by Jeremy Schwartz ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. A Texas state appeals court on Thursday ordered the dismissal of a 2018 defamation lawsuit against ProPublica and the Houston Chronicle brought by famed Houston heart surgeon Dr. O.H. “Bud” Frazier, ruling that a 2018 investigation into the doctor was a “fair, true, and impartial account” of accusations against him. Frazier was also ordered to pay the publications’ attorneys fees related to the appeal. Frazier filed the suit in Harris Cou ..read more

by Lexi Churchill and Jessica Priest ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans. Sign up for The Brief Weekly to get up to speed on their essential coverage of Texas issues. Last year, in an effort to bring greater transparency to local elections, the Texas Legislature mandated that school districts, municipalities and other jurisdictions post campaign finance reports onl ..read more

by Paige Pfleger, WPLN/Nashville Public Radio This article was produced for ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network in partnership with WPLN/Nashville Public Radio. Sign up for Dispatches to get stories like this one as soon as they are published. A bill that would strengthen oversight of Tennessee’s juvenile detention centers has failed, despite a concerted push for reform after multiple county-run facilities were found to be locking children alone in cells. The bill was introduced in the state legislature in January after a WPLN and ProPublica investigation last year reported that seclusion was ..read more

by Nicole Carr, ProPublica, and Mike Jordan, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. Ryan Millsap, a powerful Atlanta movie executive who has relied on relationships with Black and Jewish leaders to advance his business endeavors, has issued an apology after an investigative report that exposed his racist and antisemitic messages was published by ProPublica and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The ap ..read more

by Sharon Lerner ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. When you bite into a piece of celery, there’s a fair chance that it will be coated with a thin film of a toxic pesticide called acephate. The bug killer — also used on tomatoes, cranberries, Brussels sprouts and other fruits and vegetables — belongs to a class of compounds linked to autism, hyperactivity and reduced scores on intelligence tests in children. But rather than banning the pesticide, as the European Union did more than 20 years ..read more

by Lizzie Presser ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Federal lawmakers introduced a legislative package on Tuesday that would expand heirs’ property owners’ access to disaster relief and provide assistance in clearing titles. Heirs’ property refers to land that has been passed down informally within families; without clear titles, owners can be ineligible for government aid and their land vulnerable to forced sales. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Texas, decided to introduce legislatio ..read more

by Logan Jaffe ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. James and Barbara Johnson flip through a book of their memories. They arrive at a photograph Mr. Johnson snapped as a surprise: a photograph of the long-married couple’s first kiss. Even after all this time, Barbara Johnson quietly says to herself, “I don’t know how he did that.” “Me neither,” James Johnson says with a laugh. James Johnson kept this selfie of his and Barbara’s fi ..read more

by ProPublica ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. Citing ProPublica’s reporting on barriers to mental health care access for veterans, the chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, Jon Tester, called on VA Secretary Denis McDonough to increase the number of providers in rural parts of the country. Tester sent a letter to McDonough this month raising concerns about mental health staffing shortages nationwide. In it, he referenced ProPublica’s investigation into a VA clinic in Chico ..read more

by Vianna Davila and Lexi Churchill, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, and Davis Winkie, Military Times ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans, and with Military Times, an independent news organization reporting on issues important to the U.S. military. Sign up for newsletters from The Texas Tribune and Military Times. The U.S. Army, the country’s largest military bra ..read more

by Connor Goodwin ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published. With record-setting blazes becoming more and more common, the demands placed on wildland firefighters are greater than ever. Already this year, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, which broke out in the Texas Panhandle in February, has become the second-largest wildfire in U.S. history, burning nearly 1.1 million acres. Last year, a relatively quiet fire season, saw the Lahaina fire on Maui, Hawaii’s largest-ever wildfire and one of the deadliest o ..read more