Archive
Scraping for Journalism: A Guide for Collecting Data
A series of technical and programming tutorials on how scraped, parsed, and organized data for "Dollars for Docs."
As Coal King Retires to $12 Million, Mine Safety Struggle Goes On
In the past two weeks, environmentalists lost an activist and the powerful CEO of a coal company stepped down. Longtime regulatory challenges nonetheless persist.
Pennsylvania's Drilling Wastewater Released to Streams, Some Unaccounted For
As gas-drilling operations proliferated in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale over the past couple of years, most of the hundreds of millions of gallons of briny wastewater they produced was eventually dumped into the state’s rivers. Much of the rest is unaccounted for.
Disclosure of Possible Gitmo Signing Statement Spurs Debate Inside and Outside Administration
Obama administration officials have drafted a signing statement that stops short of claiming that provisions in a spending bill on Guantanamo are unconstitutional. But debate continues within the administration and among constitutional experts as to how President Obama should react to legislation limiting where and how he can prosecute prisoners.
Why We’re Publishing Advertising, and Where We Stand on Funding
ProPublica will begin publishing advertising on its web site, and likely soon we’ll include it as well in our daily email, on our mobile site and in our iPad app.
GOP’s New Oversight Chair Asks Businesses Which Regulations Burden Them
A letter from Rep. Darrell Issa asks businesses and trade groups to help identify regulations his Oversight committee should target.
At Foreclosure Law Firms, Concerns About Novice Attorneys
In Florida, about half of attorneys at the state's four largest foreclosure law firms have practiced law for less than three years, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Funding for Federal and State Financial Regulators Still in Question As Roles Expand
Could Washington's power shift this week have implications for financial reform implementation? Here's a quick review of federal and state regulators' funding situations.
Administration Prepares to Defy Efforts to Limit Obama’s Options for Guantanamo
Senior officials are advising President Obama to reject provisions of a military spending bill that limits his handling of Guantanamo. Aides are urging him to sign the bill but issue a signing statement rejecting the Guantanamo provisions as unacceptable limits on his authority.
The Toppling: How the Media Inflated the Fall of Saddam's Statue in Firdos Square
How saturation media coverage of the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Firdos Square fueled the perception that the war had been won and diverted attention from what in reality was just the start of a long and costly conflict.
Scraping for Journalism: A Guide for Collecting Data
A series of programming and technical guides on how we collected data for Dollars for Docs.
The Coder's Cause in "Dollars for Docs"
Public records, as a programming challenge, in our Dollars for Docs project.
Chapter 3: Turning PDFs to Text
Dollars for Docs Data Guide: A tutorial on several methods to convert PDFs to spreadsheets.
Chapter 2: Reading Data from Flash Sites
How to read data from Flash-based websites, part of our data-scraping guide for Dollars for Docs.
Chapter 1. Using Google Refine to Clean Messy Data
How to use the Google Refine application to make sense of imperfectly recorded data.
Chapter 4: Scraping Data from HTML
Dollars for Docs Data Guide: A tutorial on scraping HTML from websites.
Drywall Woes Continue -- Seeking Redress in Court Could Provide Little Relief
Homeowners affected by problems with defective drywall have been forced to fend for themselves and many have turned to the courts for help. Thousands of lawsuits have been consolidated and are being tried in federal court. But the homeowners’ chances of getting quick relief through private litigation are slim.
Chapter 5: Getting Text Out of an Image-Only PDF
Dollars for Docs Data Guide: A tutorial on converting images of tabular data to actual text for a spreadsheet.
