Featured Stories

Amazon’s New Competitive Advantage: Putting Its Own Products First

Brands have long been able to bid for the premier slot at the top left of Amazon’s listings, but during the pandemic the online retailer has begun using this position for its private-label items, raising antitrust concerns.

by Renee Dudley

New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and “Our Homo-Empire”

Merritt Corrigan, USAID’s new deputy White House liaison, has condemned the “tyrannical LGBT agenda” and celebrated Hungary’s right-wing prime minister as “the shining champion of Western civilization.”

by Yeganeh Torbati

Coronavirus

On the Minds of Black Lives Matter Protesters: A Racist Health System

Black lives are being lost to COVID-19 at twice the rate of others. For protesters we talked to, that’s one more reason to be on the street. “If it’s not police beating us up, it’s us dying in a hospital from the pandemic,” one said.

by Akilah Johnson

Unheard

Alaska has the highest rate of sexual assault in the nation. These women and men did not choose to be violated, but they now choose to speak about what happened.
Coronavirus

Small Businesses Failed by Federal Bailout Program Turn to Cash-Strapped Local Governments for Help

Thousands of small businesses, especially those owned by people of color, have been left behind by the stipulations of the Paycheck Protection Program. In Texas, local governments are lending millions of dollars and it’s not enough.

by Perla Trevizo

Desperation Town

We Reported on Corporate Tax Breaks in the Rust Belt. Now Officials Want Tougher Enforcement.

Ohio officials are calling for stricter regulation of corporate tax breaks after a Business Journal and ProPublica investigation found half the projects that received tax abatements in Youngstown since the 1990s failed to deliver the jobs promised.

by Dan O’Brien, The Business Journal

Electionland 2020: June Super Tuesday, Trump’s Voter Registration, Election Bills and More

This week’s headlines on elections in ten states and D.C., ongoing polarization over vote by mail and public health measures to protect voters.

by Rachel Glickhouse

Police Brutality, COVID-19 and Overdoses in Chicago Follow the Same Deadly Pattern

Our country’s long history of structural racism stands at the center of why police brutality, COVID-19 and the opioid crisis are disproportionately killing black Americans, including in Chicago.

by Duaa Eldeib and Melissa Sanchez

ProPublica Wins RFK Human Rights Journalism Award for Border Patrol Coverage

by ProPublica

Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On — Especially During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In the middle of a respiratory pandemic, law enforcement agencies have used tear gas in especially dangerous ways.

by Lisa Song

ProPublica Reporter Caroline Chen Wins Livingston Award

by ProPublica

Trapped at Sea, Alone With Her Assailant, He Told Her “You’re Mine for the Week”

Cathleen was raped five hours into a multi-day fishing trip, where she and the captain who assaulted her were the only ones on board. She begged to be taken back to shore, but he said no, they had work to do.

by Kyle Hopkins, Anchorage Daily News

She Paid Thousands for a Visa to Work in the U.S. Then She Got Laid Off. Now, She’s Trapped.

Thousands of workers in the U.S. with J-1 visas have been laid off as the coronavirus shut down the economy. They can’t afford to fly to their home countries — and can’t afford to stay.

by Bernice Yeung

I Cover Cops as an Investigative Reporter. Here Are Five Ways You Can Start Holding Your Department Accountable.

Police culture can be insular and tough to penetrate, but the public can hold law enforcement accountable. Here are important methods and context you need to know.

by Andrew Ford, Asbury Park Press

These Hospitals Pinned Their Hopes on Private Management Companies. Now They’re Deeper in Debt.

At least 13 hospitals in Oklahoma have closed or experienced added financial distress under the management of private companies. Some companies charged hefty management fees, promising to infuse millions of dollars that never materialized.

by Brianna Bailey, The Frontier

The Only Hospital in Town Was Failing. They Promised to Help but Only Made It Worse.

Rural Oklahoma communities are desperate to protect their vulnerable hospitals and hand the reins to management companies that say they’re turnaround experts. Instead some companies failed the hospitals, bled them dry and expedited their demise.

by Brianna Bailey, The Frontier

Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Buddy Used His “Shadow” Sway Over the VA to Promote His Comic Book Empire

Marvel chief Ike Perlmutter arranged for comic book characters to ring the NYSE closing bell with the VA secretary in 2017, according to a new government audit. Perlmutter has denied benefiting from his role as an informal adviser to President Trump.

by Isaac Arnsdorf

A masked woman walking in front of an employment agency in Berlin.

How Germany Saved Its Workforce From Unemployment While Spending Less Per Person Than the U.S.

The pandemic has cost jobs around the world. Comparing people who lost the same position in the two countries reveals that the U.S. government is spending more on unemployment — but its citizens are getting less.

by Alec MacGillis

Contractors for Trump’s Controversial $3 Billion Food Aid Program Have Hired a Longtime Lobbyist to Tout Their Work

Lawmakers are asking why some federal contractors in Trump’s food aid program apparently lack qualifications to deliver the goods. Companies hired a consultant to tell positive stories.

by Isaac Arnsdorf

Senior Citizens in Subsidized Housing Have Been Dying Alone at Home, Unnoticed Because of Coronavirus Distancing

The patchwork system of well-being checks in some of Chicago’s public and subsidized housing was not enough to prevent deaths in heartbreaking circumstances.

by Mick Dumke and Haru Coryne

This Treasury Official Is Running the Bailout. It’s Been Great for His Family.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Justin Muzinich has an increasingly prominent role. He still has ties to his family’s investment firm, which is a major beneficiary of the Treasury’s bailout actions.

by Justin Elliott, Lydia DePillis and Robert Faturechi

Follow ProPublica

Awards

ProPublica has been a recipient of the Pulitzer Prizes for public service, explanatory reporting, national reporting, investigative reporting and feature writing. See the full list of our awards.

Complaints & Corrections

To contact us with concerns and corrections, email us. All emails may be published unless you tell us otherwise. Read our corrections.