December 2022 Archive
Arizona’s Governor-Elect Chooses Critic of Racial Disparities in Child Welfare to Lead CPS Agency
Matthew Stewart will become the first Black leader of the Department of Child Safety, which ProPublica and NBC News found had investigated the families of 1 in 3 Black children in metro Phoenix during a recent five-year period.
Nazi Germany Used Honorary Consuls to Advance Agenda Globally, Records Show
A ProPublica-ICIJ investigation into shadow diplomats identified about 20 honorary consuls suspected of supporting the Third Reich through espionage and other activities.
Medicare Keeps Spending More on COVID-19 Testing. Fraud and Overspending Are Partly Why.
Medicare’s COVID-19 testing costs reached over $2 billion in 2022. The growing costs concern some experts, who say financial incentives and a lack of regulation early in the pandemic led to fraud and overspending.
In Child Welfare Cases, Most of Your Constitutional Rights Don’t Apply
The child welfare system rarely offers the same rights as the criminal justice system, leaving many families facing permanent separation without due process protections.
The Fight of the Salmon People
Randy Settler’s family has spent generations fighting for their right to harvest salmon. But the federal government squandered its chance to recover the endangered fish before the onset of climate change. Now, Settler sees it all slipping away again.
How to Evaluate a Nonprofit Before You Donate
It’s important to know that your charitable donation will be well spent and support the programs you care about. Here’s how to check on a nonprofit’s finances.
They Called 911 for Help. Police and Prosecutors Used a New Junk Science to Decide They Were Liars.
Tracing the fallacy of 911 call analysis through the justice system, from Quantico to the courtroom.
She Says Doctors Ignored Her Concerns About Her Pregnancy. For Many Black Women, It’s a Familiar Story.
Black women in America are more than twice as likely as white women to have a stillbirth. Getting physicians to take their concerns seriously is one reason for this disparity, they say: “If you’re a Black woman, you get dismissed.”
Wildfires in Colorado Are Growing More Unpredictable. Officials Have Ignored the Warnings.
A year after the deadly Marshall Fire drove thousands of Coloradans from their homes, the state’s densest communities aren’t preparing for the next climate-driven wildfire.
This Scientist Fled a Deadly Wildfire, Then Returned to Study How It Happened
In 2021, the devastating Marshall Fire showed wildfire can strike Colorado in almost any place or season. Scientists now hope to glean lessons from it for communities across the West.
America’s Adult Education System Is Broken. Here’s How Experts Say We Can Fix It.
Experts say that more money is critical to improving the national system. Many states have developed creative solutions in spite of their limited funding.
Our Year in Visual Journalism
This year, ProPublica investigated racial disparities in the child welfare system, the “wild west” of unregulated prenatal tests, junk science like 911 call analysis and more. Here are the best visuals from our investigations in 2022.
Patients Went to This Isolated Facility for Treatment. Instead, Nearly Two Dozen Were Charged With Crimes.
For years, residents at the Illinois facility received scant treatment for their developmental disabilities and mental illnesses, then faced felonies for lashing out at staff.
A Water War Is Brewing Over the Dwindling Colorado River
Diminished by climate change and overuse, the river can no longer provide the water states try to take from it.
The IRS Hasn’t Released Nearly Half a Million Nonprofit Tax Records
If you’re trying to evaluate a charity this year, you might have a hard time. The IRS is behind on releasing Form 990s, limiting access to key financial information the public uses to evaluate the nation’s tax-exempt companies.
Shadow Diplomats Have Posed a Threat for Decades. The World’s Governments Looked the Other Way.
The U.S. State Department trusts foreign governments to nominate reputable honorary consuls, despite global accounts of wrongdoing.
The Global Threat of Rogue Diplomacy
How honorary consuls leverage perks, wield political power amid reports of wrongdoing.
Porn, Piracy, Fraud: What Lurks Inside Google’s Black Box Ad Empire
Google’s ad business hides nearly all publishers it works with and where billions of ad dollars flow. We uncovered a network containing manga piracy, porn, fraud and disinformation.
Salmon People: A Native Fishing Family’s Fight to Preserve a Way of Life
This documentary film features the plight of the salmon of the Columbia River and the Native people whose lives revolve around them.
