Projects See all

Chicago’s air quality is among the worst in the U.S., and the city has several local hotspots for particulate matter 2.5 — the tiny particles that come from diesel trucks and industry and enter people’s lungs and blood, causing significant health problems. Between April 2021 and March 2023, the tech company Microsoft installed and monitored 115 air quality sensors across Chicago. We worked with Chicago newsrooms, including the Cicero Independiente, WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, to analyze this data for a series of stories on the city’s comparatively poor air quality. We then installed our own air quality sensors in Chicago neighborhoods that lacked coverage in the Microsoft network — and looked for trends and spikes in pollution.

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The Documenting COVID-19 project is a repository of searchable documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic obtained through state open-records laws and the Freedom of Information Act. It has produced hundreds of stories with local, regional and national newsroom partners throughout the United States.

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"Disappearing Day Care" is our ongoing series on the U.S. child care industry. We published our first part of this series in Michigan in 2022, with the Detroit Free-Press and Chalkbeat Detroit. In 2023, we are focusing on Missouri, with The Missouri Independent.

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As wildfire smoke worsens public health, government watchdog calls EPA response ‘ad hoc’

by Dillon Bergin and Molly Peterson

May 23, 2023

Congressional investigators say the use of a regulatory loophole to erase smoke pollution from the official record is on the rise.

Title	Status	Agency	Jurisdiction
Bureau of Air operating permits and associated forms for Chicago Extruded Metals Co.	Fix Required	Illinois Environmental Protection Agency	Illinois
Bureau of Air operating permits and associated forms for Koppers Inc.	Fix Required	Illinois Environmental Protection Agency	Illinois
Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality)	Completed	Texas Commission on Environmental Quality	Texas
Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency)	Completed	Ohio Environmental Protection Agency	Ohio
Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Department of Natural Resources and Conservation)	No Responsive Documents	Department of Natural Resources and Conservation	Montana

Recently Completed Requests See all

Title	Status	Agency	Jurisdiction
Underlying data for "Industrial Site Map"	Completed	Department of Planning and Development	Chicago, IL
Bureau of Air operating permits and associated forms for Corey Steel Co.	Completed	Illinois Environmental Protection Agency	Illinois
Use of Force Reports 2021 and 2022	Completed	New Mexico State Police	New Mexico
Exceptional event demonstration contracts (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency)	Completed	Ohio Environmental Protection Agency	Ohio
Monkeypox and wastewater email correspondence	Completed	Department of Health and Mental Hygiene	New York City, NY

Projects See all

Dangers in Our Air: Mapping Chicago’s Air Pollution Hotspots

Documenting COVID-19 project

Disappearing Day Care: Child Care Crisis in the U.S.

Latest Articles See all

As wildfire smoke worsens public health, government watchdog calls EPA response ‘ad hoc’

Latest Requests See all

Recently Completed Requests See all