Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
The Texas Highway Patrol Museum was a weird place. It used to sit on a busy street corner near downtown San Antonio. Yet whenever I drove by, I hardly ever saw anyone inside. More than once I wondered, what’s the deal? I found the answers in the IRS Form 990 — the publicly available tax …
If you live in Bexar County, someone claiming to be with the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Bexar County might have called you recently, asking for money. The caller probably promised that every penny of your donation stays in Bexar County. You were probably told that it all goes to a worthy cause. Like most sales …
Sued by the Texas Attorney General and accused of squandering donations, the Texas Highway Patrol Museum in King William is a step closer to its demise. Check out our past news coverage of the museum, which is actually a telemarketing operation that spends only a fraction of its revenue on charitable causes.
American Journalism Review delved into the declining state of investigative journalism with compelling articles and videos that quantified what’s been lost — and what might be gained:
Columbia Journalism review posted an interesting feature story about nonprofit investigative news organizations, and how they take different approaches to funding and sharing their content. The CJR story opens with a telling anecdote about a meeting at California Watch. At the meeting, the editors agree that one of their reporters, after months of digging, has …
Last week the New York Times ran a story about Internet companies selling imaginary things: These so-called virtual goods, like a $1 illustration of a Champagne bottle on Facebook or the $2.50 Halloween costume in the online game Sorority Life, are no more than a collection of pixels on a Web page. But it is …
There’s more news, interviews and criticism this week about the Texas Tribune, an ambitious nonprofit news site led by former Texas Monthly editor Evan Smith and venture capitalist John Thornton: The Tribune announced today that it received a $750,000 grant from the Houston Endowment and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Mallary Jean …
Two years ago, on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, my colleagues Karisa King and Scott Stroud wrote a story that went beyond the platitudes of politicians and pundits. Karisa and Scott checked to see if Texas was actually safer after receiving more than a billion dollars in Homeland Security grant money: …
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott is unveiling a new Web site where you can soon look up the “990” tax forms of nonprofit organizations in Texas. The 990 is a good starting point when you want to know more about a tax-exempt charity and what it does with its money. You can find out how …