The Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, September 22, will hold a hearing on the National Flood Insurance Program, which is teetering under some $19 billion in debt. The NFIP is set to expire Sept. 30, just as the hurricane season reaches its height. Congress has allowed the NFIP to expire four times already this year.
"According to recently leaked documents, the Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security has been tracking anti-gas drilling groups and their meetings — including a public screening of the film 'Gasland,' a documentary about the environmental hazards of natural gas drilling."
"Italy Tuesday seized Mafia-linked assets worth $1.9 billion -- the biggest mob haul ever -- in an operation revealing that the crime group was trying to 'go green' by laundering money through alternative energy companies."
"U.S. Department of Agriculture experts found growing sanitary problems including bugs and overflowing trash earlier this year on the Iowa farm at the center of the national egg recall, but didn't notify health authorities, according to government documents and officials."
Open-government advocacy groups like Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and the Union of Concerned Scientists say DOI's proposal seems designed to perpetuate some of the worst science abuses of the Bush administration.
With the floodgates for corporate spending in U.S. politics wide open, the job of investigative journalism has never been more crucial. The National Institute on Money in State Politics' searchable database can help you find and build stories.
OpenTheGovernment.org's report notes a steady decrease in secrecy but finds poor marks in other areas, such as declassification backlogs, continued invocation of the "state secrets" privilege, and a high percentage of federal advisory committee meetings closed to the public.
The FBI's effort to inspire confidence by trying to hide the 300-ton, five-story-high, object of national interest might have backfired.
The report includes many lists and maps that allow you to zoom in on specific topical and geographic areas of interest to your audience. Here are some angles to explore, evaluated by watershed.
