009

    A Four-Month Investigation by the Center Reveals a Growing Environmental Disaster

    A Four-Month Investigation by the Center Reveals a Growing Environmental Disaster WASHINGTON, D.C., February 19, 2009 — The dangers of coal ash were largely hidden from public view until December, when a dam holding a billion gallons of the waste collapsed in Eastern Tennessee. But what happened there represents just a small slice of the potential threat from coal ash, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report, Coal Ash: The Hidden Story. Read more

  7. January 12, 2009

    Center Exposes Environmental Consequences of Longwall Coal Mining

    Center Exposes Environmental Consequences of Longwall Coal Mining WASHINGTON, D.C., January 12, 2009 — Longwall mining is a highly productive underground process employed to quickly and cheaply extract coal, but the practice comes with a steep environmental price, as documented in a year-long investigation by the Center for Public Integrity, The Hidden Costs of “Clean Coal." As Congress and the incoming Obama administration contemplate alternatives to fossil fuels, the Center has turned a spotlight on a devastating mining method that most Americans outside northern Appalachia have never heard of. Read more

  8. January 08, 2009

    With New Administration in Office, Center Provides an Assessment of What Needs Fixing

    With New Administration in Office, Center Provides an Assessment of What Needs Fixing WASHINGTON, D.C., January 7, 2009 — As America approaches a historic transfer of power, it is becoming ever-clearer what a daunting set of tasks awaits the new administration. When President-Elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office at noon on January 20, he inherits not only a collapsing economy and two wars, but also a federal government whose machinery should bear an “out of order” sign. Read more

  9. December 19, 2008

    Big Tobacco’s New York Black Market

    Big Tobacco’s New York Black Market WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2008 — America’s three top tobacco firms — Philip Morris USA, Lorillard, and R.J. Reynolds — supplied two-thirds of all cigarettes sold last year through New York State’s Indian reservations despite ample evidence that those sales fuel a billion-dollar black market, according to an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a project of the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C. Read more

  10. December 17, 2008

    Pearl Project Lawsuit Filed Against Eight Federal Agencies

    Pearl Project Lawsuit Filed Against Eight Federal Agencies WASHINGTON, D.C., December 17, 2008 — Barbara Feinman Todd, an associate dean of journalism at Georgetown University and co-director of the Pearl Project, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against eight government agencies this morning. Read more

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About the Center

The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to producing original, responsible investigative journalism on issues of public concern in the USA and around the world.

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International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

The Center’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is a collaboration of some of the world’s leading investigative reporters. ICIJ extends globally the Center’s style of watchdog journalism, working with 100 reporters in 50 countries to produce long-term, transnational projects.

ICIJ website