A chemical plant looms behind a swing set in Houston.
Industry wields sway over air pollution rules, enforcement
Pentagon is the security aid king in Washington
U.S. Department of State
Q&A: Former Bush official touts ‘market-based’ air toxics regulation
Ex-WaMu worker claims he was shunned for refusing to push toxic loans on borrowers
A branch of Washington Mutual bank is shown at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco.
Kern County's student smoking problem
The already-faded Republican front-runner
Polluters in your area
A broken screening system
A woman having a mammogram, the widely-used form of screening for signs of breast cancer.
An American nightmare
Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C. have been allegedly victimized by aggressive car salesmen who offered free weekend trips to the beach but refused to bring service members back unless they bought a car; promised a free airline ticket but added the cost into financing for a new vehicle; refused to return down payments; and held trade-in vehicles hostage until a new car was purchased, according to a retired Marine lawyer.
The Great Mortgage Cover-Up
Eileen Foster was mortgage fraud investigations chief for Countrywide Financial Corp., which eventually became Bank of America.
The beginning of Solyndra’s end
Steve Westly, pictured here during his 2006 campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in California, is one of Obama’s top fundraisers. Companies in The Westly Group portfolio have benefited from more than half a billion dollars in loans, grants or stimulus money from the Energy Department.
McCain changes tune on support for Grand Canyon air tours
A tour helicopter lifts off inside the Grand Canyon in Arizona.
Looting the freezer shelves
An ICIJ reporter purchases hake from a Madrid market, as part of a DNA study, to see if consumers are really getting what they ask for.
ANALYSIS: When Medicare isn't Medicare
Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposal would radically reshape the Medicare program.
Struggles over responses to student "sexting"
Procrastinating justice
A night view of the Tesoro Corp.’s refinery in Anacortes, Washington.
Military schools get failing grades
Like four of her 19 classmates, fifth-grader Catie Hunter struggles with an absent parent -- her soldier-father has served overseas for half her life -- and a school that is falling apart. Three in four Pentagon-run schools on military installations are beyond repair or require renovation.
‘Super PACs’ spend $13 million on early primaries, Romney top beneficiary
Republican presidential candidates, from left, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, take part in the Republican debate in Des Moines, Iowa.
Tax gift to the rich
Ill. protesters try to disrupt a tax break legislation debate in the Illinois House of Representative session at the Illinois State Capitol on Dec. 12, 2011 in Springfield, Ill.
Gambling with guns
Gen. Antonio Erasto Monsivais holds up a seized .50 caliber Barrett model 99 single-shot rifle in the seized weapons warehouse at the headquarters of the Secretary of Defense in Mexico City. Mexican authorities have repeatedly complained that most of the weapons used by drug cartels there — including Barrett rifles — are coming from the U.S. The ATF’s Fast and Furious probe allowed guns to be trafficked south of the border in an effort to nail high-level cartel operative