A ProPublica editor who investigated how the rich buy their children’s way into elite colleges reflects on the latest scandal—and remembers when affluent readers mistook his expose for a “how-to” guide.

Most tycoons give big to one or two universities as their children approach college age. David Shaw gave to seven.

One teammate made tennis his whole life. The other had a grandfather whose company invented Hot Pockets. Guess which one went to Georgetown as a Division I recruit.

Family courts are increasingly using programs like Turning Points for Families to treat the disputed psychological theory of parental alienation. But little is publicly known about the programs’ controversial methods.

An expert used California regulators’ methodology to estimate the cost of cleaning up the state’s onshore oil and gas industry. The study found that cleanup costs will be triple the industry’s projected profits.

State lawmakers passed a bill requiring courts to report involuntary mental health hospitalizations of juveniles for inclusion in the federal gun background check system. The law closes a gap revealed by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune in 2022.

In the wake of ProPublica’s reporting on the misleading tactics of the major tax-prep companies, Congress asked the IRS to examine whether it could offer free filing directly with the tax agency. A new pilot program will test the concept.

The NAACP successfully challenged the state’s new congressional maps as racially motivated. Republicans argued that they fielded requests from the powerful Black Democrat before redrawing district lines.

Cash home buyers like the “We Buy Ugly Houses” company may offer a quick and convenient sale to homeowners. Here’s what experts say you should know about interacting with these companies.

The probes follow an investigation by ProPublica and The Capitol Forum that Cigna allows its doctors to reject hundreds of thousands of claims a month.

The Minnesota Nursing Board is weighing terminating Executive Director Kimberly Miller, who has been criticized for a growing backlog of complaints against nurses.

West Texas voters rejected three conservative Christian candidates who sought to infuse religious values into local politics. But the campaign support the candidates received from local churches has prompted calls for state and federal probes.

The state will develop building standards for homes in high-risk areas after ProPublica’s reporting showed previous efforts to require fire-resistant housing materials had been repeatedly stymied by developers and municipalities.

ProPublica found that HomeVestors franchises often target the homes of people in vulnerable or desperate situations. These are the stories of five people who found themselves in unwanted deals with a cash home buyer.

Beers family members built a “conglomerate” by selling a Christian alternative to traditional health insurance. They’re now scrambling for cash, even though they received millions in PPP loans that were later forgiven.

Eighteen months after the deadly shooting at Oxford High School, parents want answers from the district. The mistrust sowed in the community by the delays reflects failures across the country to methodically investigate these tragedies.

College students arrested. A parking lot altercation. A retired teacher waking up to a broken window. Events at a school district in Conway, Arkansas, illustrate the alarming trend of unrest at school board meetings across the country.