Investigations

Former Texas GOP Congressman Steve Stockman is on trial in Houston for what prosecutors say is a massive fraud. He’s accused of ripping off two donors by selling them on grandiose schemes that supported a conservative agenda — which never panned out.

Police fatally shot 987 people last year, or two dozen more than they killed in 2016, according to an ongoing Washington Post database project that tracks the fatal shootings. Since 2015, The Post has logged the details of 2,945 shooting deaths, culled from local news coverage, public records and social-media reports.

The New Orleans department has long been attempting to reform its ranks and shed a troubled past. In the past decade, the department has fired or otherwise pushed out at least 248 officers. Of those forced out, 53 have been hired by other police departments.

In August of 2017, The Washington Post reported that since 2006 police chiefs at 37 of the nation’s largest police departments have been forced to rehire more than 450 officers, or nearly a quarter of the officers they have fired for misconduct.

The decades-old process of managing kangaroo populations through hunts and selling the meat and skins is controversial. Australia’s state governments set annual quotas to regulate how many kangaroos can be killed each year, but some ecologists and animal-advocacy organizations say the hunts are inhumane, not sustainable or necessary.

In April 2016, at the height of the deadliest drug epidemic in U.S. history, Congress effectively stripped the Drug Enforcement Administration of its most potent weapon against large drug companies suspected of spilling prescription narcotics onto the nation’s streets.

More than 3,000 refugees resettled in San Diego County during federal fiscal 2016, leading some in the community to question whether area schools with limited resources could deliver on the refugee dream of a quality education for all in America.

NPR, FRONTLINE and IRW investigate the severe shortage of affordable housing.

PBS FRONTLINE, NPR and IRW examine why thousands of residents of New Jersey and New York are still struggling more than three years after a huge East Coast storm devastated their communities.

Wiggling while handcuffed. Bracing one hand on the steering wheel during the arrest. Yelling at an officer. These actions have led to people being prosecuted for “assaulting a police officer” in Washington, D.C., where the offense is defined as including not just physical assault but also “resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating or interfering” with law enforcement.