Sean P. Murphy exposed how state officials took advantage of loopholes in the state retirement system to enrich themselves at taxpayers’ expense. The result of his investigations prodded the Massachusetts State Legislature and Governor Deval Patrick to enact and overhaul pension laws. The story also led two ex-legislators to publicly renounce hundreds of thousands of dollars in future pension benefits.
Abrahm Lustgarten exposed the potential threat to drinking water supplies from the largely unregulated business of drilling for natural gas. As a result, states have ordered environmental impact studies, members of Congress want to strengthen regulation and other news outlets are reporting and editorializing on the issue.
Sabatini and Boselovic’s investigation found that an MBA claimed by the daughter of the West Virginia governor and friend of the West Virginia University president was, in fact, a false degree that was conferred by academic fraud, followed by a cover-up by WVU. As a result, WVU withdrew the MBA, and the furor prompted the university’s president, provost and business-school dean to step down.
David Barstow documented how the Pentagon constructed an elaborate apparatus to co-opt military analysts — mostly retired generals — to make its case for the Iraq War and the long occupation in Iraq. He revealed that they were fed talking points in high-level Pentagon briefings that they repeated in TV interviews. Many of these analysts had lucrative financial interests in military businesses benefiting from the policies they were asked to assess.
The Free Press‘s yearlong investigation exposed lies, false testimony and insider dealings of then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his top aide as they attempted to cover up their romantic affair. As a result, Mayor Kilpatrick resigned from office, was charged with multiple felonies, sentenced to 120 days in jail, five years’ probation, restitution of $1 million to the City of Detroit and loss of his law license.
The Charlotte Observer‘s investigation revealed how one company ignored and threatened injured workers as it created an illusion of safety inside its plants. The stories have led to congressional hearings, federal investigations, the indictment of a top company manager, more staff for safety regulators and new federal legislation to curb the underreporting of workplace injuries.
Priest and Hull exposed the deep and widespread problems at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Their reporting resulted in the dismissal of the commander of Walter Reed, the surgeon general of the Army, and the secretary of the Army and an overhaul of the system for treating outpatients in the military health system.
While the harmful effects of products made in China and consumed in America were being uncovered, Chinese factory workers were dying from carcinogens used in making these products. Tofani’s reporting spurred Democratic proposals to require overseas enforcement of worker protections in trade agreements.
A two-year investigation by Dubocq exposed Palm Beach County’s worst corruption scandal in nearly a century, prompting federal investigations and leading two county commissioners, a prominent lobbyist, and a governor’s appointee to plead guilty to corruption charges.
Bogdanich and Hooker uncovered what would turn out to be China’s most lethal export: diethylene glycol, an ingredient in antifreeze that was used in medicine and is suspected of killing hundreds around the world. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has halted all imports of Chinese glycerin. China has reversed its position on diethylene glycol.