Illinois law bans schools from fining students. So local police are doing it for them, issuing thousands of tickets a year for truancy, vaping, fights and other misconduct. Children are then thrown into a legal system designed for adults. | Continue reading
There are many differences between the rich and the rest of us, but one of the most consequential for your taxes is whether most of your income comes from wages. | Continue reading
The VA and FEMA agreed to pay a first-time vendor in a desperate search for protective equipment. Now Robert Stewart admits he defrauded three federal agencies and lied about being in the Marine Corps. | Continue reading
A Texas county’s refusal to remove two books from the children’s section of the library sparked a yearslong political battle. Now school board races have taken on a deeply partisan tone, and elections serve as a purity test for far-right politics. | Continue reading
The high-profile children’s hospital uses donor money to engage in long and costly legal battles over wills. Here’s how St. Jude has created one of the most lucrative charitable bequest programs in the country. | Continue reading
The vast tenant screening industry is subject to less regulation than credit scoring agencies, even though experts warn that algorithms could introduce racial or other illegal biases that can prevent people from getting housing. | Continue reading
Reports indicate UNC researchers were potentially exposed to lab-created coronaviruses in several incidents since 2015. These incidents highlight the risks even in the most secure and respected research facilities. | Continue reading
ST. MARTINVILLE, La. - Lawyers and a judge gathered in an East Baton Rouge juvenile courtroom last October for an update on a teenager detained after joyriding in a stolen car. The teen appeared on a screen, alongside a caseworker who stunned everyone by describing conditions in … | Continue reading
Experts say a recent wave of pro-Putin disinformation is consistent with the work of Russia’s Internet Research Agency, a network of paid trolls who attempted to influence the 2016 presidential election. | Continue reading
Social media posts debunking purported Ukrainian disinformation are themselves fake. That doesn’t stop them from being featured on Russian state TV. | Continue reading
President Trump’s former campaign chairman and former lawyer worked with, between them, a deposed authoritarian president, a bevy of oligarchs, Russia-oriented politicians and alleged Russian spies. | Continue reading
In addition to the unusual mass arbitration Intuit is fighting, federal regulators and state prosecutors are still investigating the company, which made $2 billion dollars last year. | Continue reading
Women who apply for welfare often have to identify who fathered their children and when they got pregnant, among other deeply personal details. State governments use that information to pursue child support from the dads — and then pocket the money. | Continue reading
Chime, a “neobank” serving millions, is racking up complaints from users who can’t access their cash. The company says it’s cracking down on an “extraordinary surge” in fraudulent deposits. That’s little consolation to customers caught in the fray. | Continue reading
How we vastly expanded our website’s visual storytelling capabilities. | Continue reading
Living organ donors are never supposed to be billed for transplant-related care. NorthStar Anesthesia charged one donor over $13,000 and nearly sent his bill to collections. | Continue reading
After a nearly decade-long pause, Chase has resumed suing indebted customers. The bank is back to its old ways, say consumer lawyers. | Continue reading
Amid a national housing crisis, giant private equity firms have been buying up apartment buildings en masse to squeeze them for profit, with the help of government-backed Freddie Mac. Meanwhile, tenants say they’re the ones paying the price. | Continue reading
A surge in identity theft during the pandemic underscores how easy it has become to obtain people’s private data. As hackers are all too happy to explain, many of them are cashing in on it. | Continue reading
Irene Bosch developed a quick, inexpensive COVID-19 test in early 2020. The Harvard-trained scientist already had a factory set up. But she was stymied by an FDA process experts say made no sense. | Continue reading
Arizona spends a majority of its welfare budget on the Department of Child Safety. The agency then investigates many poor parents, sometimes removing their children for reasons stemming from their poverty. | Continue reading
Nobody told Yaneli Ortiz’s family that the factory they lived near emitted ethylene oxide. Not when the EPA found it causes cancer. Not when she was diagnosed with leukemia. And not when Texas moved to allow polluters to emit more of the chemical. | Continue reading
The technology that enables ransomware may be new, but extortion and ransom are not. So why is this happening now? And can it be stopped? A new podcast from ProPublica and MIT Tech Review aims to find out. | Continue reading
In the early 1900s some of the wealthiest Americans claimed their fortunes would never last through the generations. A century of tax avoidance later, the dynasties are going strong. | Continue reading
Massachusetts police can seize and keep money from drug-related arrests. No one has publicly reported how that money gets spent. A WBUR/ProPublica investigation found that Boston police used over $600,000 of it on a controversial surveillance device. | Continue reading
Students and scholars from China who criticize the regime in Beijing can face quick retaliation from fellow students and Chinese officials who harass their families back home. U.S. universities rarely intervene. | Continue reading
Thoroughbred horses, auto racing, massive ranches, luxury hotels. The hobbies and side businesses of the ultrawealthy create huge write-offs that can let them get away with paying little or no income tax for as much as a decade at a time. | Continue reading
An alarming number of people (especially children) have drowned after disappearing into storm drains during floods. The deadly problem should be easy for federal, state and local government agencies to fix, but tragedy strikes again and again. | Continue reading
Phyllis Taylor’s company is responsible for the longest-running oil spill in U.S. history. That’s been a disaster for the Gulf of Mexico — but a tax bonanza for Taylor. | Continue reading
How a woman whose muscles disappeared discovered she shared a disease with a muscle-bound Olympic medalist. | Continue reading
Monthslong silences. Mysterious rejections. Here’s what's behind the shortages of a critical tool for ending the pandemic. | Continue reading
One of the country’s most important sources of fresh water is in peril, the latest victim of the accelerating climate crisis. | Continue reading
The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis. | Continue reading
ProPublica is hiring reporters. | Continue reading
IRS records reveal how Gov. Jim Justice, Gov. Jared Polis, former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and other wealthy political figures slashed their taxes using strategies unavailable to most of their constituents. | Continue reading
Months-long silences. Mysterious rejections. Here’s what's behind the shortages of a critical tool for ending the pandemic. | Continue reading
The EPA allows polluters to turn neighborhoods into “sacrifice zones” where residents breathe carcinogens. ProPublica reveals where these places are in a first-of-its-kind map and data analysis. | Continue reading
For years, a dangerous salmonella strain has sickened thousands and continues to spread through the chicken industry. The USDA knows about it. So do the companies. And yet, contaminated meat continues to be sold to consumers. | Continue reading
The material obtained by ProPublica sheds light on the radicalization of a Jan. 6 defendant whom prosecutors have characterized as a “serious danger ... not only to his family and Congress, but to the entire system of justice.” | Continue reading
Judge Donna Scott Davenport oversees a juvenile justice system in Rutherford County, Tennessee, with a staggering history of jailing children. She said kids must face consequences, which rarely seem to apply to her or the other adults in charge. | Continue reading
“What the hell is happening? I feel like we are living on another planet. I don’t recognize anyone anymore.” | Continue reading
“What the hell is happening? I feel like we are living on another planet. I don’t recognize anyone anymore.” | Continue reading
The consulting giant was helping Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson fend off FDA regulations even as it helped shape FDA drug policy. | Continue reading
ProPublica identified thousands of Marketplace listings and profiles that broke the company’s rules, revealing how Facebook failed to safeguard users. | Continue reading
A series of studies published today documents the vast conflicts of interest in medicine. The way we think about disease “is being subtly distorted” by financial ties, the authors of an editorial write. | Continue reading
Non-COVID patients are paying a price as the delta variant and low-vaccination rates overwhelm hospitals across the country. “Wait times can now be measured in days,” said an expert. | Continue reading
WhatsApp assures users that no one can see their messages — but the company has an extensive monitoring operation and regularly shares personal information with prosecutors. | Continue reading
WhatsApp assures users that no one can see their messages — but the company has an extensive monitoring operation and regularly shares personal information with prosecutors. | Continue reading