Jodi Cohen

Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Get Funding Back Despite Trump’s Anti-DEI Campaign Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization th...

"Following public outcry, the U.S. Department of Education has restored funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, about a month after cutting it..."

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Get Funding Back Despite Trump’s Anti-DEI Campaign Following public outcry, the Department of Education has reversed its decision to cut funding for students who have both hearing and vision loss, opting instead to reroute grants to an organization th...

U.S. Department of Education reverses decision and will fund programs for students who are both deaf and blind.

But the money will flow a different way.

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Oops! Everyone needs an editor!

Higher Education Reporter, National New York City, United States

🚨Come work with me at @propublica.org!
We are hiring a reporter to cover higher education — the best beat there is. 🏫

job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison Retired officer Jeffrey Kriv acknowledged repeatedly lying under oath to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets. Prosecutors have dropped at least 92 cases in which Kriv was a key w...

Chicago prosecutors have dropped nearly 100 pending cases against people accused of drunk and dangerous driving and other traffic offenses.

Why? The ex-Chicago cop involved in their arrests lied and forged records to dodge his own traffic offenses.

www.propublica.org/article/chic...

Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison Retired officer Jeffrey Kriv acknowledged repeatedly lying under oath to avoid paying dozens of speeding and other traffic tickets. Prosecutors have dropped at least 92 cases in which Kriv was a key w...

Former cop Jeffrey Kriv has pleaded guilty to lying under oath and forging reports to get out of speeding/other tickets.

And with his credibility at issue, prosecutors now have dropped 92 cases where he had been an arresting officer, @propublica.org found.
www.propublica.org/article/chic...

Currently, we have reporters based in Illinois, Michigan, Missouri and Wisconsin. We’re looking to add to any of those locations or put a reporter in Ohio, Indiana or Minnesota. We’re looking to hire someone who: Has reported original and revelatory accountability stories. If that experience is in the Midwest, all the better. Is able to bring an accountability lens to the issues of the day through quick investigations reported over a couple of weeks as well as longer projects that may require a few months (or more) of digging. Embraces urgent, high-stakes stories that are central to public conversation, which can require carving out a lane amid competition. Strives to report and write stories that are both important and powerfully told and has a vision for how they’d approach major government and corporate institutions in the Midwest.

Has experience with or ideas about all the possible ways we can do journalism now: from deep data digging to working with readers to marrying narrative and investigative forms. Collaborates well — across our team, across ProPublica and with other news organizations. We believe we do some of our best work when we’re collaborating with others. Can travel, as needed, for assignments, training and staff meetings. We know there are great candidates who may not fit into what we’ve described above or who have important skills or interests in topics we haven’t mentioned. If that’s you, don’t hesitate to apply and tell us about yourself. Let us know what you think would make for the most powerful avenues to explore government and corporate accountability journalism out of this region.

🚨 JOURNALISM JOB ALERT🚨
@propublica.org is hiring a reporter for our amazing Midwest team!

Read some of the key details below and apply here: job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

Some North Dakota Lawmakers Say Change Is Needed to Protect Oil and Gas Royalty Owners For years, North Dakota legislators rejected proposals to protect mineral owners from oil and gas companies withholding their earnings. “Something has to be done,” one lawmaker now says.

NEW: After the @northdakotamonitor.com and ProPublica reported on how oil companies take millions in royalties from mineral owners, more than a half-dozen lawmakers are now proposing a committee to study the issue and suggest solutions.

“Something has to be done,” one legislator said.

Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push Citing concerns about DEI, the U.S. Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advoc...

NEW: Federal funding for organizations that help students with hearing and vision loss across eight states will stop at the end of the month, according to letters sent by a top Education Dept. official and obtained by ProPublica.

By @jodiscohen.bsky.social @jsmithrichards.bsky.social

Programs for Students With Hearing and Vision Loss Harmed by Trump’s Anti-Diversity Push Citing concerns about DEI, the U.S. Department of Education has halted funding for programs that support students with combined hearing and vision loss in eight states. “How low can you go?” one advoc...

BREAKING: Trump’s Education Dept. cancels grants that help students who are both deaf and blind.

“How low can you go?” said one person who works with DeafBlind students and their families.

W/ @jsmithrichards.bsky.social for @propublica.org

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

The Floods Kept Coming. He Needed to Grow a Crop That Would Thrive in Water — or to Quit. One Illinois man’s decadeslong fight to convert his fields into rice paddies demonstrates how it’s possible to bring diversity to the Corn Belt, but improbable so long as federal farm policy remains f...

Part 2:

One farmer couldn’t fight the water any longer.

He now has the only rice farm in Illinois.

You have to read this story and see these photos. Get to the end!

A collaboration between @propublica.org and @capitolnewsil.bsky.social

www.propublica.org/article/illi...

The Federal Farm Policy Trap: Why Some Farmers Are Stuck Raising Crops That No Longer Thrive Some farmers keep growing in flood- and drought-prone fields because subsidies soften the losses, while federal programs meant to help them change course have been underfunded and mired in bureaucracy...

Why some Illinois farmers have “one foot stuck in the mud, the other in government bureaucracy.”

Impressive story, with impressive photographs published by @propublica.org and @capitolnewsil.bsky.social

Part 1 of 2:

www.propublica.org/article/illi...

Billboard promoting far-right group Proud Boys springs up in southern Illinois Article Summary A billboard promoting the Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, has been put up near a high school

A billboard to recruit Proud Boys members has popped up above the cornfields in rural Illinois — and next to a high school.

capitolnewsillinois.com/news/billboa...

Some States Restrict the Oil Industry From Taking Mineral Owners’ Earnings. Not North Dakota. At least seven states limit the costs oil and gas companies can pass on to the people they lease drilling rights from. Here’s how North Dakota differs when it comes to protecting the interests of mine...

North Dakota doesn’t protect its private mineral owners from losing their royalty income.

Other states do.

Here’s the latest @northdakotamonitor.com and @propublica.org story.

www.propublica.org/article/nort...

Texas Private Schools Hire Relatives and Enrich Insiders. Soon They Can Do It With Taxpayer Money. An investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state law...

NEW: An investigation by ProPublica and @texastribune.org found more than 60 instances of nepotism, self-dealing and conflicts of interest among 27 private schools that likely would have violated state laws had the schools been public.

By Lexi Churchill and @emsimani.bsky.social

Albert Rodríguez Parra, a young Venezuelan man wearing a white printed shirt and a cross, stands in front of a bush with red flowers.

1/ Early on in President Trump’s second term, I spent a few weeks observing Chicago’s immigration court to get a sense of how things were changing.

One afternoon in March, the case of a 27-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker caught my attention.

I want to tell you his story 👇

America’s Largest Landlord to Stop Using RealPage Rent-Setting Software, Makes Deal With DOJ Greystar, which manages nearly 950,000 apartments, has agreed to stop using “anti-competitive” algorithms to suggest rents. ProPublica previously showed how such software lets landlords set rents in a...

NEW: Greystar, which manages nearly 950,000 apartments, has agreed to stop using “anti-competitive” algorithms to suggest rents.

ProPublica previously showed how such software lets landlords set rents in a way that could result in cartel-like behavior.

By @heathervogell.bsky.social

They Can’t Get Answers From the Oil Industry. North Dakota’s Oversight Program Hasn’t Helped. Frustrated by oil companies mysteriously withholding large amounts of royalties, North Dakota mineral owners lobbied for change. Instead, lawmakers provided an oversight program that, owners say, fail...

Frustrated North Dakota mineral owners asked their lawmakers for help with a decade-old issue: Companies taking their royalty income.

Lawmakers gave them a program that hasn’t helped.

The latest @propublica.org and @northdakotamonitor.com story on the issue:

www.propublica.org/article/nort...

They Can’t Get Answers From the Oil Industry. North Dakota’s Oversight Program Hasn’t Helped. Frustrated by oil companies mysteriously withholding large amounts of royalties, North Dakota mineral owners lobbied for change. Instead, lawmakers provided an oversight program that, owners say, fail...

NEW: Frustrated by oil companies mysteriously withholding large amounts of royalties, North Dakota mineral owners lobbied for change.

Instead, lawmakers provided an oversight program that, owners say, fails to address the issue it was created to solve.

With @northdakotamonitor.com

“You Feel Like You’re Being Cheated”: Oil Companies Unfairly Take Millions, North Dakota Mineral Owners Say Oil companies are holding back a large portion of revenue payments to the people they lease drilling rights from, often with little explanation. But the industry has an outsize influence in the state,...

“It’s a matter of fairness.” In North Dakota, mineral owners feel “cheated” by oil companies.

Check out this thoroughly-reported story and stunning visuals in a @propublica.org and @northdakotamonitor.com collaboration

www.propublica.org/article/nort...

“You Feel Like You’re Being Cheated”: Oil Companies Unfairly Take Millions, North Dakota Mineral Owners Say Oil companies are holding back a large portion of revenue payments to the people they lease drilling rights from, often with little explanation. But the industry has an outsize influence in the…

NEW: Oil companies are holding back a large portion of revenue payments to the people they lease drilling rights from, often with little explanation.

But the industry has an outsize influence in the state, and public officials have refused to take action.

With @northdakotamonitor.com

North Dakota mineral owners say oil companies unfairly keep millions from checks without oversight • North Dakota Monitor Oil companies are holding back a large portion of revenue payments to the people they lease drilling rights from, often with little explanation.

ND mineral owners have sought the state’s help as the oil industry takes deductions from royalty payments. Public officials have refused to take action, which some attribute to the industry’s outsize influence on the state.

With @propublica.org

buff.ly/zOs8iTi

Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights Cases Have you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, par...

The U.S. Supreme Court just gave the Trump administration the go-ahead to slash the Education Department.

I have been reporting on eduction for decades. If you have been impacted by this news, please reach out to me on Signal at jodireporter.88

www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Help Us Report on How the Department of Education Is Handling Civil Rights Cases Have you recently filed a civil rights complaint or do you have a pending case? We need your help to get a full picture of how the dismantling of the Office for Civil Rights is affecting students, par...

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the Education Dept. can carry out mass firings it began in March. So I'm here to remind you that we're continuing to report on changes at ED, including to its civil rights division. If you have been affected, we're listening: www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...

Thrilled that @lastweektonight.com featured our @propublica.org reporting on Grace as part of a segment on juvenile justice.

You can read the entire series about Grace and Michigan’s failures here:

www.propublica.org/series/grace

@lastweektonight.com also cited the July 2020 story by @jodiscohen.bsky.social on Grace, the Michigan teen who was sent to juvenile detention for failing to do her schoolwork:
www.propublica.org/article/a-te...

North Dakota Ethics Commission Has No Authority to Punish Officials Violating Ethics Laws, State Leaders Argue Voters created an ethics watchdog agency seven years ago. But officials keep pushing to weaken it, even as North Dakotans are filing a record number of complaints.

NEW: North Dakota lawmakers wanted an ethics commission but then they made it essentially toothless. Very good story from Jacob Orledge and Mary Steurer of the @northdakotamonitor.com, with editing from @propublica.org's @jodiscohen.bsky.social.

www.propublica.org/article/nort...

1/ We got government data showing that the Trump administration knew the majority of Venezuelan men it sent to a prison in El Salvador had no criminal record in the U.S. - and that only a handful had been convicted of violent crimes - before calling them all terrorists and deporting them.

It took 12 stories from 2022 to 2023. (And, a couple of follow-up stories too, right?)

Now, there's a law that protects kids. Excellent work @jodiscohen.bsky.social and @jsmithrichards.bsky.social!

Illinois Lawmakers Ban Police From Ticketing and Fining Students for Minor Infractions in School The legislation comes after a ProPublica-Chicago Tribune investigation revealed that even though state law bans schools from fining students directly, districts skirt the law by calling on police to i...

BREAKING: Illinois lawmakers ban police from issuing tickets and fines to students at school. This comes 3 years after our @propublica/chicago tribune investigation into the practice.
W/@jsmithrichards.bsky.social

www.propublica.org/article/illi...