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Dr. Thomas C. Weiner, the oncologist who was the subject of a 2024 ProPublica investigation, will never again practice medicine in the state of Montana. Last week, medical board members revoked Weiner’s license, citing seven cases of malpractice. The board concluded that he had violated rules of professional conduct and provided substandard care. By law, it must report Weiner to a federal database that tracks doctors who’ve been disciplined — which will make it extremely difficult for him to practice medicine. That decision comes more than a year after ProPublica exposed how, for years, Weiner had been suspected of hurting patients, including some who died, at St. Peter’s Health, the only major hospital serving the state capital of Helena. The story, built on court and medical records, showed Weiner subjected patients who didn’t have cancer to chemotherapy and other dangerous treatments, neglected to properly treat patients who were seriously ill, overprescribed addictive narcotics ...

As the Connecticut legislature overhauled the state’s towing laws last spring, lawmakers came up with a hopeful idea: gather towing companies, consumer advocates and state officials to hammer out a few arcane details that could have big implications for some Connecticut drivers whose cars are towed. The ambitions of the task force, convened in response to a Connecticut Mirror and ProPublica investigation , grew quickly as it began to meet in September to come up with recommendations for the legislature. Perhaps they could make it easier for low-income people to get their towed cars back or prevent them from being towed at all. Maybe they could change the administrative process that sometimes made it hard to find owners of the cars, which frustrated drivers and towing companies alike. But with a Feb. 1 deadline looming for its recommendations, the panel has made little progress on reaching a consensus. That could pose hurdles for lawmakers who say towing practices are still unfair a...

It’s a fundamental tenet of health care in America: Generic drugs are just as safe and effective as brand-name ones. The only difference is the price. “The same high quality, strength, purity and stability,” the Food and Drug Administration assured the public years ago as factories started to flood the market with their own, cheaper versions of commonly used drugs, from antibiotics to cancer treatments.  But the agency stakes that promise on a risky gamble. It doesn’t routinely test generics for quality concerns or to see if they’re working as effectively as brand-name medications. Instead, the agency heavily relies on drug companies, often in countries as far away as India and China, to do their own testing and to report any problems.  In recent years, independent labs, universities and the Department of Defense have raised alarms about contaminants and other quality failures in a number of generic medications. So have doctors, who in some cases have gone on to create the...

Before Todd Blanche could be confirmed as the second-highest official at the Justice Department, he had to satisfy the concerns of ethics officials. Blanche, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney during his New York criminal trial last year, was a cryptocurrency investor with holdings of between $159,000 and $485,000, records show . To prevent possible violations of the federal conflicts of interest statute, Blanche promised to dump his digital assets no later than 90 days after his Senate confirmation in March, according to his government ethics agreement . He also pledged not to participate in any matter that could have a “direct and predictable effect on my financial interests in the virtual currency” until his Bitcoin and other crypto-related products were sold. But about a month into the job — before divesting — Blanche issued a memo that ordered an end to investigations into crypto companies, dealers and exchanges launched during President Joe Biden’s term. He also elim...

A rush of cold air fills the kitchen on a spring day in the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk as a man dusted in frost steps through the door. Justine Paul, age 34, silently mixes himself a glass of lemonade, drops into a chair and exhales into his lap. Soon, he retreats to his childhood bedroom, where he stares out the window studying how fast the clouds move — the way he’s always sensed a storm before it breaks. A metal baseball bat leans against the doorframe.  When the Bering Sea wind bullies the house, Paul wonders if police listen through cracks in the walls. Waking beneath the Michael Jordan posters in his room, he sometimes fears he’s dreaming. That his body might still be 100 miles away, across the tundra in a 7.5-by-9-foot jail cell.  Today : A man spends seven years in jail as the flawed evidence against him falls apart. Next : The unfinished search for justice in the murder of Eunice Whitman. Paul spent seven years in jail waiting to be tried on a murder charg...