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I’ve Covered Death Row Cases for Nearly a Decade. What Happened to Christa Pike Wasn’t an Anomaly.

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The death chamber in Huntsville, Texas Joe Raedle/Getty Images Over the course of two hours, witnesses watched and listened as Christa Pike cried, whimpered and snored through Tennessee’s attempt to execute her. By the end of it, executioners had given her two doses of the state’s lethal injection drugs. Her arms were swollen and blistered, and one had turned purple, her attorneys said. And she was still alive, marking what legal experts say is the first time a prisoner in the U.S. has survived one dose — let alone two — of lethal injection drugs.  Even if the outcome was unprecedented, what went wrong was not. Pike’s was the third Tennessee execution in 14 months to go awry. But as a reporter who has covered death row for nearly a decade and witnessed several executions, I know the state is not alone. The factors behind the breakdowns in Tennessee have popped up again and again across the country — and show how easily another botched execution could occur, even as so...
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More Than 500 U.S. Citizens Have Been Detained, Including Handcuffed or Held at Gunpoint, in Trump’s Immigration Crackdown

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Experts have long warned that immigration dragnets and the erosion of civil rights for immigrants will inevitably result in the erosion of rights for citizens. Since the start of this Trump administration, we’ve watched those warnings come true. The Trump administration says none of this is happening. “DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake.” “There are no ‘indiscriminate’ stops.” Allegations of “racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE.” “The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force.” “ICE does not zip tie or restrain children.” But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported. We know because we have once again done what the government hasn’t: We have tallied and cataloged every case we can find of an immigration agent holding a citizen during the current administration. More than 500 cases. That includes: More than a hundred Americans held after agents questioned t...
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Our Reporter Spent 10 Weeks Gambling on DraftKings. Here Are 5 Things He Learned.

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Bankrolled by ProPublica, reporter Jake Pearson tested online gambling guardrails by mimicking the betting patterns of a problem gambler for 10 weeks. Photo illustration by ProPublica. Source images: Jake Pearson/ProPublica, Chris Alcantara/ProPublica. Online gambling has surged in the U.S. since the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting in 2018, prompting public health concerns about gambling addiction and calls for stricter consumer protections. Online sportsbooks such as DraftKings and FanDuel have touted “responsible gaming” features as evidence that they are taking appropriate steps to protect consumers from spiraling out of control. Reporter Jake Pearson put these safeguards to the test. Bankrolled by ProPublica, he mimicked the betting patterns of a problem gambler for 10 weeks, consulting a panel of addiction specialists, recovering gambling addicts and professional sports bettors for advice. He found that the safety features were overpowered b...
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How ProPublica Reporters Became Private School Owners in 24 Hours

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The only requirement to open a private school in Arkansas is displaying a flag and flagpole, so the reporting team visited the local flag shop in Little Rock. Brian Chilson/Arkansas Times It began as a casual question — and a flicker of curiosity — uttered during a meeting of ProPublica journalists who this year are reporting on publicly funded private schools. We were discussing how, in many states, basically anyone can open a private school wherever they want. No experience, no training, no curriculum required. One of our editors jumped in and asked: What if ProPublica tried to establish a private school? We were intrigued. We are longtime education reporters, not educators. Would that matter? Where, if anywhere, do states draw the line on who is fit to run a school — and in some cases, collect public money to fund their ventures?  We decided that testing the thesis that anyone can open a school would be valuable to our ongoing reporting, particularly at a time...
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