The Scoop

Mark Greenblatt of KHOU-11 News in Houston used tax records to find that “local landlords who haven’t paid their property taxes in years, and yet the government vault is still open to them. Despite owing the government money, these property owners are still getting millions of dollars in public funding.” The county housing authority chief, [...]

Tony Kovaleski and John Ferrugia of 7News-Denver tracked spending by the city of Brighton, which received more than $3 million to help residents minimize jet noise from Denver International Airport. “7NEWS investigation discovered that in several cases, contractors were overcharging residents and city leaders were neglecting to monitor the spending.” Some homeowners were charged hundreds [...]

Phil Williams of WTVF-NewsChannel5 in Nashville used local data to show that during the past two years in Davidson County, “almost 16,000 parking tickets were dismissed or, in court language, retired — and no one can say why.” Tennessee Titans QB Steve McNair and employees of a downtown Nashville Walgreens were among those who had [...]

Chris Halsne of KIRO Eyewitness News in Seattle obtained painkiller distribution records for Washington’s eight biggest prisons, finding that “in three years, taxpayers fed at least 329,000 Oxycodone pills to inmates. Prisoners have wolfed down a minimum 85-thousand doses of morphine. Add in narcotics like Percocet and Hydrocodone and taxpayers bought about 800,000 doses. The [...]

Dave Bohman of the WTSP-TV in Tampa checked state records to find “838 elevators in the Bay area whose required annual inspection is more than a year overdue. We found elevators and escalators at the Citrus Park Plaza’s Regal 20 Cinemas with safety certificates expiring August 1, 2003. State records show the same expiration date [...]