InvestigationWorld The Sheik Down How American commanders have used Iraq’s Awakening Councils to pay millions of dollars in thinly disguised bribes to Sunni sheikhs. Shane BauerMother JonesSeptember 1, 2009
InvestigationBusiness How Real Estate Owns Us The devastating economic and social consequences of the American obsession with home ownership during the past decade. Alyssa KatzNext American CitySeptember 1, 2009
InvestigationImmigration El Muro de los Lamentos The high cost and low security of the Secure Border Initiative, Boeing’s high-tech “superfence” across the Mexican border. Joseph RicheyExpansión (Mexico)September 1, 2009
InvestigationBusiness Opportunity Knocks Miami, Florida, number four in foreclosures among American cities, has a 70,000-person wait list for public housing. So activist Max Rameau restores evicted families to their homes. Paul ReyesVirginia Quarterly ReviewSeptember 1, 2009
InvestigationPolitics, World The CIA, Siberia and the $5 Million Dollar Bar Bill How a laughably inept CIA mission to buy helicopters in Siberia — another episode of the covert “war on terror” — ended in a federal corruption trial. Sharon WeinbergerThe New York PostAugust 16, 2009
BackstoryPolitics The Backstory: Sarah Blustain During the 2008 presidential campaign, Sen. John McCain projected an image as a maverick, even on the issue of reproductive choice. Sarah Blustain shares how she trekked through the backroads of Arizona in search of his true colors. Jayati VoraAugust 12, 2009
BackstoryBusiness, Environment The Backstory: Anna Lenzer FIJI Water markets itself as hip and green, but Anna Lenzer discovered the popular bottled water depends on environmental plunder and the largesse of a military dictatorship. How she got the story — and got arrested in the process. Alexandra SchwartzAugust 7, 2009
InvestigationBusiness, Politics Obama’s Plan To Help Homeowners Is Struggling Why the Obama administraton’s plan for voluntary assistance to overleveraged homeowners – “all carrot and no stick” — is failing to meet national goals. Zach CarterSalon.comAugust 6, 2009
BackstoryBusiness The Backstory: Dean Starkman Dean Starkman talks about wading through thousands of major articles from The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Week and the rest of the leading financial press to solve the question: did journalists fail to see the financial crisis in the making? Dean Starkman & Jayati VoraJuly 31, 2009
InvestigationEnvironment Eagle Alaska Exacerbated by global warming, Yukon river flooding destroys the historic Alaskan fishing village called Eagle. Ted GenowaysStudio 360 (Public Radio International)July 31, 2009