|
After Sara Gregory reported that a Georgia county quietly stopped recycling, an audit confirmed sanitation workers were mixing the recycling with garbage and ruining it. Gregory found the problem after following a garbage truck, talking to a crew member and speaking to residents. THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
Maine lawmakers created a fund to prevent evictions, but excluded public housing tenants from eligibility, even though these residents are at higher risk of homelessness, Sawyer Loftus reported. BANGOR DAILY NEWS/PROPUBLICA
Massachusetts health officials failed to discipline a Boston-based hospital chain for regulatory violations, check its aggressive expansion plans and relentless cost-cutting, or respond forcefully to dire warnings as it spiraled toward financial collapse, a team reported. BOSTON GLOBE
Illinois officials intentionally created weak ethics oversight systems, including restrictions on what watchdogs can investigate and limited ability to discipline those who have broken laws, Dan Petrella and Gregory Royal Pratt reported. CHICAGO TRIBUNE
A Texas district attorney ordered prosecutors to recommend life without parole in all pending capital murder cases, regardless of the specifics of each case, a decision criticized by victim advocates and others, reporter Clare Amari found after obtaining internal communications records. HOUSTON LANDING
A St. Louis man has been imprisoned for more than a decade based on the testimony of a police officer with a history of questionable actions, including racist social media posts and mistaking an innocent man for a suspect in a police encounter that led to the man's death, Clara Bates reported. THE INDEPENDENT
A Cleveland group home took in foster children and received $1.9 million in government funding over two years despite past problems, including the death of a 13-year-old in the group home's care, Scott Noll reported. NEWS 5 CLEVELAND
A North Carolina nonprofit, partly led by a state lobbyist, spent more than $100,000 to send five lawmakers to the Summer Olympics in Paris, reporter Dan Kane found as part of a series on secrecy in state government. The group won’t disclose its donors, so there’s no way for the public to know exactly who paid for the travel. THE NEWS & OBSERVER
Hundreds of city-owned properties in Pittsburgh have been hit with code violations for hazards including exposed electrical wiring and collapsed walls, but the city has failed to respond to the orders even as private property owners are hauled into court and punished for ignoring the same breakdowns, Jimmy Cloutier and Stephana Oceanu reported. PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
A disproportionate number of Black people were killed in police chases across the country between 2017 and 2022, Susie Neilson and Jennifer Gollan reported in a national investigation. Black people accounted for about 1 in 4 bystanders killed in police pursuits, even though they make up about 1 in 8 U.S. residents. SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Florida banned local governments from protecting workers from heat after deciding businesses and federal regulation did enough to keep them safe, but reporters Hannah Critchfield and Juan Carlos Chavez found far more workers died from heat across the state than authorities knew. TAMPA BAY TIMES
| 
