Pilot 1: The VA’s deadly pain pill habit

Attorney Errol Copilevitz represents some of the worst charities in the U.S. Hear reporter Kendall Taggart discuss meeting Copilevitz.

Dig Deeper

• Watch this video to find out why Copilevitz doesn’t think these bad charities should close.
• Questions to ask before you donate.
• Read the full investigation: America’s Worst Charities.

Earlier this year, a defense contractor named Edward Snowden leaked classified documents to a small group of reporters about the National Security Agency’s top-secret surveillance programs. The information he provided has given the public an unprecedented view of the scope and cost of those programs.

Unlike most leakers, Snowden chose to go public. Federal prosecutors have charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property. Snowden is now in Moscow, where he has temporary asylum.

Ben Wizner, an attorney for the ACLU, is coordinating Snowden’s legal defense. We spoke with him at his office in New York about the value and limits of leaks.

Researchers at Columbia University are working on a project they hope will save a part of U.S. history.

They are building a “declassification engine.” Using tools from statistics and computer science, the researchers are trying to archive and review millions of pages of government documents and restore sections of text that officials have redacted. They hope the project will provide a history of official secrecy and help ensure government accountability.

Reporter Amanda Aronczyk spoke with professor Matthew Connelly about the project.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the number of opiate prescriptions by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has skyrocketed. Data shows prescriptions for four opiates – hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and morphine – have surged by 270 percent from 2001 to 2012. In some cases, the VA has prescribed drugs to known addicts.

Dig Deeper

• VA’s opiate overload feeds veterans’ addictions, overdose deaths
• Interactive map: Painkillers and the VA
• Watch “Drugging America’s Veterans,” a video on veterans’ battle with addiction to narcotic painkillers.
• Share your story.
• Localize our data.

Playwright Jon Bernson turned an investigative report about female veterans’ struggles into a one-act play.

The drama, “A Guide to the Aftermath,” debuted earlier this year at Tides Theatre in San Francisco as part of our StoryWorks collaboration with the theater.

DIG DEEPER

• Watch “Her War,” the documentary by Mimi Chakarova that inspired Bernson’s play.

In August, a federal judge ruled that the New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy was unconstitutional because it resulted in discriminatory practices and unreasonable searches.

As part of her ruling, Judge Shira A. Scheindlin of the U.S. District Court in Manhattan ordered the department to establish a pilot program requiring officers in the five precincts where most of the stops occur to wear small cameras as part of their uniforms. The cameras would record officers’ interactions with the public, an “objective record of stop-and-frisks,” Scheindlin wrote.

New York City is appealing the judge’s ruling.

Alexis Karteron, senior staff attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union, discusses the stop-and-frisk ruling.

DIG DEEPER

• Watch this video to see how officers in one California police department use the cameras every day.

In 2007, Larry Ingraham received a call that his brother, Van, was in a hospital in Newport Beach, California.

Larry was told that Van had suffered a minor injury. But when Larry arrived at the hospital, he learned that Van had a broken neck and crushed spinal cord. A neurosurgeon told Larry, “Somebody did this to your brother.”

Van died six days after he was found lying on the floor of his room. The severely autistic man had spent most of his life at a state-run facility for the developmentally disabled.

Larry, a retired police officer, spent years trying to find out how Van died in a place that was supposed to keep him safe. Hear what happened when he met Ryan Gabrielson, a reporter investigating the state police force responsible for protecting residents of facilities like the one where Van lived.

Dig Deeper

• Read the full investigation: Broken Shield.
• Download the e-book, “In the Wrong Hands.”
• Watch “Behind Closed Doors,” a video about the failures of the Office of Protective Services, the state-run police force at California’s developmental centers.