Fund for Investigative Journalism FIJ

As part of ongoing reporting about the justice system in rural areas, and with support from the Fund, Oklahoma Watch spent a year investigating a car crash involving a drug task force officer and a family of Guatemalan immigrants. Oklahoma Watch sued to obtain evidence that the officer sped through a stop sign without braking before the cars collided.

The City Reporter, with support from the Fund, found that 93% of street arrests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the New York area targeted Latino people. ICE has not released any data on who they have arrested since October 15, 2025, so the City Reporter compiled its own database, using habeas corpus petitions filed on behalf of immigrants in New York and New Jersey. This database includes more than 1,200 court cases (and counting).

When two farmers in a small town in Ohio were concerned about construction of a huge new corporate plant in their community, they gathered enough signatures to put the zoning changes up for a public vote. But, twice, state officials blocked the project from going on the ballot.

With support from the Fund, Amy Martyn dug into a murder case in San Francisco that’s part of a pattern of more than 100 cases in the city where people spend years in jail awaiting trial on serious charges. Brothers Kenyon and Kishawn Norbert spent more than seven years in jail awaiting trial. Martyn reported that officials did not gather more evidence against them during those years, and the case was shaky.

A grand jury in Hawaii indicted the state’s Lieutenant Governor and four other key officials and power brokers for bribery, conspiracy and other charges last Friday, after Honolulu Civil Beat, with support from the Fund, uncovered evidence that the FBI recorded a lawmaker being given $35,000 several years ago. Civil Beat subsequently uncovered that a bribe may have been linked to a complex scheme involving COVID relief funds.

Medetomidine, a powerful tranquilizer that started to spread as an adulterant in the illicit opioid supply two years ago, causes excruciating, complicated withdrawal symptoms, often within hours of someone’s last dose. With support from the Fund, Hannah Harris Green reported for STAT that many institutions – particularly jails and prisons – are ill-prepared to treat the withdrawal effects of this new drug.

The U.S. Department of Education issued a nationwide directive to states and school districts to scrutinize their laws and regulations to prevent teachers who have engaged in sexual misconduct with students from obtaining new positions elsewhere.

PBS Frontline and Retro Report investigated how so-called baby brokers have targeted pregnant women and families looking to adopt.

San Francisco’s city government announced last week that it will not renew $39 million in contracts to HomeRise, one of the city’s biggest providers of housing to formerly homeless people. Earlier, the CEO of HomeRise resigned after reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle and the UC Berkeley Investigative Reporting Program, with support from the Fund, exposed deadly neglect in its buildings, drastic understaffing and alleged sexual abuse of residents.

The Fund for Investigative Journalism is now accepting applications for Alicia Patterson Fellowships, which pay $40,000 for 12 months of in-depth reporting or $20,000 for six months. Proposals are due by October 1 for fellowships to begin in January 2027. The Fund will host a webinar on Aug. 12 at noon Eastern to provide information on how to apply, with concrete tips on how to craft a winning proposal.