iWatch News stories from The Center for Public Integrity

Slideshow: Struggle for affordable dental care

2013-01-24T10:41:27-05:00

When dental care hurts wallets

The Center for Public Integrity and FRONTLINE investigate abuses in dentistry

2013-04-29T14:42:17-04:00

Dental care can be a matter of life and death. Yet millions of Americans can't afford a visit to the dentist.

An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity and FRONTLINE reveals the shocking consequences of a broken safety net. Corporate dental chains are filling the gaps in care. But in some cases they are allegedly overcharging patients or giving them unnecessary treatments. Children on Medicaid are vulnerable to having expensive stainless-steel crown needlessly put over tiny cavities. And adults lured by ads for $249 dentures can be loaded down with thousands of dollars in high-priced credit card debt.

Center senior reporter David Heath and FRONTLINE producer Jill Rosenbaum investigate the problems with corporate dentistry in stories that publish June 26 and 27, and air 10:00pm ET, June 26 on PBS. Join us here on Wed., June 27 for live conversation with the reporting team.

SLIDESHOW: A day in the life of a SuperShuttle driver

2012-04-22T00:03:01-04:00

Reporter Emma Schwartz documented a typical workday for SuperShuttle driver Okieriete Enajekpo.

Public radio's 'To the Point' spotlights Stand Your Ground laws

2012-04-17T13:20:38-04:00

Please check out a provocative conversation about “Stand Your Ground” laws on the national radio talk show “To the Point” with Warren Olney. The Center for Public Integrity’s Susan Ferriss talked about how the National Rifle Association has framed this self-defense concept and promoted it in various states since 2005.

The NRA has also made significant donations to state politicians pushing “Stand Your Ground” measures. The “To the Point” chat also included gun-rights and gun-control advocates and attorneys explaining the concept’s ramifications. Florida’s law, the first the NRA promoted, is under scrutiny now following the February shooting death of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, who is claiming self-defense.

Center wins 3 Sigma Delta Chi Awards

2012-07-17T12:12:35-04:00

Three separate Center for Public Integrity investigations examining toxic air, green energy contracts and hazards in oil refineries have won 1^st place honors in the Society of Professional Journalists’ prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

The prizes, among the national winners in a contest attracting more than 1,700 entries, were awarded for:

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities: Produced in partnership with National Public Radio and the Investigative News Network — won top honors for Public Service in Online Journalism. The series explored how, more than two decades after enhancements to the Clean Air Act, many communities still suffer poisoned air and regulatory neglect. The Center’s main stories were written by Jim Morris, Chris Hamby, Ronnie Greene, Elizabeth Lucas and Emma Schwartz.
Green Energy: Contracts, Connections and the Collapse of Solyndra: Written by Ronnie Greene in partnership with ABC News, won the top honor for Online Investigative reporting. The series of reports documented breakdowns in the process by which the Department of Energy awarded lucrative green energy grants and loans.
Fueling Fears: Written by Jim Morris and Chris Hamby, won top honors in Online Non-deadline reporting. The reports examined worker and environmental hazards at America’s aging oil refineries.

The national prizes were announced this week, and will be presented at a July 20 ceremony at the National Press Club.

About the State Integrity Investigation

2012-04-02T09:46:57-04:00

The State Integrity Investigation is a first-of-its kind, data-driven assessment of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms in the states. The result is a grade and score for each, and a ranking of all 50 states, along with analytical pieces about every state.

Unlike previous government rankings, this months-long effort does not rely on a simple tally of scandals. Rather, it measures the strength of laws and practices that encourage openness and deter corruption. Reporters in each state researched 330 “Corruption Risk Indicators” across 14 categories of government: access to information, campaign finance, executive accountability, legislative accountability, judicial accountability, budgeting, civil service management, procurement, internal auditing, lobbying disclosure, pension fund management, ethics enforcement, insurance commission operations and redistricting. In addition to the overall rankings, states are also ranked in every category.

The State Integrity Investigation is a collaboration between the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.

The project received major funding from the Omidyar Network and the Rita Allen Foundation, with additional support from the Rockefeller Family Fund.

Methodology

2012-03-19T15:52:16-04:00

The State Integrity Investigation mobilized a network of state reporters to generate quantitative data and qualitative reporting on the health of the anti-corruption framework at the state level. Reporters scored 330 questions about their state’s accountability and transparency framework — what we call Corruption Risk Indicators — by combining extensive desk research with thousands of original interviews of state government experts. Among those interviewed were current and former officials with experience inside the bureaucracy, as well as private sector researchers, journalists and executives from civil society and ‘good government’ organizations.

To identify the project’s Corruption Risk Indicators, staff from Global Integrity and the Center for Public Integrity contacted nearly 100 state-level organizations working in the areas of good government and public sector reform nationwide. We asked them a simple question: what issue areas mattered most in their state when it came to the risk of significant corruption occurring in the public sector? The outcome was a list of questions, rooted in the day-to-day realities of state government operations. In addition, Global Integrity and the Center for Public Integrity included additional indicators that the two organizations had previously fielded in similar projects. Specifically, these indicators were drawn from the Center’s States of Disclosure project and Global Integrity’s Global Integrity Report and Local Integrity Initiative efforts.

The project’s final 330 “Corruption Risk Indicators” assess the existence, effectiveness, and citizen access to key governance and anti-corruption mechanisms in the fifty states. They seek to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of the medicine applied against corruption in each state — openness, transparency, and accountability — rather than the disease of corruption itself. They examine issues such as information transparency; political financing at the state level; conflicts of interest issues in the executive, state legislatures and judiciary; fiscal and budgetary management; the state civil service and its management; state pension fund transparency; ethics commissions; and redistricting. The final state report cards, which are simply an aggregated snapshot of all of the individual indicator scores, take into account both existing legal measures on the books as well as de facto realities of implementation and enforcement in each state.

All indicators were scored by the lead state reporters based on original interviews and desk research. The data were then blindly reviewed by a peer reviewer for each state who was asked to flag indicators that appeared inaccurate, inconsistent, biased, or otherwise deserving of correction. Project managers at Global Integrity and the Center for Public Integrity worked for more than half a year with the lead reporters and peer reviewers to resolve questions and debates around each and every one of the 16,500 indicators compiled during the course of the reporting.

The reporting and research to score the indicators was conducted during the summer of 2011, with a formal cut-off date of September 15, 2011, for all scores. More recent developments and reforms (after September 15, 2011) will not be reflected in the final score choices. However, some report cards may mention more recent developments in some states as captured in the reporters’ and peer reviewers’ comments.

Romney 'Death Star' outguns opponents down South

Alabama,United States — 2012-03-27T14:23:06-04:00

In a close race, Rick Santorum was declared winner in both Alabama and Mississippi primaries last night. He picked up at least 35 delegates, AP reports.

Despite the turnout, Pro-Romney super PAC “Restore Our Future” dominated spending among the main groups aiding the former Massachusetts’ governor’s primary rivals: Santorum’s “Red, White and Blue Fund” and Newt Gingrich’s “Winning Our Future.” As the chart shows, Restore Our Future accounts for 69 percent of independent expenditures by these super PACs in Alabama and 64 percent in Mississippi.

This post originally appeared on the Consider the Source Tumblr page, a collaboration between iWatch News and the Center for Reponsive Politics.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce ad: 'Ohio - Tell Sherrod Brown to Stop Hiding'

2012-03-09T06:00:01-05:00

'Ohio - Tell Sherrod Brown to Stop Hiding'

FlackCheck.org's response to Chamber of Commerce ad

2012-03-09T06:00:01-05:00

FlackCheck.org's response to Chamber of Commerce ad

JFK: Church and State

2012-02-27T16:32:09-05:00

As a senator, John F. Kennedy speaks on the separation between church and state

John Dunbar on the effect of super donors in Election 2012

2012-02-22T17:28:40-05:00

John Dunbar, the Center's politics editor, discusses super PAC influence with PBS NewsHour's Margaret Warner.

SLIDESHOW: Danger in dirty instruments

2012-06-17T16:00:50-04:00

The danger of dirty surgical instruments

FDA on arthroscopic shavers

2012-02-21T16:00:40-05:00

A 2009 infection outbreak at The Methodist Hospital in Houston led the FDA to begin a safety review of arthroscopic shavers, a medical device used in joint surgeries that is prone to retain tissue between patients. More than 2 1/2 years later, the FDA has done little to solve the problem, despite review findings that suggest it is widespread.

State Integrity Investigation releases preliminary data on government transparency

2012-02-16T12:28:42-05:00

Do you ever get the feeling that you don't know the first thing about your state's government? More than likely, its by no fault of your own; U.S. state governments are notoriously closed-off, and even more difficult to compare to one another.

So for the first time, extensive data looking at transparency in U.S. state governments has been made public. The State Integrity Investigation released its preliminary findings — a set of more than 300 indicators to determine the risk of government corruption — for all 50 states.

What is an ‘indicator’ of good transparency? Here are a few of the categories in each state’s questionnaire:

Public access to information
Political finance
Accountability in each of the three branches of government
Internal auditing
Lobbying disclosure

See how your state fared in each of these areas, and 9 others on the StateIntegrity.org website.

“We wanted to open the research and reporting process up to the public to ensure our results were as balanced and as accurate as possible,” wrote Nathaniel Heller, executive director at Global Integrity, a partner for the project.

“We made early decisions to publish the names of all of the lead reporters in each state, to find engaged and informed citizens to help review the draft data, and to make pre-publication data available for public feedback before the official project launch. Many of those decisions were novel for Global Integrity, and we are anxiously awaiting early feedback to see whether some of this project's experimental techniques can be applied to other efforts,” Heller continued.

The project makes its official debut, with letter grades for each state and a nationwide ranking, on March 19, 2012.

Until then, visit the website to predict the state you think will score highest, or lowest, in the country for overall risk of government corruption — you could win a Kindle Fire just by participating! You can also ‘like’ the State Integrity Facebook page, or follow State Integrity on Twitter.

The State Integrity Investigation is a partnership of the Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity and Public Radio International.

Super PAC roundup

2013-01-23T12:59:44-05:00

Midnight Jan. 31 was the deadline for super PACs and presidential campaigns to file their end-of-the-year financial disclosure statements with the Federal Election Commission. To get a look at some of last night's action, iWatch News pulled together the most revealing takeaways from campaign spending during the year 2011.

Just hours after being declared winner of the Florida primary, records from Mitt Romney's main super PAC, Restore Our Future, show $30 million in contributions during 2011 — more than any of his rival's campaigns.
Overall, Democratic super PACs raised very little compared to their GOP counterparts — just over $19 million last year.
Harold Simmons and his company, Dallas-based Contran Corp., surfaced repeatedly in last night's disclosures. Simmons gave the single largest individual contribution by donating $5 million to GOP super PAC powerhouse American Crossroads, on top of a $2 million contribution to the group from Contran. His company also gave a pair of $500,000 donations to Rick Perry's super PAC, Make Us Great Again, and Simmons himself donated another $500,000 to Newt Gingrich's super PAC, Winning Our Future.

You can also read our Storify compiled from the best of disclosure day Twitter activity.

Winning Our Future

iWatch News recently reported two $5 million donations from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife to Newt Gingrich's main super PAC, but the pair of contributions wasn't reflected in last night's disclosure, since they gave in January. Winning Our Future still reported $2.1 million in contributions — including six figure donations from Adelson's niece and step-daughter.

Strong America Now

The smaller of the two super PACs supporting Newt Gingrich, reported $101,000 in contributions all from a single donor. Mike George of Dallas was the sole donor. He lists himself as a "self-employed businessman." George is founder and treasurer of the group and the creator of the "Lean Six Sigma" process, a waste-elimination and corporate streamlining method, which Gingrich pledged to adopt.

Leaders for Families

The smaller of the two pro-Santorum super PACs brought in $150,000 and spent all $150,000, according to its FEC disclosure filing. Leaders for Families received $50,000 from Wyoming billionaire Foster Friess, who has been bankrolling Red, White and Blue Fund, the larger of Santorum’s two super PACs. Red, White and Blue Fund made its own contributions totaling $75,000, and real estate manager Carles Parlato gave $25,000.

Red White and Blue Fund

This super PAC aligned with Rick Santorum raised only $730,000. Of that, $331,000 came from billionaire Foster Friess, an investor from Jackson, Wyoming.

Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow

The super PAC of comedian Stephen Colbert, raised over $825,000 in 2011 from donors such as Pat Magroin, Ibin Yerkinoff, and Frumunda Mabalz. (Say them out loud, just not around a crowd.)

Our Destiny PAC

This super PAC supporting failed GOP candidate Jon Huntsman reported its biggest donor was the candidate's father, who gave $2 million of the group's $2.7 million haul. Huntsman Sr. made a fortune in the chemical manufacturing business.

Restoring Prosperity Fund

Formally known as Americans for Rick Perry (after the Texas governor dropped out of the race), Restoring Prosperity Fund also relied on several heavy hitters. Among the donors were James Pitcock Jr. ($50,000), a longtime supporter; Kenny A. Trout ($50,000), listed by Forbes as the 358th richest man in America; Nathan Crain ($25,000), who was named by the group as their national finance chairman in July; and the Anderson Columbia company ($25,000), a construction company based in Florida.

The League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund

This section of the nationwide environmental group raised over $140,000 during the fourth quarter of 2011. Its top donors: Lawrence Linden ($25,000), a banker with Goldman Sachs; Scott Nathan ($70,000), a managing director with the Boston-based Baupost Group hedge fund; and Stephen Bing ($25,000), a movie producer in Los Angeles who is a long-time Democratic donor with ties to the Clintons.

New Prosperity Foundation

This pro-GOP group raised more than $200,000, primarily from a handful of wealthy donors. Sam Zell gave $50,000, which is likely to annoy employees of Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Zell took the company private and led the venerable chain into bankruptcy. Other donors include the Maclean Fogg Company ($50,000), a manufacturer; and Ron Gidwitz ($25,000), a businessman with ties to the outside spending group, Americans for Prosperity.

Last updated 2/01/2012 at 12:22 PM EST

Alexandra Duszak, John Dunbar, Rachael Marcus, Aaron Mehta, Peter Stone, Sarah Whitmire and Cole Goins all contributed to this report.

Video: PCMA launches new E-prescribing video

2012-01-26T17:40:07-05:00

PCMA launches new E-prescribing video

SLIDESHOW: Proximity of pollutants

2011-12-14T14:16:30-05:00

A look at the communities of Corpus Christi, Ford and Flint

Center garners top journalism awards

2013-04-29T14:42:11-04:00

The Center for Public Integrity’s iWatchnews.org website today received the Excellence in Online Journalism Award from the National Press Foundation. NPF said the site “effectively uses the capabilities of digital journalism in support of its investigative mission.”

It’s the third major award for the Center in almost as many weeks. Late last month, the nonpartisan news organization won two 2011 EPPY awards from Editor & Publisher. The winning categories: Best Enterprise Feature on a Website and Best Investigative Website with under 250,000 monthly visitors.

The feature singled out for accolades is Dangers in the Dust: Inside the Global Asbestos Trade, produced by the Center's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The multimedia series published in July 2010 and included a BBC World TV documentary, a dozen radio stories on BBC World Service and seven online stories by ICIJ. The project reached tens of millions of people in more than 150 countries, receiving coverage by some 400 news outlets, blogs and websites in at least 20 languages.

The Center's iWatch News site is attracting a growing number of readers who recognize the vital role of watchdog journalism in a healthy democracy.

“We are honored to receive this recognition for our outstanding investigative work,” said Executive Director William E. Buzenberg. “It’s gratifying to have The Center for Public Integrity’s watchdog journalism and our digital presentation of this work acclaimed by our peers.”

VIDEO: AmericanLP's 'French Mitt Romney'

2011-12-12T17:03:28-05:00

An AmericanLP ad against Mitt Romney