Hadley Wickham: “Your Default Position Should Be Skepticism”

The chief scientist at RStudio and developer of open source tools for data scientists on bribes, bears and where your next story is hiding. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

You Can Now Search the Full Text of 3M Nonprofit Tax Records for Free

Search the full text of nearly 3 million nonprofit IRS filings, including investments and grants given to other nonprofits. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Congress Scraps Provision to Restrict IRS from Competing with TurboTax

The change comes after ProPublica highlighted the deceptive marketing practices of Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and other major tax prep companies. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

New: You Can Now Search the Full Text of 3 Million Nonprofit Tax Records for Free - ProPublica

Search the full text of nearly 3 million nonprofit IRS filings, including investments and grants given to other nonprofits. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Separated by Design How Some of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing

In southwest Connecticut, the gap between rich and poor is wider than anywhere else in the country. Invisible walls created by local zoning boards and the state government block affordable housing and, by extension, the people who need it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax Uses a “Military Discount” to Trick Troops into Paying to File Taxes

Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, created and promoted a “military discount” that charges service members who are eligible to file for free. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

You May Not Even Have to Click on a Website Contract to Be Bound by Its Terms

A private and influential legal group you’ve never heard of is about to vote on what critics call a fundamental rollback of consumer rights. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

The Country That Exiled McKinsey

A dubious project raises serious questions about the world’s most prestigious consulting firm and its work for corruption-plagued regimes. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Upton: A Web Scraping Framework

Today we’re releasing a new open source project, which will make web scraping easier by providing reusable components. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Kentucky’s $1.5B Information Highway to Nowhere

Gov. Matt Bevin has offered no solution to the boondoggle he inherited, a plan to bring high-speed internet to Kentucky’s remote corners. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Listen to TurboTax Lie to Get Out of Refunding Overcharged Customers

TurboTax successfully lobbied to keep the IRS from offering free tax prep. Now it’s pretending the government already does it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Listen to TurboTax Lie to Get Out of Refunding Overcharged Customers - ProPublica

TurboTax successfully lobbied to keep the IRS from offering free tax prep. Now it’s pretending the government already does it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

The Birth-Tissue Profiteers

How well-meaning donations end up fueling an unproven, virtually unregulated $2 billion stem cell industry. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat - and Gutted It - ProPublica

An internal document and current and former company employees show the companies steered customers away from the government-sponsored free option and made them pay. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax and H&R Block Saw Free Tax Filing as a Threat – and Gutted It

An internal document and current and former company employees show the companies steered customers away from the government-sponsored free option and made them pay. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Saudi Fugitives Flee – U.S. Officials Look the Other Way

The FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies have known for years that Saudi diplomats were helping Saudi fugitives. But Washington avoided even raising the problem out of concern that it might hurt Saudi cooperation in the fight against terrorism. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page From Search Engines - ProPublica

The makers of TurboTax as well as H&R Block promised the IRS to offer free filing for many Americans. But they’re keeping Google from seeing it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

What Happens When Judges Police Themselves in Secret? Not Much

Ethics complaints against South Carolina’s circuit judges are buried in an opaque system that shields the accused. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax Deliberately Hides Its Free File Page from Search Engines

The makers of TurboTax as well as H&R Block promised the IRS to offer free filing for many Americans. But they’re keeping Google from seeing it. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TurboTax Uses Dark Patterns to Trick You into Paying to File Your Taxes

Come along as we try to file our taxes for free on TurboTax! | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Trump’s business deal was bigger, lasted longer and fueled more secrecy than we knew before. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

How the IRS Gave Up Fighting Political Dark Money Groups

Six years after it was excoriated for allegedly targeting conservative organizations, the agency has largely given up on regulating an entire category of nonprofits. The result: More dark money gushes into the political system. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

TSA Says Theyre Not Discriminating Against Black Women but Body Scanners May Be

The full-body scanners at airports across the country frequently give false alarms for Afros, braids, twists and other hairstyles popular among black women. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

How the Navy’s Top Commander Botched the Highest-Profile Investigation in Years

On Wednesday, the Navy said it was abandoning all remaining criminal charges against sailors involved in fatal accidents in the Pacific. Here’s how the actions of the chief of naval operations helped doom the cases. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Few taxpayers use the Free File system — intended to help moderate- and low-income filers — and that benefits companies like Intuit and H&R Block. Now Congress is moving to make the program permanent. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Congress Is About to Ban the Government from Offering Free Online Tax Filing

A bill supported by Democrats and Republicans would make permanent a program that bars the IRS from ever developing its own online tax filing service. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Congress Is About to Ban the Government From Offering Free Online Tax Filing. Thank TurboTax. - ProPublica

A bill supported by Democrats and Republicans would make permanent a program that bars the IRS from ever developing its own online tax filing service. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn’t Go Well

Ten years ago, the tax agency formed a special team to unravel the complex tax-lowering strategies of the nation’s wealthiest people. But with big money — and Congress — arrayed against the team, it never had a chance. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

The IRS Tried to Take on the Ultrawealthy. It Didn't Go Well. - ProPublica

Ten years ago, the tax agency formed a special team to unravel the complex tax-lowering strategies of the nation’s wealthiest people. But with big money — and Congress — arrayed against the team, it never had a chance. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Cook County Judge Blocks ProPublica Illinois From Publishing Details of Child Welfare Case - ProPublica

In moving to shield minors, the judge weighs a challenge to the First Amendment right to publish. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Google Has Quietly Dropped Ban on Personally Identifiable Web Tracking

Google is the latest tech company to drop the longstanding wall between anonymous online ad tracking and user’s names. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

OxyContin Maker Explored Expansion into “Attractive” Anti-Addiction Market

Secret portions of a lawsuit allege that Purdue Pharma, controlled by the Sackler family, considered capitalizing on the addiction treatment boom — while going to extreme lengths to boost sales of its controversial opioid. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Facebook Moves to Block Ad Transparency Tools - Including Ours - ProPublica

Our tool had let the public see exactly how users were being targeted by advertisers. The social media giant urged us to shut it down last year. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Facebook Moves to Block Ad Transparency Tools – Including Ours

Our tool had let the public see exactly how users were being targeted by advertisers. The social media giant urged us to shut it down last year. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Senior Editor Overseeing Washington Coverage - ProPublica

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Jobs - ProPublica

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Why Aren’t Hedge Funds Required to Fight Money Laundering?

A long-standing effort to make big investment funds abide by the same rules that banks and brokerages follow has bogged down. The fund industry says it supports the rules — it just has a few quibbles. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

How Two Common Medications Became One $455M Specialty Pill

After I was prescribed a brand-name drug I didn’t need and given a coupon to cover the out-of-pocket costs, I discovered another reason Americans pay too much for health care. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

H&R Block and Intuit Lobby Against Free and Simple Tax Filing (2017)

The makers of TurboTax and other online systems spent millions lobbying last year, much of it directed toward a bill that would permanently bar the government from offering taxpayers prefilled filings. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

FBI Says Its Photo Analysis Is Scientific Evidence. Scientists Disagree

The bureau’s image unit has linked defendants to crime photographs for decades using unproven techniques and baseless statistics. Studies have begun to raise doubts about the unit’s methods. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

What We Learned from the First Year of the Local Reporting Network

Reporters across the country are brimming with ideas for great stories to investigate. All they lack is time and support. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

D.C. Reporters - ProPublica

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Charlottesville's Other Jim Crow Legacy: Separate and Unequal Education - ProPublica

The Virginia city has one of the widest achievement gaps in the U.S., and a ProPublica/New York Times analysis shows that white students there are about four times as likely as black students to be considered gifted. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t Be Yours

A new data analysis by ProPublica and the Urban Institute shows more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before they choose to retire, suffering financial damage that is often irreversible. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Earned income tax credit recipients more likely to be audited

If you claim the earned income tax credit, whose average recipient makes less than $20,000 a year, you’re more likely to face IRS scrutiny than someone making twenty times as much. How a benefit for the working poor was turned against them. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

As the inaugural committee planned the landmark celebration, internal concerns were raised about whether Trump’s Washington hotel was overcharging for event space. The spending could be a violation of the law. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

Trump's Inauguration Paid Trump's Company - With Ivanka in the Middle - ProPublica

As the inaugural committee planned the landmark celebration, internal concerns were raised about whether Trump’s Washington hotel was overcharging for event space. The spending could be a violation of the law. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago

ProPublica Picks 14 Newsrooms and Investigative Projects for Year 2 of Its Local Reporting Network - ProPublica

ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. | Continue reading


@propublica.org | 5 years ago