1. Did the FDA Miss Signals on a Troubled Heart Drug?

   It has been a rough eight months for the drug maker Actavis, Inc. and its powerful heart drug, Digitek. Following repeated Food and Drug Administration… Read more

2. Big Tobacco’s New York Black Market

   For New York Governor David Paterson, there was no good option.
   
   Faced with a crushing state deficit, angry American Indians, and uncooperative tobacco… Read more

1. Pets and Pesticides: Let’s Be Careful Out There

   Last June Diane Bromenschenkel applied a flea-and-tick product to her English pointer, Wings, so the dog wouldn’t get ticks while hunting pheasant in the tall… Read more

2. Outsiders Target Indian Land for Risky Business

   Deep in the foothills, miles above California’s Sacramento Valley, the 640-acre home of the Cortina Band of Wintun Indians lies empty except for six houses,… Read more

More from the Center >

1. Big Tobacco’s New York Black Market

   WASHINGTON, D.C., December 19, 2008 — America’s three top tobacco firms — Philip Morris USA, Lorillard, and R.J. Reynolds — supplied two-thirds of all cigarettes… Read more

2. Pearl Project Lawsuit Filed Against Eight Federal Agencies

   WASHINGTON, D.C., December 17, 2008 — Barbara Feinman Todd, an associate dean of journalism at Georgetown University and co-director of the Pearl Project, Read more

1. Intern at the Center

   The Center for Public Integrity is accepting applications for our internship program. Summer internships are full-time, paid positions; the Center also is offering a part-time… Read more

2. Podcasts

   The Center's podcast series, narrated by Bill Buzenberg, features our reporters and sources discussing investigations. Read more

More Front & Center News >

Archive Investigations

1. The Buying of the President 2008

   Will 2008, which is shaping up to be the most expensive campaign year ever, be an election or an auction? The Center’s quadrennial signature project is online now, always with fresh material.

2. 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.

3. 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.”

4. Over the Limit

   Rusk County, Texas — A gentle twilight pink stretches across the sky, touching the waters of Martin Creek Lake. The still air, smelling only of East Texas pines, brings the faint sounds of wildlife in the surrounding woods. Smog and traffic seem much further away than the 145-mile drive to Dallas.

5. Great Lakes Danger Zones?

   Here’s the report that top officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought was too hot for the public to handle — and the story behind it.

6. Windfalls of War II

   The Center reveals that military contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan grew from $11 billion in 2004 to more than $25 billion in 2006 — and that billions have gone to unidentified foreign companies.

7. States of Disclosure

   Washington State is tops in making it easy to track the private interests of public officials, and Vermont, Michigan, and Idaho tie for last in the Center’s national ranking. Check where your state ranks.

1. Collateral Damage

   Post-9/11 U.S. foreign policy and military aid and assistance had a huge impact in nations around the world — and at home. This award-winning project includes 20 articles from four continents.

2. Wasting Away

   The Superfund isn’t so super anymore. A year-long investigation examined all 1,624 Superfund sites and found daunting toxic threats across the country 27 years after the Environmental Protection Agency program was launched.

3. The Shadow Government

   At least 900 little-known federal advisory committees wield enormous influence over government policy, some to good ends — but many have become secretive, ideological, or packed with industry representatives.

4. Divine Intervention

   A year-long investigation of President Bush’s initiative to fight AIDS abroad finds that conservative ideology hinders its real benefits by insisting on abstinence-only programs over promoting condom use.

5. Well Connected

   This project offers a comprehensive examination of business and legislative influences on media — and includes the Media Tracker, a searchable online database of who owns the media serving any U.S. community.

6. Power Trips

   200 trips to Paris? 150 to Hawaii? 140 to Italy? The Center’s investigation of how private interests gain access to members of Congress by funding supposedly educational or investigative travel.

7. Katrina Watch

   Government contracts awarded for cleanup and reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina are collected in a searchable database, and the best coverage of what happened on the Gulf Coast is gathered and categorized.