L to R, Steve Swatt, Susie Swatt, Jeff Raimundo, Becky LaVally. Photo courtesy of Steve SwattJeff Raimundo – news reporter, political consultant, author and tireless community volunteer — passed away last week after a tough three-year battle with prostate cancer.
The annual Black History Parade and Festival in Pasadena. (Photo: Jesse Watrous, via Shutterstock)ANALYSIS: Both the New York Times and ProPublica have written about the impact of COVID-19, reporting that in states where Black communities make up only a relatively small portion of the population, nearly half — if not majority — of all COVID-19 deaths are members of the Black community.
An elderly patient in a wheelchair receiving care at a California hospital. (Photo: bikeriderlondon, via shutterstock)In 2008, outraged by a string of snooping incidents involving celebrities’ medical records, California legislators passed a groundbreaking law that compelled hospitals to quickly report patient privacy breaches and gave the state power to levy fines for such violations. But a ProPublica analysis of state data shows enforcement has been inconsistent.
ProPublica reviewed more than 450 complaint investigations undertaken by the agency between 2009 and 2014 from roughly 50 Level 14 group homes, the residential facilities for California’s most acutely disturbed children. More than half the investigations produced “inconclusive” findings, meaning that no determination of facts was reached in cases that involved sexual abuse, physical assaults, drug use or inadequate care at the facilities.
ProPublica took a variety of half-truths to create a totally false impression about the good works of the leading pro-troop, grassroots charity in America.
An illustration of promotional material from Move America Forward. (Photo:ProPublica)From ProPublica: Move America Forward calls itself the nation’s “largest grassroots pro-troop organization,” and has recruited a bevy of Republican luminaries, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, to support its efforts. Yet an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms.