The Chicago Tribune’s investigative series revealed how a deceptive campaign by the chemical and tobacco industries brought toxic flame retardants into people’s homes and bodies, despite the fact that the dangerous chemicals don’t work as promised. As a result of the investigation, the U.S. Senate revived toxic chemical reform legislation and California moved to revamp the rules responsible for the presence of dangerous chemicals in furniture sold nationwide.
Bloomberg News sued the Federal Reserve under the Freedom of Information Act, won an unprecedented release of records and then used sophisticated database reporting to reveal how the U.S. central bank dished $1.2 trillion in bailout loans to Wall Street’s biggest banks. Bloomberg’s lawsuit led Congress to create new disclosure rules in the Dodd-Frank law. The suit spurred the central bank to greater transparency and revealed the extreme extent of the 2008 bank crisis
An analysis of presidential pardon recommendations made by the Justice Department during George W. Bush’s administration shows that whites were nearly four times as likely as minorities to succeed; applicants with the support of a member of Congress were three times as likely to receive a pardon. These findings prompted the Justice Department to launch a review and ignited a debate about why pardons are underused, how to eliminate bias and how best to reshape the entire system.
Over the past decade, more than 1,200 developmentally disabled people in the care of New York State died for reasons other than natural causes. And no one questioned why state workers who beat or sexually abused the developmentally disabled were allowed to keep their jobs. This report led Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to force out the two top state officials in charge of care for the developmentally disabled, the state moved to fire 130 employees found to have abused or neglected patients in their care, and several other changes.
KHOU-TV’s I-team discovered public drinking water so contaminated with radiation, the underground plumbing it traveled through was turned away by scrap yards as “too hot” to recycle. Radiation lab test
results for every community in Texas were wrongfully lowered, leaving consumers in the dark about their true health risks. After this report, many of the most radioactive “water wells” were taken offline, while grassroots pressure from citizens at town hall meetings and scientists from around the country forced other widespread changes.
“Poisoned Places” exposed the regulatory failures and political forces that cause millions of Americas to continue breathing unsafe air and, for the first time, publicly revealed the EPA’s internal “watch list” of
the nation’s most troublesome air polluters. This report triggered immediate enforcement action in two states, a push for openness by the EPA and an avalanche of coverage across the U.S.
On the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps’ founding, a 10-month ABC News investigation into the murder of young volunteer Kate Puzey in Africa uncovered a shocking, systematic failure to protect Peace Corps volunteers who were victims of sexual abuse or whistleblowers who tried to report it. The ABC News report led to historic changes, including a new law designed to protect Peace Corps volunteers, and requires the Peace Corp to hire victims’ advocates and improve training.
The New York Police Department, in close collaboration with the CIA and with nearly no outside oversight, developed clandestine spying programs that monitored and catalogued daily life in Muslim communities, from where people ate and shopped to where they worked and prayed. AP’s reporting led three dozen lawmakers in Washington to call for House Judiciary Committee and Justice Department investigations.
“Top Secret America” described a massive expansion of government created in response to 9/11 that has become so large, unwieldy and secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs or how many programs exist within it. The two-year-long project resulted in congressional investigations, a review of all intelligence programs requested by the Defense Secretary, and the CIA’s reduction of contract workforce.
Karen de Sá’s series provided the first comprehensive examination of the influences of outside interests in California lawmaking. As a result of her investigation, legislative leaders proposed rule changes, and outside groups are pushing for mandatory disclosure of all meetings between lawmakers and lobbyists and greater disclosure of campaign contributions from sponsors. There is also a ballot measure to repeal the term-limit law.