Dangerous Gaps in Day Care Regulation, the Locally Sourced Lie and More

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Livescience.com

Farm to Fable, Tampa Bay Times

There are certain things people expect when they are told that their food is “local.” That it’ll be fresher or taste better or prove safer because it didn’t have to be pumped up with preservatives. But, according to this investigation, “[I]f you eat food, you are being lied to every day.” The investigation asserts that, in Tampa Bay and other place where there is little government regulation concerning the commercial use of the word “local,” consumers are being duped.

Question of Risk: Medtronic’s Lost Study, Minnesota Star-Tribune

Medtronic, one of the largest medical technology companies in the world, wanted to know how effective its “pioneering” bone-fusion product – Infuse – was, so they asked doctors who used the product to report any “adverse event” following surgery. Thousands of reports flooded in, including four reports of patients dying. But Medtronic’s study ended in 2008, without reporting any findings to the authorities. According to this investigation, “[t]o this day, neither the company nor the FDA has publicly disclosed full details of the study.”

Religious day cares get freedom from oversight, with tragic results, Reveal

Unlike the many day care facilities that are regulated by state and federal government, religious day care operations in several states have little to no oversight – with sometimes fatal consequences. This Reveal investigation found that religious day care facilities often lose track of children, have no requirements about supervision, and sometimes do not mandate that staff members know how to perform CPR.

The Strangers Next Door, The Texas Observer

For years, the people of Amarillo, Texas, have welcomed refugees for foreign countries, those fleeing violence and other forms of oppression. Now, according to this report, Amarillo has become a kind of “Ground Zero in the backlash against refugees.”

The Prison Visit That Cost My Family $2,370, The Marshall Project/Honolulu Civil Beat

As states continue to try and solve the prison overcrowding problem, four have turned to shipping inmates to other states – often to for-profit facilities. This investigation asserts that the prisoners who are usually sent away are those with the best records of behavior. Their families are left to foot the bill for traveling considerable distances to visit. In one family’s case, that means thousands of dollars spent on trips from Hawaii to a prison facility in the Arizona desert.