As shown in the chart above, India was the only country that imported more than $2 billion worth of weapons in 2009. It’s neighbor, Pakistan, imported more than $1 billion in weapons itself. The data comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Arms Transfers Database, which contains information on major conventional weapons transfers from […]
Posted inAccountability
Fact Check: Obama releases long-form birth certificate to try to satisfy critics
President Barack Obama released the long-form version of his birth certificate, yet another piece of concrete evidence that shows he was born in the United States. The White House said he received a special exemption from the Hawaii Department of Health, which keeps the long-form documents confidential. The pdf version of the document can be […]
Posted inDemocracy
IMPACT: House GOP criticizes White House visitor logs
White House visitor logs riddled with holes By Fred Schulte and Viveca Novak April 13, 2011 House Republicans criticized the Obama administration for failing to disclose the names of thousands of visitors to the White House and suggested Obama staff met with lobbyists in nearby coffee shops to avoid listing their names in the official […]
Posted inAccountability
Pentagon’s failure to share biometric data prevents DHS and FBI from identifying terrorists
The Department of Homeland Security, FBI and Pentagon all rely on biometric data—face, fingerprint, iris, palm and fingerprint records—to identify criminals, terrorists and national security threats. But the Pentagon’s failure to adopt uniform standards for information sharing means that data on criminals and terrorists could fail to reach agencies that could prevent them from getting […]
Posted inInequality
How much does it really cost to process debit card purchases?
UPDATED June 29, 2011 – The table of fees below was updated with revised survey data issued by the Federal Reserve. Several card networks corrected their previously provided data, the Fed said, which cut the overall average fee for prepaid cards to 40 cents, from the Fed’s previous figure of 50 cents. Exactly how much […]
Posted inInequality
Regulatory brawl over debit cards sidesteps the real fee-setters: card companies
Competition usually pushes prices lower. But in the case of debit card processing fees, aggressive competition between Visa and MasterCard to win banks’ business has helped keep swipe fees high and resulted in an annual $16 billion bonanza for U.S. banks. This little-noticed aspect of debit processing fees has been lost in the lobbying brawl […]
Posted inEnvironment
Behind the story: Is biomass as green as it seems?
Biomass. It’s one of the latest forms of so-called green energy being trumpeted by the federal government. But just how green is it? Editor Keith Epstein speakers with reporter Ronnie Greene about his latest article looking at biomass.
Posted inNational Security, War in Afghanistan and Iraq
Cost of pursuing bin Laden? Half a trillion and climbing
In its 10-year search-and-destroy mission against Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida, the United States has spent more than $450 billion primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That does not count the price tag of the war in Iraq, where Americans footed the bill for another $800 billion since the 2003 invasion. Nor does it include the […]
Posted inNational Security, War in Afghanistan and Iraq
A timeline of who won and who lost in the decade since the worst terror attacks on U.S. soil
The relentless pursuit of Osama bin Laden changed over 10 years By John Solomon May 2, 2011 Almost 10 years have passed since Osama bin Laden orchestrated the worst terror attack on American soil. A pursuit that began under President George W. Bush was finally wrapped up under his successor, Barack Obama, who told the […]
Posted inNational Security, War in Afghanistan and Iraq
The relentless pursuit of Osama bin Laden changed over 10 years
A timeline of who won and who lost in the decade since the worst terror attacks on U.S. soil By Sandy Johnson May 2, 2011 Osama Bin Laden: How the U.S. helped midwife a terrorist By Ahmed Rashid September 13, 2001 Ghost soldiers By Mark Benjamin and Barbara Slavin February 6, 2011 From the moment […]
Posted inNational Security
FBI still struggles to recreate itself as intelligence-driven agency
A full decade after the deadly 9/11 attacks, the FBI is still struggling to become an intelligence-driven agency able to identify and act on potential threats. The FBI’s biggest problem remains “the extent to which intelligence has been integrated into FBI operations to support its counterterrorism mission,” according to a new report by the Congressional […]
Posted inHealth, Wendell Potter commentary
ANALYSIS: Blue Cross, Blue Shield get richer by borrowing playbook of corporate insurers
ANALYSIS: Nonprofit insurers accustomed to double-digit rate hikes fight California plan By Wendell Potter June 27, 2011 ANALYSIS: Insurers value profits over people By Wendell Potter August 1, 2011 I’ve written frequently in recent weeks about the eye-popping profits the big publicly traded health companies have been reporting. Last year—as the number of Americans without […]
Posted inFinance, Financial Reform Watch, Inequality
Financial reform this week: House Republicans push bill to curb CFPB power
Who are lobbyists meeting? The sweeping Dodd-Frank financial reform law was enacted by Congress last summer after the U.S. banking crisis and housing collapse of 2007-08. But it left the details to more than a half-dozen agencies which are now drafting rules to regulate the multi-trillion-dollar derivatives market, set bank capital standards, designate systemically-important financial […]
Posted inAccountability, Global Muckraking
Investigations Around the World
An 11-country-investigation by Consejo de Redaccion in Columbia looked into resource mismanagement in Latin America and found that the region is missing profitable opportunities to conserve its forests because of red tape and excessive paperwork. Instead carbon emissions trading and forest conservation have become ambiguous projects with little oversight. London’s Observer chronicled how Wachovia, a […]
Posted inDemocracy
Back to school for the billionaires
Grading the billionaires on education reform Inside the school data By Kimberly Leonard May 1, 2011 How we graded the schools iWatch News and Newsweek analyzed high-school graduation rates posted by the nationally recognized Editorial Projects in Education Research Center and math and English standardized test scores for kindergarten through 12th grade that are maintained […]
Posted inAccountability
Inside the school data
Back to school for the billionaires By Rita Beamish May 1, 2011 Poor schools didn’t have enough time to plan spending of $3 billion stimulus windfall By Corbin Hiar August 1, 2011 iWatch News analyzed performance data from 10 urban school districts that received significant funding from the four billionaire philanthropists […]
Posted inAccountability
Grading the billionaires on education reform
Back to school for the billionaires By Rita Beamish May 1, 2011 iWatch News examined the track records of the four billionaire philanthropists who have taken the lead in trying to use their private money to reform school districts around the country over the last decade. Here are their report cards. Grades were assigned based […]
Posted inEducation
IMPACT: Official calls mishandling of sexual assault cases ‘staggering’
About this series Sarah Favot is a reporter for the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. The series on sexual assault at U.S. colleges was a collaborative project with the New England Center and NPR. Read the series here. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has berated the approach taken by some colleges and universities […]
Posted inNational Security
Policing the world
The U.S. government pumped $3.5 billion into foreign police forces in 2009, an amount nearly 2,000 percent higher than the last time spending on overseas law enforcement was tallied two decades ago, the Government Accountability Office found. Not surprisingly, most of the 2009 money – nearly $2 billion – went to train police forces in […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
iWatch News wins multiple major awards
The Center for Public Integrity has received several top journalism awards: The Overseas Press Club presented the 2010 Whitman Bassow Award to the Center for our investigative report “Looting the Seas: How Overfishing, Fraud and Negligence Plundered the Majestic Bluefin Tuna.” The Center and partner NPR recently won a Dart Award at Columbia University for […]
Posted inEnvironment
Industry linked to study supporting safety of plastics chemical BPA
About this story This story was written by Susanne Rust, an investigative reporter who focuses on the environment for California Watch. The story originally appeared here. Before joining California Watch, while at The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rust focused much of her reporting on dangerous chemicals in everyday products and the lax regulations surrounding them. Working […]
Posted inNational Security
Human trafficking allegations test diplomatic immunity
Four women claim in a civil lawsuit that a high-ranking Qatari diplomat in the United States, and his family, forced them to work around the clock for little pay while enduring emotional abuse and — according to one woman — sexual assault. The human trafficking lawsuit was filed March 25 in U.S. District Court in […]
Posted inHealth, Wendell Potter commentary
Insured profits
On Monday, I wrote about the good fortune of UnitedHealth Group, one of the big seven for-profit health insurance companies, and its CEO, Stephen J. Hemsley. Last week, UnitedHealth pleased Wall Street so much with its report of earnings during the first three months of this year that investors clamored to buy the company’s stock. […]
Posted inAccountability
Behind the story: Are diplomats getting away with human trafficking?
Editor Ricardo Sandoval speaks with reporter Traver Riggins about her latest article for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The story centers on a lawsuit in which four domestic workers allege their former employer, a Qatari diplomat, abused and exploited them.
Posted inFueling Fears, Worker Health and Safety, Workers’ Rights
Do you live near an oil refinery? Tell us your experience
An ongoing series by iWatch News reporters, Fueling Fears, is investigating hidden hazards at oil refineries across the U.S. Our first story exposed how the use of a toxic chemical — hydrofluoric acid — at 50 refineries puts at least 16 million Americans in the path of the acid in the event of an accidental […]
Posted inEnvironment
Coal is back, even as the Obama administration pushes green energy
U.S. Coal Production, in tons, 2004-2010 2004: 1,112,099,000 2005: 1,131,498,000 2006: 1,162,750,000 2007: 1,146,635,000 2008: 1,171,809,000 2009: 1,074,923,000 2010: 1,085,281,000 Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration Do you support last month’s decision to open more public land in Wyoming to coal mining? Decades after Clear Air Act, most smokestacks still lack scrubbers By Keith Epstein June […]
Posted inNational Security
Cyber threats
FBI efforts to combat cyber intrusion threats are weakened by poor information sharing with other agencies and a lack of training, according to a report from the Justice Department’s inspector general. The watchdog interviewed FBI cyber investigation squads at 10 field offices throughout the United States. While the bureau was given passing marks for meeting […]
Posted inAccountability, Global Muckraking
Wildlife peril: Countries with the most threatened endemic species in 2010
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List provides an inventory of the conservation status of plant and animal species worldwide. The above chart was sourced from the Red List’s 2010 tally of total endemic and threatened endemic species in each country, and shows the 10 countries with the highest number […]
Posted inEnvironment
$163 million spent on oil pollution research — with no coordination
BP’s Iris Cross starred in two disaster PR campaigns By Aaron Mehta April 20, 2011 An interagency committee designed to coordinate oil pollution research after the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill has not kept pace with major changes in the oil industry or tried to end duplication of effort. An analysis by the Government Accountability Office […]
Posted inEnvironment
‘Green’ biomass isn’t always so clean
Just 12 miles apart in the belly of California, a pair of 12.5 megawatt power plants fouled the air with a toxic brew of pollutants — nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, ammonia and particulate matter. They released thick plumes and visible dust. They failed to install proper monitoring equipment, and failed to file reports […]