for her APNewsBreak detailing how money intended to make sure fish was safe to eat following the BP oil spill instead went to things like iPads, cameras and now-missing fishing equipment. http://apne.ws/2dlSaAR
for using the stateâs public records laws to obtain an accounting of social spending by New Mexicoâs newly elected governor that revealed a $3,600 brunch and receipts for dry cleaning, Perrier and prosciutto.The records are an early indication that Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is making good on promises be open and candid about her administration, in keeping with new disclosure rules that went into effect Jan. 1. https://bit.ly/2UV8B8l
for their Health and Science accountability data project that revealed how millions is being spent to fight the opioid crisis. The AP analysis of FOIA records found that states with expanded Medicaid under âObamacareâ spent the funding more slowly than states that didnât expand the health insurance program because the Medicaid already covers nearly everyone who is poor and needs treatment for addiction. https://bit.ly/2yVcqRm
followed the crumbs in a whistleblower complaint to detail how the Trump administration is spending millions on questionable coronavirus research with little basis in science. The two obtained additional internal government emails and documents showing scientistsâ skepticism about a $21 million deal to assess whether the active ingredient in the heartburn-relief medication Pepcid could be an effective remedy for severely ill COVID-19 patients.https://bit.ly/338l3sA
for digging into financial reports showing that Louisiana lawmakers slashed spending across state services and described budget struggles even though they had built up an undisclosed $85 million surplus in legislative agencies. https://bit.ly/2BCzAxV
for breaking the news that a deal was reached on a $1 trillion spending bill to fund the government and describing what would and would not be in the legislation. http://detne.ws/2qIXjES
teamed up to tally total opioid settlements in the U.S., then used the onset of that spending to anchor a story around families and others seeking a voice in how the money is used.State government reporter Mulvihill worked with data reporter Harjai to arrive at total settlements â proposed and finalized â of more than $40 billion so far, breaking it down by state. Mulvihill and Ohio reporter Hendrickson then sensitively interviewed advocates and affected loved ones on the front lines of loss, delivering a forward-looking story on how the settlement money might be spent and who gets a say in those decisions.Read more
Environmental Protection Administrator Scott Pruittâs lavish spending and deep concerns about security had put his future in the Trump Cabinet in jeopardy. But what was the cost to taxpayers?
AP beat reporter Michael Biesecker, whose aggressive coverage of Pruitt began more than a year ago when Trump nominated him for the EPA post, began working sources still at the agency and those who had left in search of the answer. His findings â that Pruitt spent about a whopping $3 million on security in the first year â win the Beat of the Week award.
took the lead in obtaining and analyzing public records that disclosed state coronavirus-related spending that had largely been kept from the public. The reporters filed Freedom of Information Act requests in all 50 states seeking purchase order records to determine how much was being spent on what items, which suppliers the states were using and how the spending compared across the states.The findings revealed that overall the states spent at least $7 billion on medical gear in the first few months of the pandemic, a massive amount that had not been reported until APâs investigation. Even lawmakers in most states did not know the scope of spending, much of which was inflated by competition between states and huge price markups for routine items.The project reflected a signature goal of the AP news department this year: to âconnect the dotsâ across the states for our U.S. customers in a way that only AP can. After months spent analyzing the state-by-state information, the data team made all the information available in an easy-to-use format for AP members and for our own state reporters. In addition to the national stories, more than a dozen AP reporters wrote state sidebars, receiving prominent play online and in print. https://bit.ly/37HJS07
for breaking the story that Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was spending nearly $139,000 on doors, raising fresh concerns about spending by administration officials already under scrutiny for their travel. http://bit.ly/2Hj7HLU
analyzed how national conservative groups have targeted school board races that more typically have been sleepier, civil affairs. The reporting was built on research Carr Smyth began in 2021, looking at national conservative groupsâ involvement in school board recruitment and candidate training seminars around the country.By reviewing campaign finance filings, education reporter Binkley and Columbus, Ohio-based reporter Carr Smyth revealed that one group â the 1776 Project PAC â has spent millions to support conservative candidates in multiple states.The story, capturing how national money and attention has changed the tenor of many of these local races, detailed how many Republicans are seizing on âparental rightsâ and accusing incumbents of âgroomingâ and âindoctrinationâ as a tactic to unseat Democrats.Read more
Amid the chaos and broken lives after Hurricane Michael, photographer David Goldman was combing for images of how people were coping when he discovered a heartbreaking story in a Walmart parking lot: A newborn baby was spending one of his first nights in the back of a pickup with his parents.
Goldman knew he had a great visual story. And he knew there was a great story to write. Not being in a position to write the story himself, he turned to colleague Jay Reeves, also working in the hurricane zone.
Reeves wouldnât be able to meet with the family, but Goldman knew the elements Reeves would need to write the text piece. He sent Reeves all his notes and an audio interview via email. From those pieces, Reeves crafted the narrative.
The moving words and compelling photo package resonated. Goldmanâs Twitter lit up with responses, and readers hoping to find a way to help âbaby Lukeâ reached out to the AP by email, phone and web. The story was carried by Time Magazine, USA Today, The New York Times and NPR, among others.
For their collaboration and unmatched story that reminded the world that the story of Hurricane Michael is far from over, Reeves and Goldman win this weekâs Best of the States.
Law enforcement reporters Jim Mustian and Jake Bleiberg kept the AP out front on the fallout from the deadly 2019 arrest of Ronald Greene, exclusively reporting that federal prosecutors are investigating whether top Louisiana State Police brass obstructed justice to protect the troopers seen on body camera video punching, dragging and stunning the Black motorist.
It was just the latest in a string of AP scoops on the highly secretive in-custody death that troopers initially blamed on a car crash.
The pair also exclusively obtained the full confidential file on the Greene case, including evidence photos showing troopers with Greeneâs blood on their hands, uniforms and badges. The story, accompanied by some of those photos and the body cam video, was one of the AP's most engaged offerings of the week.
For strong investigative work to keep exposing the details of a case that had long been shrouded in secrecy, Mustian and Bleiberg win this weekâs Best of the States award.
collaborated on the most comprehensive coverage yet by a major news organization on a shrinking natural wonder, the Bonneville Salt Flats in northwest Utah near the Nevada border.The salt flats has long lured speed-obsessed racers and filmmakers, and, more recently, social media fans looking for a spectacular photo, but its future is in peril because the salt has been thinning for decades. When a Utah state agency launched yet another study to assess what was happening at the salt flats, APâs Salt Lake City bureau recognized an opportunity explore the state of one the American Westâs most unique sites.A thoroughly reported, reader-friendly story and impressive visuals â photos, drone images, video and digital animations â combined for a striking presentation that drew in readers.Read more
A true multiformat team of AP journalists produced this Only on AP piece by tracking down data on child abuse from every state to reveal a worrying trend: Reports of abuse are down while signs of severity are up. The team complemented that dogged data work and hard news with the tragic story of one girl who fell through the cracks during the pandemic.
Acting on information sourced by video journalist Manuel Valdes, Seattle reporter Sally Ho coordinated the 50-state data survey and an ambitious analysis with data journalist Camille Fassett. Ho also read through hundreds of child abuse reports to find the case of 9-year-old Ava Lerario, killed by her father in a small Pennsylvania town. Ho worked with Philadelphia photojournalists Matt Rourke and Matt Slocum, and New York video journalist David Martin, to tell the story of about how the system failed Ava.
The teamâs deeply reported package drew remarkably high reader engagement, and many news outlets localized the work using APâs data distribution.
For exposing another disturbing inequality stemming from the pandemic, Ho and colleagues Valdes, Fassett, Rourke, Slocum and Martin share this weekâs Best of the States award.
turned a readerâs polite complaint into an engaging mystery story of 17th century piracy. Amateur historian Jim Bailey questioned why AP had run an item on a 1796 penny found in a Maine churchyard. The coin was not significant but, he added, he had found one that was. The tip put Kole and Senne on the trail of ancient Arabian coins unearthed around New England that were traced to Henry Every, an English pirate whose crew raped, murdered and pillaged in 1695, making the captain the planetâs most-wanted man. Kole interviewed historians and archaeologists who said Baileyâs discovery â a 1693 Yemeni coin found with a metal detector in a pick-your-own fruit orchard â indeed was significant and that it provided evidence that the subject of the worldâs first manhunt did not just vanish into the wind after plundering a ship carrying Muslim pilgrims home from a pilgrimage to Mecca â he and his crew may have spent time in colonial New England spending their loot. Bailey found documents showing that the way the pirates hid out was by posing as slave traders, then a âlegitimateâ profession in Newport, Rhode Island.Kole's story rocketed to the top of the news cycle on the day it was published, getting more clicks than any other story on apnews.com. https://bit.ly/2Ov95UV
Just as a second surge of coronavirus cases peaked in France, Associated Press journalists secured exclusive, hard-won access to an intensive care unit in southern Franceâs largest hospital for 24 hours, capturing the exhaustion, loneliness and dedication medical workers desperately struggling to save lives.
After a full day embedded with the ICU team, AP freelance photographer/video journalist Daniel Cole and global enterprise reporter Lori Hinnant came away with a searing, intimately reported all-formats account of Marseilleâs La Timone hospital, as medical staff tried to keep even one bed open.
For their dogged pursuit of access, tireless reporting and sensitive, compelling and timely storytelling, Cole and Hinnant earn APâs Best of the Week award.
followed up on their initial reporting that exposed widespread labor abuse in the palm oil industry, conducting a comprehensive investigation into the brutal treatment of women in the production of the omnipresent ingredient, including rapes by plantation supervisors, serious health issues from toxic chemicals and injuries from back-breaking loads. The pair then traced the oil produced by these women to the supply chains of top Western beauty brands â including conglomerates that make billions of dollars as they market the empowerment of women.Mason and McDowell persuaded dozens of female workers to tell their searing stories, spending months getting the women to trust them and then arranging clandestine meetings in an effort to protect the workers from retaliation by plantation owners. They bypassed the stonewalling of major Western brands that refused to say whether their products contain palm oil by using company data and U.S. Customs records to link the workersâ abuse to the brandsâ palm oil supply chains.The package featured striking digital display, video and evocative photos by Indonesia-based stringer Binsar Bakkara, as well as a powerful series of closeups of workersâ hands cradling familiar products containing the fruits of their labor.The story is nearing 250,000 page views on AP News. The Clorox Company, which owns Burtâs Bees Inc., said it would raise the allegations of abuses with its suppliers, calling APâs findings âincredibly disturbing.â https://bit.ly/3liKAV3https://bit.ly/2VeVUXRhttps://bit.ly/3mlXgfd
revealed in evocative text and photos the challenges of a severe COVID case and a long rehabilitation. Their compelling work was made possible by building trust and access with one Indiana man and his family. Murphy heard about Larry Brown, an Indianapolis man who finally came home after nearly 80 days in the hospital â some 50 of those days on a ventilator â and realized even local outlets had not done justice to the story.With expertise as a health writer, Murphy learned about the case and safely navigated spending time with Brown to see what his life is like now. Photojournalist Darron Cummings spent several days with the family, vividly capturing how Brown interacts with the kids, and how his hand therapy and neurology appointments work.Brown sometimes became apprehensive over the story; the AP pair earned his trust by explaining their plan and the importance of sharing his story of recovery and the long-term effects of COVID. https://bit.ly/3d6v1gOhttps://bit.ly/2FgorrM
revealed that migration from Africa to Europe is still happening in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic â and shifting from the Mediterranean to the deadly Atlantic route. The Barcelona-based journalists traveled to the Canary Islands and saw firsthand boats full of migrants â including some who had died â arriving on the Spanish archipelago.The pair was kicked out of the port area for trying to document arrivals because itâs such a sensitive subject, and many sources, under government pressure, stopped talking to the AP. But the AP team worked around the restrictions, getting access to migrants and spending time with them. Brito and Morenatti reported that more than 250 people are known to have died or gone missing so far this year, and at least 20 bodies were recovered in the week we there, evidence of the extreme risk taken on the ocean crossing.The story attracted attention in Europa and Africa with high engagement, particularly for the photos and video.
