Archive
HUD Took Over a Town’s Housing Authority 22 Years Ago. Now the Authority’s Broke and Residents Are Being Pushed Out.
As recently as last year, HUD had told officials in Wellston, Missouri, that they would get their local housing authority back. Then federal officials changed their minds. Wellston will join a growing list of HUD oversight failures, including the Illinois cities of East St. Louis and Cairo.
We Want to Hear About Your Experiences With Vehicle Tickets, So We Created a Facebook Group
We’ll share our latest stories there and give you a preview of an upcoming project.
After Years in Institutions, a Road Home Paved With Hunger, Violence and Death
A housing ruling gave Nestor Bunch independence, with limited support. Was he ready?
Chicago Psychiatric Hospital Will Remain Open for Now
Lawyers for Aurora Chicago Lakeshore Hospital had asked a judge for an order so it wouldn’t immediately lose federal funding and have to close.
Lawsuit Targets Illinois’ Child Welfare Agency Over Children Languishing in Psychiatric Hospitals
The suit against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, filed on behalf of hundreds of children, claims holding them after doctors clear them for release compounds their trauma. “I felt trapped,” one teen said.
Doctors Defending Convicted Child Abuser “Exceed the Limits of Credulity,” Judge Rules
The decision in a closely watched Florida case was a setback for Dr. David Ayoub, following our recent article about his work as an expert witness.
How a Dubious Forensic Science Spread Like a Virus
From his basement in upstate New York, Herbert MacDonell launched modern bloodstain-pattern analysis, persuading judge after judge of its reliability. Then he trained hundreds of others. But what if they’re getting it wrong?
Government Reverses Course, Sending 4-Year-Old Boy Back to His Father
More than 11 weeks after separating a young Salvadoran boy from his father and claiming, without evidence, that his father was a gang member, the Department of Homeland Security returned the boy.
Elkhart’s Acting Police Chief Has Previously Been Demoted, Reprimanded and Suspended
Ed Windbigler was forced out as police chief this week. The interim head, Todd Thayer, was demoted in 2013 for saying an officer who opened fire could now check that off his “bucket list,” according to disciplinary records.
“Landmark” Maternal Health Legislation Clears Major Hurdle
In the wake of the ProPublica and NPR series “Lost Mothers,” the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved a bill to fund state committees to review and investigate deaths of expectant and new mothers.
Illinois Regulators Are Investigating a Psychiatrist Whose Research With Children Was Marred by Misconduct
A former University of Illinois at Chicago researcher is at the center of a state medical licensing and disciplinary board inquiry.
Who’s More Likely to Be Audited: A Person Making $20,000 — or $400,000?
If you claim the earned income tax credit, whose average recipient makes less than $20,000 a year, you’re more likely to face IRS scrutiny than someone making twenty times as much. How a benefit for the working poor was turned against them.
Americans Dodge $660 Billion in Taxes Each Year — And It’s Probably Getting Worse
The IRS is underfunded and understaffed. One result: audits of the wealthy are rapidly declining.
What We Now Know about Manafort, Cohen and “Individual-1” — “Trump, Inc.” Podcast Extra
WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz talked with The Atlantic’s Franklin Foer about what we learned from prosecutors’ recent court filings — and the many things that remain a mystery.
How the IRS Was Gutted
An eight-year campaign to slash the agency’s budget has left it understaffed, hamstrung and operating with archaic equipment. The result: billions less to fund the government. That’s good news for corporations and the wealthy.
Stung by Controversies, Police Chief Resigns in Elkhart, Indiana
Ed Windbigler’s resignation as chief follows a videotaped beating of a handcuffed man and reports by the South Bend Tribune and ProPublica that he had promoted officers with disciplinary histories.
How the More Than Me Charity Gamed the Internet and Hollywood to Win a Million Dollars
Katie Meyler’s gambit involved a Silicon Valley darling, payments to a social media marketer in Pakistan and a broken promise to a philanthropist with some very famous friends.
