I didn’t know what to expect as I drove the two-lane road from Greenville to New Bern after I landed from South Florida one early morning in March. I was there as a reporter to find stories about climate change relocation as part of a year-long project, Harm’s Way, produced by Columbia Journalism Investigations in […]
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Posted inHarm's Way
How we found communities in harm’s way
To investigate the impact of climate-driven disasters on communities and whether they’re receiving the assistance they need, we compiled data from federal agencies to assess 1) how many climate-fueled disasters a county had experienced, 2) how much disaster preparedness funding they had received through the Federal Emergency Management Agency and 3) what each county looked […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Join us for a live discussion: Harm’s Way
UPDATE: Watch the replay of the panel discussion below. Join us for a live conversation Monday, Oct. 3, at 10 am EDT with the journalists behind Harm’s Way, a project focusing on the impact of climate-driven disasters in vulnerable communities. This investigation explored how prepared the U.S. government is to help relocate communities from heavily […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Trapped in harm’s way as climate disasters mount
SMITHFIELD, Va. — When flooding from Hurricane Floyd in 1999 destroyed Betty Ricks’ home, she rebuilt. Several years later, she posed proudly for a Christmas photograph beside her daughter and granddaughter in her new living room. Then another flood — brought by Tropical Storm Ernesto in 2006 — claimed her house a second time, leaving […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Hear from those leaving a beloved, disaster-threatened home
Albert White Buffalo Naquin, chief of the Jean Charles Choctaw Nation, remembers the time when Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana was tens of thousands of acres large. Climate change and oil and gas development have decimated this island, home to members of his tribe, other Indigenous residents and some non-Indigenous people. For Johnny Tamplet, […]
Posted inHarm's Way
On the ground: Reporting from the front lines of a climate relocation crisis
As climate change worsens, areas that were once safe become unlivable. Repetitive flooding, wildfires and other hazards are prompting some Americans to move. Millions more are expected to follow suit in the coming decades — if they can get out. Public Integrity stories The latest stories from Public Integrity in the Harm’s Way series can […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Floods, hurricanes, wildfires: What aid is your county getting to prepare?
For decades the federal government has known that climate change will force people in the U.S. to relocate. But the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster preparedness spending — which includes money to help with relocation — already falls short of the need, experts say. And it’s not flowing out equitably, according to a year-long analysis […]
Posted inHarm's Way
When climate change makes home unsafe
Standing on a bridge between downtown Freeport and its east side, I could see why floods in this Illinois city aren’t equal-opportunity disasters. On the downtown side of the Pecatonica River, the bank was reinforced with a stone wall. The east bank was lower yet had no protection. The east side was for years the […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Leaving the island: The messy, contentious reality of climate relocation
This article was produced in partnership with Columbia Journalism Investigations, the Center for Public Integrity and Type Investigations. ISLE DE JEAN CHARLES, Louisiana — A sliver is all of this islet that remains above water. What hasn’t slipped into the Gulf of Mexico shows the punishing effects of disastrous climate change: trees killed by saltwater, […]
Posted inHarm's Way
Too little, too late for people seeking climate relief
The federal government knows that millions of Americans will need to move to avoid the most punishing impacts of climate change, but the country offers little organized assistance for such relocation. When communities ask the government for help, they face steep barriers — a particular problem for communities of color.
Posted inHarm's Way
Atrapados en la zona de peligro: sin ayuda para reubicarse, una catástrofe tras otra
SMITHFIELD, Va. — Cuando las inundaciones provocadas por el huracán Floyd en 1999 destruyeron la casa de Betty Ricks, ella la reconstruyó. Varios años después, posó orgullosa para una fotografía navideña junto a su hija y su nieta en su nueva sala. Luego, otra inundación — provocada por la tormenta tropical Ernesto en 2006 — […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Public Integrity’s collaborative investigation model featured at conference
The Center for Public Integrity’s model for working with local newsrooms on investigative reporting projects will be featured at the national Collaborative Journalism Summit June 6-7 in Washington, D.C. Public Integrity Director of Audience Lisa Yanick Litwiller and Audience Engagement Editor Ashley Clarke will give a keynote address on how the organization has improved the […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Dateline Awards honor Public Integrity stories on homelessness, disabilities
Investigations by the Center for Public Integrity into student homelessness and community-based care of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities were recognized with 2023 Dateline Awards by the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Wednesday. With “Institution of One,” which was named best online non-breaking news story, reporter Amy Silverman painted a […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Public Integrity wins Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence
The Center for Public Integrity has won a 2023 national Edward R. Murrow Award for Overall Excellence. It recognizes a body of work by the nonprofit investigative newsroom that confronts widening inequality in the U.S. through reporting that’s rooted in innovative data analysis, powerful storytelling, historical context and collaboration with local journalists and sources closest […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Former Public Integrity newsroom leader lifted up ‘forgotten voices’
Lisa Yanick Litwiller, a former Center for Public Integrity director of audience whose humor, compassion, leadership and talent contributed to award-winning projects that focused on inequality, died of cancer Monday surrounded by her family at home in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. She was 46. Yanick Litwiller came to Public Integrity in 2021, building an audience team […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Public Integrity and partners win multiple business reporting awards
The Center for Public Integrity won four business journalism awards Thursday for investigations reported in collaboration with other newsrooms. Judges in the Best in Business Awards from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing, or SABEW, selected winners from a “record” 1,182 entries submitted by 193 news organizations. Public Integrity’s winning projects: Attacked Behind […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Denied
The decades-long fight in a community treated as a dumping ground
Protecting people’s health from environmental hazards, Maricela Mares-Alatorre and her family found out the hard way, is a never-ending fight. She was in high school in the late 1980s when her parents, both farmworkers, organized to help prevent the construction of a toxic waste incinerator in the landfill near Kettleman City, a tiny agricultural community […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Broken refugee program complicated Afghanistan evacuation crisis
The last United States military planes flew out of Afghanistan at almost the stroke of midnight Monday, capping the bloody and turbulent end of America’s longest war in history. In the war’s final weeks, President Joe Biden faced a torrent of criticism for failing to anticipate the sudden collapse of Afghan security forces in the […]
Posted inEnvironment
Nuclear buildup sickened his community. Then it caught up with him.
Blue Gap-Tachee Community — Growing up in this corner of the Navajo Nation in northeastern Arizona, Earl Tulley experienced all the bounties that the high desert community of sage-covered hills, valleys and plateaus had to offer. He knew that uranium had been pulled from the depths of the mesas here during his Cold War childhood. […]
Posted inDemocracy
New anti-protest laws cast a long shadow on First Amendment rights
This story also appeared in HuffPost and Indian Country Today Tiffany Crutcher was worried. Oklahoma lawmakers had passed a new measure stiffening penalties for protesters who block roadways and granting immunity to drivers who unintentionally hit them. The state NAACP, saying the law was passed in response to racial justice demonstrations and could chill the […]
Posted inInequality
True reparations aren’t limited to money
As discussions about reparations for Black Americans gain some ground, the first state with a task force on the issue is hearing that it needs to think bigger. African Americans in California have been telling the state’s reparations task force that a one-time payout would mean little if they don’t have equal access to education, […]
Posted inUnequal Risk
The EPA wants to broaden a ban on a deadly chemical on store shelves
Many toxic substances harm people slowly, causing serious illnesses years after repeated exposure. But methylene chloride’s fumes are so dangerous, the chemical can kill you in a matter of minutes. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency banned consumer sales of paint strippers with this ingredient in 2019 after an investigation by the Center for Public Integrity […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
Stop the victim narrative, and other tips for covering working-class women
While reporters talk with sources every day, it’s rare that conversation is about the practice of journalism itself. In September, the Center for Public Integrity and Tara Health Foundation hosted conversations about how to make news coverage of working-class women more community centered. Community leaders shared feedback on the harm they’ve seen perpetuated by journalism, […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
How drag bans fit into larger attacks on transgender rights
At least 14 state legislatures have proposed bills targeting drag performances, part of the record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed this year. Tennessee and Arkansas have both enacted laws placing strict limits on drag shows. They share similar language, restricting “adult-oriented” performances — sometimes explicitly including “male or female impersonators” in the definition. The bulk […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, Denied
Why you should report on environmental justice — and how to get started
You don’t need to report on the environment to investigate environmental justice. The issue intersects with many other topics: politics, planning and zoning, budgets, business, community advocacy, road building, energy and more. And it cuts to the heart of equal opportunity. Does everyone in your region get to breathe clean air, drink clean water and […]
Posted inToxic Labor
Reporting on workers who rebuild after natural disasters
I felt anxious asking disaster restoration workers to share their experiences with exposure to toxins such as asbestos, lead and mold on the job in New Orleans this past spring during a reporting trip. The trip was at the heart of our project, Toxic Labor, which documents the hidden health impact workers face after prolonged […]
Posted inInequality
Pondering state reparations for tribes, a council documents history of harms
It started with a formal apology. “California Native American peoples suffered violence, discrimination and exploitation sanctioned by state government throughout its history,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a 2019 statement. “We can never undo the wrongs inflicted on the peoples who have lived on this land that we now call California since time immemorial, […]
Posted inCoronavirus and Inequality
The Labor Department won’t take steps to protect health care workers from the coronavirus
This article is published in partnership with Mother Jones. This story also appeared in Mother Jones Are you a health worker, medical provider, COVID-19 patient, or federal employee on the front lines of the pandemic? We want to hear from you. Email us tips@publicintegrity.org. More than 3,000 nurses from across the country gathered the afternoon of […]
Posted inAcademic Freedom
DEI attacks pose threats to medical training, care
When Andrea Montañez visited her Orlando-area cardiologist two years ago to treat her abnormally fast heart rate, the receptionists and nurses often misgendered her. This story also appeared in USA TODAY For a couple of years following her transition, Montañez’s insurance information still listed her deadname and identified her as male. Despite informing the office […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
When pregnancy loss becomes a crime
With the U.S. Supreme Court likely to overturn Roe v. Wade in the coming months, reproductive rights will be determined by individual states, and the scope goes beyond abortion. For more than a decade, some states have sharply increased criminal investigations of pregnancy loss, including miscarriages, stillbirths and self-induced abortions. Prosecutions have overwhelmingly targeted pregnant […]
