Local Matters Newsletter

Five Western states including California launch probe into underinsurance California and four other states are investigating the problem of wildfire survivors not having enough insurance to rebuild their homes after a Chronicle investigation exposed the depth of the...

Chronicle investigation leads to multi-state insurance probe.

EXCLUSIVE: Baltimore's comptroller has asked the city inspector general to investigate after 11 News Investigates uncovered financial discrepancies at one of the state's biggest nonprofits.
Officials say the nonprofit may have broken state laws and could face a $20K fine. 👇

IRE’s AccessFest Conference returns online this October - Investigative Reporters & Editors The AccessFest Conference will be Oct. 9-11, 2025, featuring keynote speakers Sara Luterman of the 19th and Wendy Lu of the New York Times.

IRE's AccessFest Conference returns this fall, with a major gift to celebrate our 50th birthday!

Registration is just $50 right now for all attendees. We’re honored to have @slooterman.bsky.social and @wendyluwrites.bsky.social join us for the keynote conversation. www.ire.org/2025-accessf...

Judge Orders Columbus County Sheriff to Release Additional Records At a hearing on our ongoing records suit, the judge directed the county to grant access to public records about former sheriff Jody Greene.

A judge ordered Columbus County to respond to our longstanding public records requests related to alleged corruption and other misconduct. www.theassemblync.com/politics/cou... #ncpol

How Sheriffs Fail to Report Miscarriages, Stillbirths In Ohio Jails One woman’s pregnancy ended in the Cuyahoga County Jail amid ignored cries for help and an ‘egregious performance failure’ by medical staff.

A new investigation from TMP-C and Scott Noll at WEWS. She went to jail pregnant. What happened next isn't even a statistic. Why didn't Cuyahoga County tell Ohio offcials about a pregancy loss? Because the fetus was not incarcerated. www.themarshallproject.org/2025/05/15/c...

A ‘silent threat’: California officials announce hearing into wildfire victim underinsurance following Chronicle investigation A state board plans to hold a hearing on potential legislation to address underinsurance caused by flawed algorithms, unearthed by Chronicle reporting.

New from me and @meganmunce.bsky.social - California government officials have called a hearing on widespread, algorithm-driven underinsurance among wildfire victims, citing our @sfchronicle.com investigation into the issue.

Gift link: www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

Proud of colleagues like @koriedean.bsky.social, who work hard to reveal things a lot of people in power would like to keep shrouded in darkness.

CT demands Hartford nonprofit return state aid amid theft concerns Leaders of a Hartford nonprofit waited months to notify state officials of an alleged cyber theft of $300,000 in taxpayer-funded grants, records show.

A $300k state grant was stolen, so nearly everyone at this Hartford nonprofit that has received $8 million in state aid this year was laid off.

Leaders of the org didn't tell the state or their board of the theft for 3 months.

www.ctpost.com/connecticut/...

Suspect in attack on Pa. governor couldn’t get arrested despite 3 attempts to surrender Cody Balmer called 911 to claim responsibility for setting fire to the Governor's Residence within an hour of the attack. He later walked to a police station, where he was turned away.

Just phenomenal reporting here by @pennlive.com on how Cody Balmer may never have been arrested had he not been so willing to give himself up. www.pennlive.com/crime/2025/0...

Brace yourselves, then read this story by
Lauren Peace. It's heart-wrenching but proud of @tampabaytimes.bsky.social for drawing attention to domestic violence. I hope it inspires lawmakers and police to figure out a better way to handle situations like this one. www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2...

Before embezzlement scheme was revealed, Tulsa schools executives secretly planned departure of the man involved A state investigator raised questions about how much school leaders knew about a scheme to defraud Tulsa Public Schools of at least $800,000 before they notified the police, documents show.

A state investigator raised questions about how much school leaders knew about a scheme to defraud Tulsa Public Schools of at least $800,000 before they notified the police, documents show.

Thank you 📰✨

Can confirm @localmatters.bsky.social is the best - encourage anyone who can to chip in $5 a month to recognize the great work of volunteers!

Thank you! 📰✨

Local Matters Newsletter (@localmatters.bsky.social) A free weekly newsletter, curating the best in U.S. local journalism. By Joey Cranney, Brett Murphy, Bethany Barnes and Lulu Ramadan. Sponsored by Investigative Reporters & Editors and the Knight Foun...

Giving a shout-out to the @localmatters.bsky.social newsletter, which consistently delivers the best journalism from local news across the U.S., you can sign up for the once a week email here visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin... or follow 'em on BlueSky

Florida must act quickly to stop water pollution, federal lawmakers urge After a Times investigation found rising contamination, congressional leaders sound alarm.

“Florida’s legislature needs to act immediately to stop the pollution of our waterways.”
www.tampabay.com/investigatio...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed for child labor rollbacks behind the scenes, records show Email communications first obtained by Orlando Weekly through a public records request show that staffers from DeSantis's office emailed draft legislation for Republican lawmakers to file.

Scoop from me: Emails first obtained by @orlandoweekly.bsky.social show that staff in Florida Gov. DeSantis' office drafted legislation for Republican lawmakers to file this year that aims to roll back certain child labor protections for workers as young as 14. www.orlandoweekly.com/news/florida...

Wasting Away: Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse. A Times analysis of millions of water samples found dangerous contamination across the state.

NEW: Florida touts spending millions of dollars to reduce water pollution. But the efforts aren’t working.

Instead, hundreds of waterways have become dangerously contaminated.

From the amazing Zack Sampson, Shreya Vuttaluru and Bethany Barnes:

project.tampabay.com/investigatio...

A broken system is keeping California homes underinsured. Millions are at risk California's biggest insurance companies are using faulty algorithms and flawed processes to estimate rebuilding costs — leaving millions of homeowners unprotected from disaster.

NEW INVESTIGATION: California is facing an underinsurance crisis, as wildfire survivors struggle to rebuild their homes.

Insurers often blame homeowners for this crisis. But as
@meganmunce.bsky.social & I found, the companies are largely responsible. Read more tinyurl.com/39pdydwj

Wasting Away: Rampant pollution caused manatees to starve. Florida waters are getting worse. A Times analysis of millions of water samples found dangerous contamination across the state.

The depth of reporting from Tampa Bay Times journalists Zachary T. Sampson, Shreya Vuttaluru and Bethany Barnes is stunning and extraordinary. : #WastingAway gets to the heart of why Florida’s gentle giants – the manatees – have been perishing. A MUST READ.

project.tampabay.com/investigatio...

Now, more than three years into his tenure, internal records and interviews with more than a dozen professors and administrators raise questions about whether Ladapo is meeting UF’s expectations. Ladapo’s work calendar shows monthslong stretches with little or no activity. Instead of attaining grants and conducting research, he spent his first year revising manuscripts and writing his memoir, “Transcend Fear,” which details his skepticism of vaccines. He also promised to bring hundreds of thousands in research dollars from the University of California at Los Angeles, his previous employer. That never happened. He blamed his former boss, claiming she withheld the funds over disagreements about COVID-19 policies. A review of internal reports and public directories indicate Ladapo hasn't secured any research grants for UF. His classroom contributions are similarly sparse. Ladapo agreed to dedicate 20% of his time to teaching; so far, that’s amounted to a handful of seminars and guest lectures. A proposed course on “critical evaluation of scientific evidence” has yet to materialize.

So @garrettshanley.bsky.social, the Univ of Florida student journalist who broke the Ben Sasse scandal wide open, has another banger today about Florida's surgeon general, who has almost nothing to show for his six-figure, second job as a tenured prof at UF

www.alligator.org/article/2025...

California lawmaker proposes ‘emergency’ staffing rule in psychiatric hospitals following Chronicle investigation A state Senator has called dangerous conditions in the for-profit psychiatric hospitals an “emergency” and proposed legislation to fast-track new rules

In response to @sfchronicle.com investigation of for-profit psych hospitals, a California lawmaker has introduced legislation to urgently set minimum staffing rules.
www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...

“You’re his property”: A local sheriff in Mississippi staffed his mother’s commercial chicken farm with inmates from the local jail and used taxpayer-purchased equipment to improve the grounds, an investigation by The New York Times and Mississippi Today found.
buff.ly/tx797O5

District sued, family of student who was sexually harassed calls response ‘catastrophically broken’ | Cascadia Daily News They claim in a federal lawsuit that Bellingham Public Schools officials were dismissive; policies out of state compliance for years

New from me: Bellingham's public school district is facing another lawsuit regarding its handling of sexual harassment complaints. I spent several weeks digging through documents related to this case, as the family has spent 2.5 years filing complaints and appeals in pursuit of accountability.

Harris County’s routinely long Commissioners Court agendas are often short on details Of the cities and counties in the Houston area, Harris County is among the worst at providing background information with Commissioners Court agendas.

New from me: I reviewed 49 cities and counties in the Houston region to see what details are publicly provided and posted when it comes to agenda items for public meetings.

The findings?

Harris County is among the worst.

Screenshot of the Local Matters newsletter, which can be read by clicking the link in the post

Toxic household products, open records law violations and a dangerous hospital.

Read this week's Local Matters newsletter with stories from @ajc.com, @oregonian.com, @latimes.com, @sfpublicpress.bsky.social & more!

conta.cc/4kWZ8tU

They were banned from assisted living. They stayed in the caregiving business. A Times investigation found that being banned from operating assisted living homes in California didn’t stop people from being involved in other care facilities.

In California, people banned by the state from operating assisted living facilities have been able to stay involved in other kinds of care facilities, a Times investigation found.

This Bay Area psychiatric hospital is plagued by Violence and neglect. California has chosen not to interfere Violence and neglect plague the Santa Rosa Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. The California Department of Public Health has chosen not to meaningfully intervene.

As Joaquin Palomino and Cynthis Dizikes dug into horrors at for-profit psych hospitals, Santa Rosa Behavioral stood out for its willful refusal to fix failures - and California health regulators' refusal to intervene. (Gift link)
www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...

This Bay Area psychiatric hospital is plagued by Violence and neglect. California has chosen not to interfere Violence and neglect plague the Santa Rosa Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. The California Department of Public Health has chosen not to meaningfully intervene.

Don't miss the latest from @sfchronicle.com on California's for-profit psychiatric hospitals. Where Gov. Newsom has promised a national model for mental health, patients at Santa Rosa Behavioral Health are finding violence, abuse and other dangers. 🎁 link: www.sfchronicle.com/projects/202...

New: Last year, I acquired a leaked document showing that the DEA audited Baltimore’s jail over failing to track 92,500 methadone pills. A subsequent records request revealed the state’s violations of the Controlled Substances Act extended to the women’s prison in Jessup. Read more: