Archive
It’s Getting Worse: The IRS Now Audits Poor Americans at About the Same Rate as the Top 1%
As the agency’s ability to audit the rich crumbles, its scrutiny of the poor has held steady in recent years. Meanwhile, a new study shows that audits of poor taxpayers make them far less likely to claim credits they might be entitled to.
“Trump, Inc.” and Former FBI Deputy Chief Andrew McCabe Compare Notes
McCabe talks about going after Russian organized crime in Brighton Beach as a young agent — and how some of those characters showed up in the Mueller report.
Cruel and Unusual: A Guide to California’s Broken Prisons and the Fight to Fix Them
A condensed timeline featuring Pumping Iron, “realignment” and other attempts at prison reform.
Illinois Video Gambling Tax Hike Will Be Decided by Lawmakers With Financial Ties to the Industry
As video gambling has grown in the state, so have the industry’s links to lawmakers.
Senators Call for Disclosure of Perks and Fees Paid to Health Benefits Brokers
A ProPublica story in February documented the hidden cash and gifts health insurers pay to influence independent brokers. In new proposed legislation, lawmakers say such fees should be revealed to employers.
Uma Verdade (Ainda Mais) Inconveniente: Por que créditos de carbono para preservar florestas podem ser pior do que nada
A corrida pela compensação de emissões está nos fazendo fechar os olhos para evidências cada vez maiores de que não tivemos — nem teremos — os benefícios prometidos.
Losing Aldermanic Privilege, and How Unprepared Illinois Is for the Next Recession
Plus, an unsurprising we-told-you-so on Cook County property taxes, and a plea from Rockford.
TurboTax Uses A “Military Discount” to Trick Troops Into Paying to File Their Taxes
Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, created and promoted a “military discount” that charges service members who are eligible to file for free.
A False Answer, a Big Political Connection and $260 Million in Tax Breaks
Holtec International gave a false answer in a 2014 New Jersey tax break application connected to political boss George E. Norcross III, a Holtec board member. Five days after WNYC and ProPublica asked about it, lawyers called it “inadvertent” and asked the state to correct it.
Why Did Deutsche Bank Keep Lending to Donald Trump? — “Trump, Inc.” Podcast
The bank kept writing checks even after Trump defaulted on loans worth hundreds of millions and sued it. Now Congressional investigators are going to court to uncover the financial records behind their relationship.
An (Even More) Inconvenient Truth: Why Carbon Credits For Forest Preservation May Be Worse Than Nothing
How the hunger for these offsets is blinding us to the mounting pile of evidence that they haven't — and won't — deliver the environmental benefit they promise
Separated by Design: How Some of America’s Richest Towns Fight Affordable Housing
In southwest Connecticut, the gap between rich and poor is wider than anywhere else in the country. Invisible walls created by local zoning boards and the state government block affordable housing and, by extension, the people who need it.
Emails Show How Much Pull Political Bosses Had Over State Tax Breaks
State officials scrambled to meet the demands of a lawyer at the firm where Philip Norcross, the brother of New Jersey political boss George E. Norcross III, is managing partner.
Soon You May Not Even Have to Click on a Website Contract to Be Bound by Its Terms
A private and influential legal group you’ve never heard of is about to vote on what critics call a fundamental rollback of consumer rights.
Blistering Report Details Serious Safety Lapses at St. Luke’s in Houston
Patients received medications that weren’t ordered by doctors; objects were mistakenly left in patients after surgery; and ultrasound probes were reused without being property disinfected, government inspectors found. The hospital says it is fixing the problems.
New York City’s Early Voting Plan Will Favor White, Affluent Voters, Advocacy Groups Say
In a letter, the New York Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause New York and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said the plan “will impose a severe burden on many of the City’s low-income voters.”
2019 Reader Survey Results: A Loyal Audience Craving Government Coverage
A majority of the over 3,500 respondents have been reading us for more than a year and are also interested in seeing us investigate health care, the environment and inequality.
