1. House Ethics Panel Clears ‘Murtha Method’ Representatives

   The House ethics committee ended its investigation of the last two defense appropriators remaining in its crosshairs, according to a report released today.… Read more

2. Lobbyists Swarm Capitol To Influence Health Reform

   When President Barack Obama meets with Congressional leadership on Thursday to jump start stalled health reform efforts, industry lobbyists will not be in the room.… Read more

1. Former Blackwater Employees Accuse Security Contractor of Defrauding Government

   Two former employees of Blackwater Worldwide have accused the private security contractor of defrauding the government for years through phony billing, including charging taxpayers for… Read more

2. Lobbyists Rush to Block EPA Action on Climate Change

   Like a lot of industry groups, the farm lobby says it would prefer that Congress tackle climate change rather than leaving the job to the… Read more

More from the Center >

1. Daniel Pearl Awards Deadline Extended

   Washington, D.C., January 15, 2010 — The 2010 Daniel Pearl Awards competition, which honors the world’s best cross-border investigative journalism, has… Read more

2. Journalist Molly Bingham Joins Center’s Board of Directors

   WASHINGTON, D.C., January 19, 2010 — The Center for Public Integrity’s board of directors has elected award-winning freelance journalist Molly Bingham… Read more

1. Nearly 1,800 Interests Vying To Influence New Transportation Bill, Center Report Finds

   WASHINGTON, D.C., September 16, 2009 — Almost 1,800 special interest groups of all kinds are trying to influence Congress, as it races against time to… Read more

2. The Latest from our Partners at the Center for Investigative Reporting

   This story is part of a collaborative effort between the Center for Public Integrity and the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, CA. Over several… Read more

More Front & Center News >

Archive Investigations

1. Ginnie Mae’s Troubling Endorsements

   The Government National Mortgage Association authorizes lenders to bundle mortgages into securities and sell them to investors — backed by U.S. taxpayer funds. But dozens of firms that have secured Ginnie Mae's blessing have troubled pasts.

2. The Murtha Method

   Following up on allegations of influence peddling involving Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, a Center for Public Integrity computer analysis reveals that three-quarters of his subcommittee’s members have been involved in similar patterns of behavior that include 16 former aides-turned lobbyists, $100 million in earmarks, and $1 million in campaign cash. Among those involved are members of Congress from Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington.

3. The Climate Change Lobby

   The report provides a first-of-its-kind look at the universe of special interests shaping the climate change debate in the United States and how it has sharply expanded between 2003 — when Congress previously voted on climate change — and 2008.

4. States of Disclosure

   Following up on our two previous analyses in 1999 and 2006, the Center for Public Integrity’s latest financial disclosure rankings for state legislators found that 20 out of the 50 states received a failing grade and three of those states have no disclosure requirements at all.

5. Tobacco Underground

   The illicit trafficking of tobacco is a multibillion-dollar business today, fueling organized crime and corruption, robbing governments of needed tax money, and spurring addiction to a deadly product. Drawn by profits rivaling those of narcotics, smugglers move cigarettes by the billion, making tobacco the world's most widely smuggled legal substance.

6. Pentagon Travel

   When Department of Defense personnel travel, it’s not always the federal government that picks up the bill. Over a 10-year period, defense employees have taken thousands of trips paid for by outside sources, including foreign governments and private companies that conduct business with DOD, according to a Center for Public Integrity analysis of Pentagon travel disclosure records.

7. Land Use Accountability Project

   Sprawl is threatening America’s famed open spaces, challenging our rural culture and love of nature. Yet, expansion and development, too, are essential to the American character. This project paints a complete picture of sprawl, examining the different assessments of and responses to the phenomenon.

1. Broken Government

   As the Bush administration came to an end, the federal government was not functioning as it should. Just how bad was this government dysfunction? In an effort to answer that question, the Center for Public Integrity embarked on Broken Government, an examination of the worst systematic failures of the executive branch over the past eight years.

2. The Hidden Costs of Clean Coal

   A highly productive method, longwall mining yielded 176 million tons of coal in 2007 — 15 percent of total U.S. production. An estimated 10 percent of all U.S. electricity now depends on coal from longwall mines, which have grown in Appalachia and in Illinois, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. But longwall mining is the most brutal technology yet employed to extract coal from underground quickly and cheaply. This project examines social and environmental impacts of longwall’s full-extraction method.

3. Perils of the New Pesticides

   A groundbreaking review of 10 years’ worth of adverse-reaction reports filed with the Environmental Protection Agency by pesticide manufacturers, which found that pyrethrins and pyrethroids — used in thousands of supposedly “safer” pesticides — accounted for more than 26 percent of all fatal, “major,” and “moderate” human incidents reported to the EPA in 2007. Based on information from the previously unreleased EPA pesticide incident-reporting system, this investigation spurred the director of the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs to announce the agency would begin a broad study of the human health effects of pyrethrins and pyrethroids.

4. Iraq: The War Card

   In a widely reported study of orchestrated deception, the Center found that President Bush and seven top officials made 935 false statements leading-up to the Iraq war — and offer them in a database for all to see.

5. The Buying of the President 2008

   Did 2008 shape up to be the most expensive campaign year ever? Find out at the Center’s quadrennial signature project.

6. Pushing Prescriptions

   The Center’s investigation of the pharmaceutical industry’s lobbying might and gifts of free travel for members of Congress — and its resulting political influence and impact on the American public.

7. Welding’s Toxic Legacy

   The shaking in Jeffrey Tamraz’s right hand began in 2001. It was intermittent, so he paid it little mind. A six-foot, 260-pound bear of a man, he’d played football and thrown shot and discus in high school; later he got into competitive weightlifting, and worked up to bench-pressing 465 pounds — once, to win a bet, he flipped a Honda Civic on its side. He brought the same passion to his work. “I taught welding for six years,” he says. “I read books on welding. I loved to weld.”