ProPublica

Blood Will Tell, Part II

I.As W. Leon Smith neared the East Texas town of Huntsville, he did not know what to expect. It was a warm September day in 1991, and Smith, a …

How an Unproven Forensic Science Spread Through the Criminal Justice System

Pictures From an Interrogation: Drawings by Abu Zubaydah

The CIA spent years trying to probe the mind of Abu Zubaydah, the first terror suspect it subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the …

New Allegations Added to Lawsuit on How Facebook’s Targeting Tools Helped Advertisers Exclude Older Workers

Plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit have expanded the scope of their action, alleging that Facebook and other major employers violated federal and state …

Video: How More Midwives May Mean Healthier Mothers

Since ProPublica launched Lost Mothers, we’ve covered many facets of the U.S. maternal mortality crisis. Despite spending more per capita on health …

Do You Work in the Health Insurance Field? ProPublica and NPR Are Investigating the Industry and We’d Like Your Help.

I’ve spent the past few months talking to insiders about health insurance and the way we pay for medical care. I’ve learned a lot of important things …

Why Your Health Insurer Doesn’t Care About Your Big Bills

Michael Frank ran his finger down his medical bill, studying the charges and pausing in disbelief. The numbers didn’t make sense.His recovery from a …

How Journalist Susie Cagle’s Illustrations Help Us “Follow The Money”

Courtesy of Susie CagleSusie Cagle is one of my favorite journalists, so I was excited to work with her on ProPublica Illinois reporter Mick Dumke’s …

What Facebook’s New Political Ad System Misses

Facebook’s long-awaited change in how it handles political advertisements is only a first step toward addressing a problem intrinsic to a social …

A Pioneering Heart Surgeon’s Secret History of Research Violations, Conflicts of Interest and Poor Outcomes

There’s a story Bud Frazier tells often. It was around 1966, and Frazier, now one of the world’s most celebrated heart surgeons, was a medical …

Here’s How ProPublica Analyzed Bud Frazier’s Medicare Outcomes

ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle have concluded that Medicare patients whose left ventricular assist devices were implanted by Dr. O.H. “Bud” …

Forced to Choose Between a Job — and a Community

John Arnett chose Adams County, Ohio, as his home long before he was old enough to vote, drink beer or drive a motorcycle along the Ohio River. After …

Blood Will Tell, Part I

I.Most mornings, the sky was still black when Mickey Bryan made the short drive from her house on Avenue O, through the small central Texas town of …

A Guide for Digging Through Trump’s Financial Disclosures

When President Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosure form was released last week, we dropped what we were doing and started digging.We found a …

Have You Encountered White Supremacists or Neo-Nazis in the Military? Tell Us.

The Atomwaffen Division is a violent neo-Nazi group tied to five murders and a bomb plot over the past year. At least some of their members are …

An Alarming Tip About a Neo-Nazi Marine, Then an Uncertain Response

It was Oct. 29, 2017, when Ed Beck decided he had to contact the military police.For weeks, Beck had been tracking the online life of a 21-year-old …

ProPublica Wins Three Deadline Club Awards

Three ProPublica projects won Deadline Club awards in the annual contest honoring the best work by journalists in the New York City area.“Lost …

A Death in Slow Motion

James “Lee” Lewis had waited years for a new heart, praying for the day he would be free of the mechanical pump doctors implanted in him in 2015. The …

The U.S. Considered Declaring Russia a State Sponsor of Terror, Then Dropped It

The attempt to kill a former Russian spy in England bore an ominous signature: The assailants used a lethal nerve agent of a type developed in the …

How Do We Prevent Typos and Other Errors From Appearing in Our Stories?

At the beginning of the year, we asked ProPublica Illinois readers what they wanted to know about the way we work. Thoughtful, challenging questions …

How a Typical Government Leak Turned Into a Three-Way War Between Comey, McCabe and Trump

One of them has to be lying.That conclusion is inescapable if you closely examine the sworn testimony of two erstwhile FBI allies, James Comey and …

You’re Entitled to Government Transparency

Editors and reporters from learning newsroom Real Chi focus on covering Chicago’s West Side. (Vignesh Ramachandran/ProPublica Illinois)This week, we …

“Trump, Inc.” Live: From “The Art of the Deal” to the Dossier

A few days ago, we held a live taping of the “Trump, Inc.” podcast at The Greene Space in New York City. Tony Schwartz, the co-author with Donald …

ProPublica, ProPublica Illinois Win Three Excellence in Financial Journalism Awards

The ProPublica Illinois and Chicago Tribune project “The Tax Divide” is the winner of two 2018 Excellence in Financial Journalism awards in the best …

Federal Watchdog Launches Investigation of Age Bias at IBM

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has launched a nationwide probe of age bias at IBM in the wake of a ProPublica investigation showing …

As Wait for New Heart Got Longer, Patient Grew Sicker

In early 2014, when Travis Hogan’s malformed heart was failing, his longtime doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital referred him to Baylor St. Luke’s …

Help Us Investigate Care at the Texas Medical Center

The Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex in the world, home to major hospitals, medical schools and a host of other medical …

Police Are Mislabeling Anti-LGBTQ and Other Crimes as Anti-Heterosexual

Rob heard a loud knock at his door late one night in August 2014. His landlord had been calling him about maintenance issues in his Columbus, Ohio, …