ProPublica

Bloomberg Loses Final Appeal to Keep Emails Secret

Mayor Bloomberg's fight to keep emails concerning the hiring Cathie Black, whose catastrophic career as school chancellor lasted all of 100 days, has finally ended, and Bloomberg has lost. The story stretches back to 2010, when Sergio Hernandez, then a Village Voice intern, filed a Freedom of Infor ... More >>

New York State Senator Throws Tantrum on CNN, Still Thinks We Should Torture Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Two days before the federal government filed charges against Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, New York State Senator Greg Ball jumped on news of the teenager's capture and recommended spicing up traditional due process. On Saturday, the lawmaker suggested that authorities torture Tsarnaev. ... More >>

New York City Prosecutors' Misconduct Goes Unpunished, ProPublica Finds

When New York City prosecutors break the rules, the consequences can be serious: Murderers can go free, and innocent people can lose years of their life in jail. But as a new ProPublica investigation released today makes clear, prosecutorial misconduct almost always goes unpunished. Combing throug ... More >>

The People Trying To Ruin The Internet: Bob Goodlatte

At the Voice, we have been regularly following internet policy developments. We figured it would be cool -- maybe even a public service? -- to ID people who keep pushing for web-killing proposals such as SOPA and PIPA in this new, occasional feature: "The People Trying To Ruin The Internet." Enjoy! ... More >>

Fracking Rules: Obama Administration Guidelines Don't Affect Most U.S. Land

As the fracking debate rages on in New York, Barack Obama's administration hasn't hidden the fact that it's pro-fracking, and widely publicized its decision to release environmental guidelines for the practice. Indeed, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's announcement Tuesday that his department had OK ... More >>

A Handy, Disgusting Guide to Pink Slime and Other Mechanically Processed Meats

Is it getting hard to keep track of bad news from the American meat industry? A brief guide from Pro Publica explains the subtle differences between pink slime, white slime and good old fashioned mechanical meat recovery. It also explains where to find (avoid?) the meats and how they'll be labeled.

CISPA: House OKs Internet Security Bill, President Obama Promises To Veto Measure

In the latest round of Congress v. internet, the House of Representatives voted 248-168 Thursday in favor of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. The measure would encourage companies such as Facebook to freely share your info with law enforcement agencies if you seem like a "cyber th ... More >>

Will Fracking Spread Across America?

The Prez has hardly made it a secret that he supports fracking as part of his push for domestic oil and natural gas development, with the Obama administration announcing last week that it plans on setting environmental standards for hydraulic fracturing. And what happens in D.C. does not stay in D ... More >>

Are Fracking Chemicals a Secret? (UPDATE)

The health risks of hydraulic fracturing have been key in policymaking debates, with health advocates calling on legislators to assess fracking chemicals before allowing the polemic practice to take place. Friends of fracking, however, have pushed back against full disclosure: in Pennsylvania, for ... More >>

HYDROFRACK OFF

The pros and cons of the practice

Dangerous Dioxins: NYC Green Groups Call for Stronger Enforcement

A little more than a month after the Environmental Protection Agency released its long-awaited report on the non-cancer dangers of dioxins, consumer groups have called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to officially stop buying products which contain these chemicals. New York's Center fo ... More >>

EPA Releases Report on Dangerous Dioxins After 27-Year Delay

The Environmental Protection Agency has finally released its report on the non-cancer dangers of dioxins -- toxic chemicals that abound in most consumer products. Though health advocates have been wary of dioxins for years, the FDA has said after a nearly 3 decades-long delay that the nasty carcino ... More >>

Breaking: PIPA Senate Vote Postponed

PIPA might soon perish. The Senate planned to vote on highly polemic PIPA on Tuesday, but Majority Leader Harry Reid just announced that he would postpone action on the anti-piracy bill, according to the Wall Street Journal. And if the downward spiral recent trajectory of the bill is any indicati ... More >>

SOPA Opponents, Ron Paul Are Unlikely Allies

The stats are in, and they make SOPA and PIPA's future in Congress look very uncertain. After countless popular websites shut down Wednesday to protest the the Stop Internet Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, at least 70 of the bills' Congressional supporters have abandoned the m ... More >>

Papa John's Receipt Lists Customer's Name as 'Lady Chinky Eyes'

​Minhee Cho, who is the Communications Manager for ProPublica, just tweeted a photo of a receipt from a Hamilton Heights Papa John's with her name listed as "lady chinky eyes." The picture, which can be seen in full after the jump, is from an in-store order placed last night. This looks to be ... More >>

Bruce Ivins Maybe Didn't Send the Anthrax, Government Admits in Court Papers

​Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, was officially labeled the Anthrax killer posthumously, accused of killing five people with contaminated letters and spooking all of the post-9/11 United States. Though much of the U.S. press, including the Washington Post and CNN, initially accepte ... More >>

Sarah Palin Emails Are a Group Job; Huffington Post Passes New York Times in Traffic

​We mentioned last week that a large portion of all the emails Sarah Palin sent in her half-term as governor of Alaska are finally being made public long after a few publications requested them via open records laws back in 2008. It's now being reported that the mother-load will drop tomorrow. ... More >>

Sarah Palin's Emails as Governor Coming Soon; New York Times Read Goldman Sachs Emails

​Maybe this really is the age of WikiLeaks. Transparency, hacks and secrets of all stripes are currently getting big play in media news, ranging from the travails of Anthony Weiner's penis to shady New York Times snooping and the Freedom of Information Act at work. We've seen the latter in the ... More >>

Michael Bloomberg Sued by Reporter Over Cathie Black Freedom of Information Requests

​Today, I am suing New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Last year, Bloomberg baffled New Yorkers when he appointed publishing executive Cathie Black to be the city's next schools chancellor. Black was an unpopular choice, and for months, responses to her appointment ran the gamut of ridicul ... More >>

Pulitzer Prize Winners Win Pulitzer Prizes, Money; Roger Ailes Spies on Employees

via​Did you win a Pulitzer Prize today? Us either. If you're from the Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald or The Tennessean, you also did not win, even though you were in fact nominated in the category of Breaking News Reporting. That $10,000 prize -- "For a distinguished example ... More >>

Free NYC Museums Easy to Find Thanks to New Website

​Many tourists (and New York residents) must come here wondering, "What museums are free in this city?"Dan Nguyen, a journalist, web developer, and photographer at ProPublica in New York made the ultra-servicey website IHeartNYMuseums.com in response to a request on Reddit. The website has a G ... More >>

My Doctor Took Money from a Drug Company, and Then Prescribed Me Their Drugs

​Well, this is fun. Pulitzer Prize-winning nonprofit news organization ProPublica recently compiled an awesome database of very compelling information. And as it turns out, I went through it, and consequently, have a funny story about it!

Press Clips, Lunch Edition, Day 2: Are You a ProPublican, or a ProPublican't?

​Okay, second day of Press Clips. All killer, no filler. Here we go.

Are Nonprofit News Sites Doomed to Fail?

​This morning, the Poynter Institute reported that Columbia University's launched a nonprofit news website via their Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media. It'll be focusing on national and regional reporting about education. Follow? A website, funded as a nonprofit, strictly devoted ... More >>

2010 Pulitzer Prizes: The Breakdown!

​It's that magical time of year again when the uppity nerds of Columbia University bestow upon the people their picks for this year's Best Writing Stuff. And we're going to attempt to add some context to these proceedings as they happen. So, here, we're live-blogging the Pulitzer Prizes. Unfor ... More >>

Another Creepy Story About the Threat to New Yorkers' Drinking Water

You know the drill: Companies eye the potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale, while New York City worries about the safety of its upstate watershed.A creepy new development related to possible hazards to New York City's drinking water comes courtesy of an upstate woman. Laurie Lygle allowed a natural ... More >>

Pension Fixers Go Right on Pushing

What scandal? Thompson's pals keep their edge.

Scumbag Bank Bets Against Solvency of States