Why faculty members are fleeing Florida

The Chronicle of Higher Education

Gov. Ron DeSantis’s politicized stewardship of the state’s university system has compounded problems facing higher education nationwide, leading to a spike in faculty resignations in 2022 across Florida, an investigation by IRW found. Read the full piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Illustration by Barry Blitt/The Chronicle

A Texas community is being bombarded by cancer-causing chemicals benzene. State officials have known for nearly two decades.

Public Health Watch

In 2005, Texas regulators documented startling amounts of benzene in a community outside Houston. Instead of solving the problem, they allowed a known benzene polluter to expand — a decision scientists worry could haunt residents for years to come. IRW contributed to the reporting of this piece.

Image Mark Felix/Public Health Watch

Trump pardoned them. Now they’re helping him return to power.

The Washington Post

Former President Trump had 238 clemency orders during his presidency. The Post found that dozens of those recipients are now making an effort to promote his 2024 candidacy through social media and national interviews. Several have gone as far to contribute money to his bid for the Republican nomination or disseminate his false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election. This investigation had help from several IRW fellows. 

Image by Caitlin O’Hara/The Washington Post

A home birth midwife faces scrutiny after a baby dies. It’s not the first time.

The Washington Post

The Washington Post examined the case of a home-birth midwife who faced new scrutiny after a baby died and found that inconsistent laws and limited accountability enabled her to practice — despite efforts by some officials to keep her from doing so. IRW’s Hayden Godfrey contributed to this report.

Image by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post

Misconduct concerns, possible drug risks should stop major stroke trial, whistleblowers say

Science

Whistleblowers and former lab members suggest that a star neuroscientist may have manipulated data that support a major stroke trial and Alzheimer’s research. Read Charles Piller’s story in Science. IRW’s Madeleine Sherer contributed.

Illustration by Tavo Montañez/Science

A slow killer: East Texans are diagnosed with diabetes at a higher rate than the national average

Public Health Watch and The Texas Tribune

IRW’s Hannah Levitan worked with Public Health Watch to report on the lack of access to affordable health care in Texas, explicitly affecting Texans living with uncontrolled diabetes without insurance. Their investigation found that Texas has the highest uninsured rate at 16.6 percent in 2022, and the state is home to over 2.5 million adults living with diabetes.

Image by Jennifer Scott/Public Health Watch

Home schooling’s rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

The Washington Post

Several IRW interns including Prayag Gordy investigated the recent rise in home schooling following the COVID-19 pandemic. Their analysis found that in states with enrollment figures, the number of home-schooled students increased 51 percent over the past six school years, out passing those figures of public and private schools.

Image by Thomas Simonetti/The Washington Post

These D.C. police officers work so Much overtime they out-earn the mayor

DCist/WAMU

Data editor Aarushi Sahejpal worked with DCist to uncover the extreme overtime hours recorded by the D.C. Metropolitan Police. The story dives into the top overtime earners in MPD and the several officers who are reporting 18-hour work days.

Image by Nayion Perkins/DCist

How Lunchables ended up on school lunch trays

The Washington Post

The Washington Post examines the erosion of the nutritional value of school lunches across the country, comparing them with those from Chile, where typically nothing is prepackaged, and the only drink available is water. IRW’s Hayden Godfrey contributed to the story.

Image by Matt McClain/The Washington Post

The biggest backlog in the US Diversity Visa Program? All the broken promises to those who applied

The Center for Public Integrity and Mother Jones

IRW intern Daniella Jiménez told the story of Diversity Visa applicants who were told they’d been given a visa, just to later be told the program was full.

Photo from Getty Images

Revealing the Smithsonian’s ‘Racial Brain Collection’

The Washington Post

Several Post Practicum members worked on this Washington Post investigative series into the Smithsonian’s collection of at least 30,700 human bones and other body parts, including 255 brains. This series reveals the museum’s “racial brain collection,” the anthropologist behind its curation and the stories of those whose brains were taken.

Illustration by Tara McCarty/The Washington Post

The harms of COVID misinformation

The Washington Post

IRW post-graduate fellow Hayden Godfrey partnered with Post reporters to analyze disciplinary records of doctors across all 50 states – finding there had been few repercussions for those who jeopardized their patients’ lives by pushing medical misinformation during the COVID pandemic.

Illustration by Laura Padilla Castellanos/The Washington Post

Amid a record heat wave, Texas construction workers lose their right to rest breaks

Texas Tribune and Public Health Watch

IRW summer intern Hannah Levitan told the story of a Texas construction worker after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that overturns local ordinances in Austin and Dallas that mandate that such workers receive rest breaks.

Photo by Blaine Young/NPR

Inside the daunting hunt for the ingredients of fentanyl and meth

The Washington Post

Mexican cartels are increasingly manufacturing drugs entirely from chemicals, rather than relying on plants, making detection far more difficult.

Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post

For years, the EPA and Texas Ignored warning signs at a chemical storage site. Then the inferno erupted

The Texas Tribune

Regulators repeatedly documented — but did little to address — problems at a Houston-area tank farm. Then on March 17, 2019, a fire blew through a corner of the facility, releasing toxic chemicals into nearby communities for weeks.

Illustration by Emily Albracht/The Texas Tribune

Tainted history: former Juilliard composition students share allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct

Van Magazine

Juilliard Music School in New York City, home to hundreds of musical proteges, faces allegations of professors engaging in sexual harassment and misconduct with students.

Photo by Nils Jonsson/Van Magazine

The Attack: Before, During, and After

The Washington Post

An investigation by The Post reveals numerous new warnings of violence on Jan. 6 that went unheeded, the cost of President Donald Trump’s inaction as the Capitol was overrun and the distrust that has spread across the country in the aftermath.

Photo by Evelyn Hockstein/The Washington Post

Canary Podcast Logo

Canary

The Washington Post

A seven-part investigative podcast telling the stories of two women, separated by decades and united by a shared refusal to stay silent.

Illustration by Ariel Sun/The Washington Post

broken doors podcast

Broken Doors

The Washington Post

No-knock warrants allow police to force entry. The Broken Doors podcast investigates how this high-risk tactic is used in the American justice system.

Illustration by Katty Huertas/The Washington Post