Local Reporting Network Archive
Michigan’s Largest Utility Faces Pushback on Debt Sales and Shut-Offs as Company Asks for Rate Hike
As DTE Energy pushes for a rate increase, the state is taking a closer look at its sale of customer debt to collection agencies. The company’s use of shut-offs and response to outages are also drawing criticism.
This Hurricane-Ravaged Town Has Waited Years for Long-Term Aid. It Could Happen Again.
Homes and businesses still sit in ruins in a small Louisiana city, left behind by the government’s convoluted and unpredictable system for rebuilding communities devastated by natural disasters.
Actions of Deputy Who Dragged Woman by Her Hair Deemed “Reasonable and Acceptable”
Video showed the officer, who has been named in at least nine excessive force lawsuits, grabbing the woman by her hair and slamming her to the ground. The sheriff now says the actions were justified and the woman is “looking for a paycheck.”
Indiana Police Officer Pleads Guilty After Beating Handcuffed Man
The officer was charged after the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica obtained a video showing two officers retaliating at a suspect who spat at them.
Illinois Governor Calls for Changes After “Awful” Reports of Abuse at Developmental Center
Gov. J.B. Pritzker resisted, but did not rule out, a call to close Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in southern Illinois after we found widespread problems.
At a Remote Mental Health Facility, a Culture of Cruelty Persists Despite Decades of Warnings
Federal and state officials have urged reforms at the rural facility for people with mental and developmental disabilities. But the state-run center still has more allegations of abuse and neglect than any other in Illinois.
A Disabled Young Patient Was Sent to Get Treatment. He Was Abused Instead. And He Wasn’t the Last.
The 24-year-old with developmental disabilities was brutally beaten by his caretakers inside a state-run facility with a long history of patient abuse.
Court Strikes Down State Law That Gave Millions in Tax Breaks to Casinos
A Superior Court judge in New Jersey has thrown out a state law granting Atlantic City’s casinos tens of millions of dollars in tax breaks, saying that the measure was passed on dubious grounds and violated the state Constitution.
Nearly $30K Vanished From the HOA’s Account. The State Can’t Investigate the Management Company.
Community association managers run most of Colorado’s 10,000 homeowners associations, but state regulators no longer have the authority to look into complaints about unexplained price hikes, shadowy elections or fraud. Homeowners pay the price.
She Didn’t Know She Still Owed Money to Her Utility. Then 25% of Her Paycheck Was Gone.
After the state’s largest utility sold consumer debt, thousands of Detroiters faced default judgments and garnished wages. The utility only reaped pennies on the dollar.
No Outsiders Need Apply: Why One City Settled for a Police Chief Accused of Harassment
A Massachusetts mayor wanted to look outside for a chief to clean up a “toxic” police department. But a city ordinance forced him to promote from within.
Joe Manchin’s Price for Supporting the Climate Change Bill: A Natural Gas Pipeline in His Home State
To accommodate the West Virginia senator, Democratic leadership agreed to legislation streamlining permits for the often-stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline and removing jurisdiction from a court that keeps ruling against the project.
How a Federal Agency Is Contributing to Salmon’s Decline in the Northwest
Damming the powerful waters of the Columbia River was a boon for cheap, clean electricity. But the fish that swam those waters are dying out. And the agency in charge isn’t stopping that.
Cómo capital privado extranjero enganchó a la industria pesquera de Nueva Inglaterra
Propiedad de una familia holandesa multimillonaria, Blue Harvest Fisheries ha emergido como una fuerza dominante en el lucrativo puerto pesquero de New Bedford, Massachusetts. Su modelo de negocio: beneficiarse de las laxas normas antimonopolio y pasar los costos a los pescadores locales.
U.S. Senators Demand Federal Scrutiny of Private Equity’s Incursion Into Fishing
Three New England senators, including Elizabeth Warren, criticized the lax rules and weak oversight revealed by our report on private equity’s growing dominance over East Coast commercial fishing.
The Judge Who Illegally Jailed Children Is Retiring. The Candidates to Replace Her Have Different Approaches.
After a Nashville Public Radio and ProPublica investigation, a Tennessee judge said she was retiring. The candidate who takes her job will have to restore confidence in the system.
ProPublica Opens Up New Opportunities to Join Our Local Reporting Network
Our newsrooms will partner with five more outlets on local accountability projects for a year, starting in November 2022. Deadline to apply is Aug. 22.
