New York City police data released this month shows that officers arrested about five students per day last fall, and ticketed about nine. That’s excessive, and a sign that too many students, especially ethnic minority males, are getting pulled into the criminal justice system, civil rights groups are saying.A disproportionate number of the 279 students arrested between Oct. 1 and Dec.
New York: Police data shows excessive student arrests — especially for minorities, rights groups say
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Filthy surgical instruments: The hidden threat in America's operating rooms
It seemed simple enough at the time. In 2009, John Harrison, a 63–year-old oil industry sales manager in Mission, Texas, had surgery to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, a routine procedure that usually requires at most a single night’s stay in the hospital, followed by physical therapy.
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Lure of lobbying still strong for House staffers
A new study finds that nearly 400 House staffers have moved from Capitol Hill to K Street in recent years, suggesting that recent efforts to curb the revolving door between lawmaking and lobbying are having limited effect.At least 378 of the 5,710 staffers working on the House side of the Hill at the end of 2009 have since left to become registered lobbyists, according to a report from the Sunlight Foundation, a government accountability group.Corporate America was the biggest beneficiary of thi
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Restore Our Future raises funds in lap of luxury
Every visitor to the glamorous Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard is “pampered like a celebrity,” according to its website. It can be “a place to see and be seen, to catch glimpses of famous faces, or to revel in splendid luxury.” And ideally, for Romney’s supporters, those visitors will part with large sums of money. Since July, Restore Our Future has paid “The Pink Palace” $5,346 associated with fundraising events, according to FEC records.
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FACT CHECK: Santorum exaggerates U.S. dropout rate
Rick Santorum incorrectly claimed that “one of three children drop out of school” in the United States. The 2009 dropout rate was 8.1 percent — slightly higher than it was in 2008, but down significantly from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and even early 2000s, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.It’s true that a higher percentage of students in the U.S. fail to graduate on time — about 23 percent in the 2009-10 school year.
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Los Angeles ends big fines, limits police enforcement of truancy law
The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to amend the city’s daytime-curfew ordinance and drop large monetary fines for truant students, in response to recent tensions over aggressive police enforcement of student attendance policies. Teens in caps and gowns gathered to support the proposals, which have helped spur a burgeoning national debate over the impact of daytime curfews to reduce truancy.
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FACT CHECK: Cloudy contraception costs
Is the Obama administration correct when it claims its contraception mandate will be “cost neutral” for insurance companies? Or are the critics right when they say Catholic institutions will pay a hidden cost in the form of higher premiums when their insurers are required to give “free” contraceptives to their female employees?We’ve found plenty of evidence. But it’s often conflicting — and ultimately inconclusive.
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ANALYSIS: Health care myths and realities
Sarah Burke of Canada went airborne on her way to win the women's halfpipe freestyle title at the 2008 World Cup finals in Valmalenco, Italy. Burke died in a skiing accident while training in Jan. 2012.
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Colo. judge issues new ruling in payday lending case against Indian tribes
Scott Tucker, right, underwrites his Level 5 Motorsports passion with profits from his payday lending businesses. Here, he is shown with drivers Luis Diaz, left, and Christophe Bouchut, center, celebrating with high-quality tequila at the American Le Mans Series' Road Race Showcase in Elkhart Lake, Wis., on Aug. 20, 2011.
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Drug lobby gave $9.4 million to nonprofits that spent big on 2010 election
The drug lobby's trade association was a multimillion-dollar donor to nonprofit groups that were actively working to elect federal candidates during the 2010 election, an iWatch News analysis of documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service reveals.The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, better known as PhRMA, doled out $9.4 million to 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofit groups, some of which paid for ads that influenced races in the 2010 midterm election, records show.In
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FACT CHECK: Santorum’s twisted take on JFK, religion
Rick Santorum misrepresented what John F. Kennedy said in 1960 about church-state separation. According to Santorum, Kennedy said that religious people could “have no role in the public square” and “should not be permitted ... to influence public policy.” But Kennedy didn’t say those things. He said he wouldn’t take orders from the Vatican if elected president.On ABC’s “This Week,” the former Pennsylvania senator said Feb.
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Teen suspect in Ohio school shooting had violence in his early life
The suspect in Monday’s horrific Ohio school shooting has been variously described as a quiet loner who was bullied to a boy who actually seemed quite normal to classmates. So far, much of what’s out there is speculation. But there is one solid piece of original reporting from the Cleveland Plain Dealer that’s worth reading. “It appears that T.J. Lane had violence in his life from the beginning,” begins the report, which offers a glimpse into some of this teenager's life.
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Lawrence Lessig on campaign finance reform: Overturning ‘Citizens United’ isn't enough
In contrast with many other campaign finance reformers, Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig believes fixing the U.S. election system will require more than just overturning the Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission Supreme Court ruling, which removed many restrictions on independent political spending.Reversing this flood of political cash would be enough to satisfy most reformers, but not Lessig, who spoke last week at the Center for Public Integrity offices in D.C.
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CORRECTED: States pushing efforts to require certification for cleaning medical instruments
Correction, Feb. 29, 1:09pm: Due to incorrect information received from contributors to two bills before the New York State Assembly, the Center for Public Integrity inaccurately described a labor union’s opposition to requiring certification for central sterile processing workers. The bills would exempt current workers, and those who worked in the field two years prior to passage, from certification requirements. The 1099 SEIU Healthcare Workers East supports this legislation.
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L.A. kids' daytime curfew story on NPR's 'Morning Edition'
National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” has aired a version of the Center for Public Integrity look into aggressive ticketing of students in Los Angeles for violating a daytime curfew.
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FACT CHECK: Obama White House ‘full of Wall Street executives’?
Screen grab from the American Future Fund ad 'Obama's Wall Street'
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Long-delayed diesel study published
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Five things you need to know about coltan:
What is coltan used for? Where does it come from? How can it be tracked?
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About this story
That smart phone in your pocket contains a bit of coltan — a prized mineral that helps move electronic signals across ubiquitous microchips and controllers and allows devices to work well in extreme temperatures.
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Venezuela emerges as new source of ‘conflict’ minerals
Miners weigh the stones with their hands to recognize coltan. The mineral is almost black and weighs more than a regular stone.
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