Our Reporting

November 18, 2024

New reading laws sweep the nation following Sold a Story

At least 25 states have passed laws about how schools teach reading since APM Reports’ Sold a Story podcast was released in 2022. But proponents of the disproven ideas about reading exposed in the podcast haven’t given up.

October 21, 2024

Native women fought for years to expand Plan B access. But some tribal clinics remain resistant.

In spite of years of pressure from advocates, access to emergency contraceptives remains difficult for women who rely on the health care systems run by or on behalf of their tribal nations. APM Reports spent more than six months surveying tribal clinics and pharmacies around the country. Dozens refuse to provide Plan B — or impose restrictions.

September 30, 2024

Tim Walz’s experience in China could help him as veep, but he barely mentions it as a candidate

When Tim Walz first ran for Congress in 2006, his campaign proudly touted his extensive experience in China. In fact, earlier in his political career, he occasionally exaggerated it. But now that he’s running for vice president, Walz barely mentions China. And Republicans have tried to turn those connections into a political liability.

June 10, 2024

5 takeaways from our series on St. Louis homicide investigations

The police department has struggled to solve homicides, partly due to shoddy detective work, staffing shortages and eroding community trust.

June 7, 2024

St. Louis homicide cases often go unsolved. Victims’ families want justice.

These St. Louis families have waited years for answers. They say police seem to have forgotten their loved ones.

June 6, 2024

As murders increased, St. Louis police struggled for resources to solve cases

The city’s homicide unit has dealt with short staffing, long hours and a ballooning DNA backlog.

June 5, 2024

Some St. Louis detectives may have botched homicide investigations

Several officers in the homicide unit faced internal complaints that they slept on the job, failed to get key evidence and lied to superiors.

June 4, 2024

In St. Louis, a racial disparity in whose killings get solved

In the past decade, police solved fewer than half of the homicide cases with Black victims and two-thirds of the cases with white ones.

June 3, 2024

How we reported on homicide investigations in St. Louis

Getting and interpreting homicide clearance data involved litigation, complex analysis and patience.

April 2, 2024

How Illinois’ sexual assault survivor law allows hospitals to deny care

Illinois hospitals routinely skirt one of the nation’s strongest laws protecting victims of sexual assault.

June 3, 2024

Why 1,000 homicides in St. Louis remain unsolved

In one of America's deadliest cities, police have struggled to solve killings due to staffing shortages, shoddy detective work and lack of community trust.

May 6, 2024

This oil platform stopped pumping 30 years ago. Alaska still won’t make the owner tear it down.

Once offshore oil platforms drain their wells, the government has the power to force the companies that own them to tear the structures down. But the owners can put off that costly process using a strategy one critic calls “delay, deny and diddle around.” And in Alaska, the state has let them do it — for decades.

April 30, 2024

‘Science of reading’ movement spells financial trouble for publisher Heinemann

The educational publisher raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during the 2010s selling reading programs based on a disproven theory. The company now faces financial fallout, as schools ditch its products.

April 22, 2024

How NH Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut used his office in the culture war

Frank Edelblut pledged to stay “nonpartisan.” But as head of New Hampshire’s education department, he’s used his platform to pursue conservative grievances against the education system and individual educators.

April 22, 2024

A trans teacher asked students about pronouns. Then the education commissioner found out.

New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut criticized a middle school art class slideshow for discussing gender. For the teacher who made the presentation, it was the last straw.

April 11, 2024

Reading Recovery organization confronts financial difficulties

As schools around the country are dropping Reading Recovery, the nonprofit that advocates for the tutoring program tapped into its cash reserves to push back against journalists and legislators.

April 11, 2024

'There's a thoughtfulness about reading in the country today'

An educator, a parent, a student and a scientist talk about what’s happened since they were first interviewed for Sold a Story.

April 4, 2024

As states refocus reading instruction, two universities stick with a discredited idea

Other schools are backing away from a disproven theory about how kids learn to read, but programs started by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell train literacy coaches to believe in it.

March 20, 2024

Judges use ‘arbitrary,’ ‘horrendous’ reasons to keep teens in adult court

Maryland automatically charges more teens as adults than almost any other state. An analysis of recent decisions found that some judges rely on what juvenile justice advocates say is unfair reasoning to keep those young people in adult court.

February 14, 2024

Ghost guns ‘not a big issue’? Las Vegas police records say otherwise

During his campaign for governor, then-Sheriff Joe Lombardo claimed the Las Vegas police department he led seized just six ghost guns in one year. But officers actually seized 252 of the weapons during that time.

February 2, 2024

An appraiser told Anchorage its property was worth $3M. The city sold it to the former mayor for $2M.

The municipal board that approved the sale — and a below-market lease — includes two members with ties to former Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich, who also used to represent Alaska in the U.S. Senate.

December 11, 2023

Widely used reading test often wrong

“Flipping a coin would actually be better” for identifying struggling readers, one researcher said of the test created by influential curriculum developers Fountas and Pinnell.

November 19, 2023

Segway inventor’s private companies reap millions from the federally funded nonprofit he runs

More than $215 million in federal money is pouring into ARMI, a nonprofit that promises to revolutionize medicine and revitalize Manchester, New Hampshire. At least $34 million is flowing through ARMI to for-profit companies controlled by its executive director.

September 26, 2023

Tesla needs graphite. Alaska has plenty. But mining it raises fears in nearby Native villages.

Graphite is a critical ingredient in the batteries needed to power America’s electric vehicle revolution. But every ounce of it is imported. A proposed mine in a remote part of Alaska would change that. But some of the people who live nearby fear it will endanger their way of life.

July 17, 2023

St. Louis police data: Nearly 60% of homicides committed since 2017 are unsolved

Newly released data reveals no resolution for the families of hundreds of homicide victims. Police refused to release homicide clearance data, so we sued to find out.

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