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Robert Warshaw, left, a court-appointed monitor, and Maricopa Sheriff Jerry Sheridan speak before a legally required community outreach meeting in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Phoenix in 2025. Ash Ponders for ProPublica A federal judge has denied efforts to remove oversight of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, saying the agency continues to show racial disparities in traffic arrests of Latinos — and that there is not enough evidence that efforts to improve would stick without legal monitoring. In his 72-page ruling issued Sept. 10 , U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow stressed Sheriff Jerry Sheridan’s role in the department’s racial profiling since the start of the case more than a decade ago, including fighting court-ordered reforms and stymieing investigations. Sheridan was the No. 2 under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio when the county was found out of compliance with federal law. “Then Chief Deputy, now Sheriff, Sheridan in particular was found to have abused his auth...

The halls of Mountain View Academy in Dandridge, Tennessee. ProPublica and WPLN reporting found that Wayne Halfway House, which operates Mountain View, failed to report multiple abuse incidents to the state as required. Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica Four Democratic Tennessee state lawmakers sent a letter to the Department of Children’s Services demanding answers about safety and oversight in the state’s juvenile justice facilities. The letter cites a recent WPLN and ProPublica investigation that found that juvenile justice facilities run by Tennessee businessman Jason Crews repeatedly failed to report abuse of children and other serious incidents to the state as required. The reporting involved interviews with dozens of former staff and youth, along with a review of emergency call logs, company records and state documents. Crews and his company Wayne Halfway House run all three of the state’s highest-security youth prisons.  “The allegations that serious physical and...

Grace Cary/Getty Images Landmark legislation designed to alert consumers to where their drugs were made is headed for a full Senate vote, but safety experts say the transparency bill has been stripped of two of its most critical provisions. The Clear Labels Act was introduced earlier this year by Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., after lawmakers and drug safety experts called for more transparency in the industry. Last year, a ProPublica investigation revealed that the U.S. kept importing generic drugs from foreign factories after inspectors had identified quality and safety lapses at the sites, including leaks, mold and contaminated water . Medications made at these facilities were linked to thousands of reported adverse reactions in patients. The bill aims to allow doctors and patients to see on the label exactly where a medication was made — details that had largely been withheld until now, even from Congress. Current generic drug labels...

The Rafael Baez Baseball Academy practices in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.    Christopher Gregory-Rivera for ProPublica If you have seen the headlines of the major investigation we recently published, “ The Dominican Baseball Factory ,” you may have wondered: Why is ProPublica, with its serious-sounding mission of accountability and its focus on abuses of power, reporting on baseball? The answer would be: Exactly. Baseball fans have long marveled at how the Dominican Republic, a tiny island nation with a population akin to Ohio, has produced so many brilliant players — roughly 10% of the major league. Major League Baseball and the owners of its 30 teams have regularly harvested bumper crops of sluggers to build their rosters and their fanbase, including most recently the Toronto Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr., the New York Mets’ Juan Soto and the San Diego Padres’ Fernando Tatis Jr., whose playing contracts total more than $1.6 billion.   B...