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. […]
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Posted inInside Public Integrity
Join us for a Facebook Live chat about campaign finance regulation
The Center for Public Integrity will be hosting a Facebook Live chat on Friday, November 17 at 12 p.m. EST/9 a.m. PST with reporters Dave Levinthal and Lateshia Beachum to discuss their latest stories on the players and history behind America’s complicated system of campaign laws. Check out the stories here: A modern history of […]
Posted inDemocracy
The Center for Public Integrity’s top stories in national politics
This year, our federal politics team spent some time outside of D.C. Yes, our reporters still vigilantly monitored the paralyzed Federal Election Commission, followed “dark money” — especially ahead of the midterm elections — and tracked the varying influences on Congress and the White House, including a sanctioned Russian bank. But with the “Abandoned in America” […]
Posted inGhosts of Polluters Past
Ghosts of polluters past
The hot, dry Santa Ana winds that whip through Orange County’s Logan barrio are fierce and temperamental. In the mid-20th century, they’d deliver gusts forceful enough to wreak havoc throughout the Southern California region, destroying orange crops, uprooting trees, downing power lines and upending lives. But in the Logan neighborhood, one of the city of Santa Ana’s […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity’s stance on registering as a political publisher on Facebook
Facebook is trying to boost transparency requirements for political ads aimed at influencing voters. It’s an attempt to respond to Russian meddling in the 2016 election via “fake news” placed on the platform. But newsrooms are feeling the hit by having their stories identified as “political content.” Inside the new ad policy One of those […]
Posted inEnvironment
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board was slashed by Trump. Its backlog is piling up.
Before sunrise on a June morning in 2019, a section of pipe nearly five decades old ruptured at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, spewing a cloud of flammable vapor that hung to the ground like a spectral fog. This story also appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer Within minutes, according to a surveillance video, a series […]
Posted inWatchdog Q&A
Q&A: Sarah Glover on the big “B” in newsrooms
Each week, we feature journalists who have affected powerful change. This week it’s Sarah Glover, immediate past president of the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) who wrote an open letter to the news media and the Associated Press to capitalize “B” when reporting about the Black community. Soon after her letter, AP made the momentous change […]
Posted inDemocracy
John Bolton — eyed for Trump post — leads super PAC that employed Cambridge Analytica
March 23, 2018: This story has been updated. If President Donald Trump taps John Bolton as his next national security adviser, the former U.N. ambassador will be forced to reckon with the fate of his political empire, which includes a super PAC that has spent heavily on the services of embattled voter profiling company Cambridge […]
Posted inCoronavirus and Inequality
Analysis: Trump administration’s coronavirus advice is secret, fragmented and contradictory
This is a news analysis from the Center for Public Integrity. From behind a podium and a black mask, Tulsa mayor G.T. Bynum faced the press. It was late July, and one percent of his city had tested positive for COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. A reporter had a question: What did Bynum […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Back to school in the age of COVID-19?
Hi Watchdogs, and welcome back to your favorite newsletter. ✨This week, we’re highlighting exclusive White House documents we obtained related to the coronavirus, breaking down the conversation around the future of education and the latest from our partners at Vox on how deregulation affects nursing homes. Let’s dive in. ?Exclusive: We obtained unpublicized documents prepared for the […]
Posted inUS Polling Places
In Iowa, making voting simpler with one hand, trickier with the other
Iowa eliminated a hurdle to voting in this pandemic year by opting to send all active voters applications for absentee ballots. But hurdles at different parts of the process could trip up voters. Here’s a look at some of the most significant updates on restrictions to voting rights and access in the state: Voter ID […]
Posted inDemocracy
How slamming campaign finance laws helped Greg Gianforte get elected
In May, on the eve of Greg Gianforte’s special congressional election, the Montana politician “body-slammed” inquiring news reporter Ben Jacobs and began “punching” him, according to Jacobs and other witnesses. Medics treated the battered journalist, and the county sheriff cited Gianforte for misdemeanor assault. Gianforte’s unprovoked flash of World Wrestling Entertainment-style violence — which also […]
Posted inInside Public Integrity
The Center for Public Integrity’s top stories covering the federal government from 2017
On the heels of a rousing campaign season and with a new president in power, the Center for Public Integrity’s federal politics team had no shortage of stories to cover. Some of the gems we’ve uncovered this year: a Republican hideaway secretly bankrolled by corporations and trade groups, along with a look at the forces […]
Posted inState Politics
Out-of-state donors pour cash into Democrats’ state races
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In New Mexico’s Statehouse, Jimmie Hall is something of a fixture: The veteran Republican representative has served District 28 in this sun-dried, high-desert city for seven terms. This story also appeared in USA TODAY For much of Hall’s tenure, the district, which lies along the foothills of the Sandia Mountains on the […]
Posted inHealth
It was the Rubber Capital of the World. The health consequences linger.
Forced to breathe at times through oxygen tubes, the Rev. Kevin Goode nonetheless counts his blessings. Although his lungs are scarred from asbestos exposure and he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, he’s in better condition than other former employees of rubber factories in Akron, Ohio. This story also appeared in Belt Magazine Goode, retired pastor […]
Posted inDemocracy
Actions, not words, tell Trump’s political money story
Donald Trump made his first and most definitive statement about campaign cash just moments after announcing his intention to run for president. It’s the one that stuck in everyone’s mind. “I don’t need anybody’s money. It’s nice. I don’t need anybody’s money,” Trump said on June 16, 2015. “I’m using my own money. I’m not […]
Posted inDemocracy
By the numbers: a 2017 money-in-politics index
We crunched a lot of numbers this year. Here are a few that stand out. $36,469,896: Amount President Donald Trump has already raised for his 2020 presidential reelection campaign. $4,228,162: Total payments to Trump-owned properties by candidates and political committees during the 2016 election cycle. 96: Percentage that came from Trump-related political committees. $237,472: Amount […]
Posted inInstitution of One
Million-dollar question: How to find safe homes for those with complex needs
This story also appeared in KJZZ and Slate Zainab Edwards is an ice skater. It runs in the family. Edwards’ mother, Cynthia Elliott, grew up on the ice in Minnesota and her older daughter skated competitively for years. So when Elliott and her husband Dave agreed to foster Edwards five days after her fourth birthday, […]
Posted inDemocracy
Donald Trump created a permanent presidential campaign. Here’s how.
With a one-paragraph memorandum on the day of his inauguration, Donald Trump took action that would redefine how presidential elections are waged. This story also appeared in PRI “[P]lease accept this letter as my Form 2 for the 2020 election,” Trump wrote the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 20, 2017. What’s a “Form 2”? Bureaucratic […]
Posted inDemocracy
How Democrats use ‘dark money’ — and win elections
Democrats love decrying “dark money” — political contributions for which the source of funds is a mystery. But that isn’t stopping them from accepting “dark money” themselves or making it difficult to determine the original underwriter of a political donation, as a recent Southern contest vividly illustrates. Alabama’s special U.S. Senate election in December is […]
Posted inDemocracy
Campaign regulation foes targeting state-level restrictions
Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., April 2010. Alex Brandon/AP Federal courts — not the White House, not Congress — have triggered the most earthshaking changes in how recent U.S. elections are funded. Think Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, where the Supreme Court allowed corporate spending in elections. Or SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election […]
Posted inDemocracy
Telemarketer for conservative causes pays $250,000 fine
A telemarketing company that fundraises for politicians, charities and major corporations has settled a complaint filed by the Federal Trade Commission over allegedly “false and misleading” tactics. Akron, Ohio-based InfoCision Inc., whose clients have included a pro-President Donald Trump political action committee, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential committee and groups connected […]
Posted inDemocracy
An Ohio legislator defied FirstEnergy lobbyists. Then a ‘dark money’ group helped sink her bid for Congress
A “dark money” organization tied to a major electric company pumped significant cash into an Ohio congressional race in what a losing candidate describes as an act of retribution over a failed financial deal. Christina Hagan, a state representative who was running in the Republican primary for Ohio’s 16th congressional district seat, said a group […]
Posted inWatchdog newsletter
Who got PPP loans now? Churches, Trump associates and lettuce farmers
Hi Watchdogs, and welcome back to your favorite newsletter. Did you miss us? We’re thinking about historic rulings from the Supreme Court, including the ones allowing employers to deny birth control coverage and allowing Congress and investigators to obtain President Trump’s tax records. (But we likely won’t see them before the election.) What do you think about these SCOTUS […]
Posted inDemocracy
Political committees 101
A veritable smorgasbord of organizations engage in political activities, and it can be tough to keep them straight. Here’s a menu detailing the differences among them: Candidate committees — Anyone running for president or Congress has one of these. The candidate controls the funds. The funds come from individuals and political action committees (more on […]
Posted inState Politics
How a mock convention is helping fuel a movement to change the Constitution
Amid historic re-enactors wearing tricorn hats and carrying muskets, more than 120 state legislators from all over the country pretended to overhaul the U.S. Constitution two years ago in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. But some believe the event was not just a history lesson. Critics say the Williamsburg get-together may have been a dress rehearsal for […]
Posted inInequality
As protests grow, big labor sides with police unions
This news report is available for republishing. We ask you credit our newsroom at the top with a line that says, “This story was originally published by the Center for Public Integrity,” and link to the original URL. Photo rights not included. Labor unions exist to protect workers, but most workers aren’t authorized to use […]
Posted inDemocracy
Statehouses, not Congress, hosting biggest political money fights
There’s almost zero chance Congress will this year seriously consider a single bill aimed at reforming the nation’s weakened money-in-politics laws. Going local is a different story: State lawmakers this year are engaging in full-throated debate on campaign finance proposals — with some surprising outcomes. New Mexico’s secretary of state may have found a way […]
Posted inImmigration
Trump plans to collect DNA from nearly a million immigrant detainees
This story was published in partnership with the Texas Tribune. This story also appeared in Texas Tribune The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories. The Trump administration is pushing ahead with a project that could lead to the government collecting DNA from hundreds of […]
Posted inDemocracy
Tom Steyer: billionaire political megadonor for the people?
Puppet master or politician? Democratic megadonor Tom Steyer fancies himself as neither, despite the tens of millions of dollars he’s pumping into American political campaigns, the national advertising war he’s openly waging against President Donald Trump and the 30-city town hall tour he brought to the Washington, D.C., region this week. Steyer, a hedge-fund-manager-turned-environmentalist who […]
