If you have solid tips, news or documents on potential ethical violations or abuses of power, we want to know. Send us your suggestions. 
Unfortunately I believe that we are limited in what we can focus on. I think that if we proceed with the partisan sideshow of prosecuting Bush admin. officials, healthcare will get lost in the brouhaha.
The Washington Post's permanent investigative unit was set up in 1982 under Bob Woodward.
Archive: November 2007
Coming Soon: Our Next Farm Investigation
What do snowmobile clubs, movie theaters, water parks and alligator hunters have to do with the U.S. Department of Agriculture? They are beneficiaries of a little-known federal program intended to create jobs and encourage development in rural areas. In the next installment of the Harvesting Cash investigation of farm spending,...
By The Editors | November 30, 2007; 4:33 PM ET | Comments (0)
Curtains for 'Cowboy Starter Kits'
The Senate is moving to shut down a loophole, first exposed in The Post's "Harvesting Cash" series, that has allowed some non-farming residents of suburban subdivisions to collect federal farm subsidy payments. The series detailed how new owners of small plots carved out of former rice fields near Houston...
By The Editors | November 29, 2007; 11:57 AM ET | Comments (0)
Update in Schools Theft
The former business manager of a District school for emotionally disturbed elementary students pleaded guilty Wednesday to defrauding the school's chess club. Sandy Jones, 40, told U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts that she had raided the club's account repeatedly for her own benefit: writing unauthorized checks to herself, using...
By The Editors | November 28, 2007; 5:33 PM ET | Comments (1)
Former N.C. Chief Justice Takes on Bullet Case
A North Carolina man convicted of murder based in part on now-discredited FBI testimony is taking his case to the state's Supreme Court, with the help of the former chief justice, I. Beverly Lake Jr. The case of Lee Wayne Hunt was detailed in a joint Washington Post-60 Minutes investigation...
By The Editors | November 28, 2007; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (0)
Drug Testing Lawsuit
A federal court in Nigeria has postponed criminal and civil cases against U.S. drugmaker Pfizer, Reuters reports. The Post's Joe Stephens reported in May that Nigerian authorities had filed legal actions in state and federal courts alleging that Pfizer's clinical trial of an antibiotic known as Trovan led to...
By The Editors | November 27, 2007; 10:29 AM ET | Comments (0)
Investigations Elsewhere
On occasion, this site will point you to interesting investigations published or broadcast by other news organizations. Here are two we've noticed recently, both examples of newspapers making extraordinary efforts to gather information. The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that a handful of leaders in the Seminole Tribe of Florida...
By The Editors | November 26, 2007; 4:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Private Security in Iraq
Post correspondent Steve Fainaru has uncovered another shooting incident by a private security force in Iraq. Fainaru, who has been covering the private armies for more than a year, reports on a shooting in June by guards employed by Unity Resources Group, which resulted in serious injuries to a van...
By The Editors | November 26, 2007; 10:52 AM ET | Comments (1)
Senate Demands FBI Files on Bullet Analysis
Following the joint investigation by The Post and "60 Minutes," the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee demanded today that the Justice Department turn over to Congress all cases involving the use of bullet-lead analysis by the FBI crime lab. In his letter to new Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Sen....
By The Editors | November 21, 2007; 5:44 PM ET | Comments (0)
Exclusive: Jerry Falwell's FBI File
The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, stirred up passions with his attacks on abortion and homosexuality. Now, the FBI's confidential file on Falwell, who died in May at age 73, reveals that he also stirred up death threats -- including one that sent agents scrambling to...
By The Editors | November 21, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (24)
Ruling Could Impede Probes of Congressmen
The Post's Susan Schmidt writes that the Justice Department fears that a little-noticed aspect of a recent appellate court decision could sharply limit investigations of members of Congress and hamper ongoing corruption probes. There are several congressmen under investigation in connection with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and law enforcement...
By The Editors | November 21, 2007; 9:31 AM ET | Comments (0)
How Bob Woodward Chooses Book v. Newspaper
In his online chat today (transcript), Bob Woodward, founder of the Washington Post's investigative unit, discusses how he decides whether to put a revelation into his book or into the newspaper first. Woodward also tells one reader that there will never be a shortage of scandals for investigative reporters to...
By The Editors | November 20, 2007; 1:46 PM ET | Comments (1)
The High Price of Homeland Security
Washington Post financial investigative reporter Robert O'Harrow Jr. has been pursuing waste, fraud and abuse in federal homeland security contracting for nearly three years. His latest story is about problems with the $1.2 billion plan to install radiation-detection machines at the nation's ports and borders. O'Harrow reported on a...
By The Editors | November 20, 2007; 10:02 AM ET | Comments (1)
Solomon: More to Come on 'Silent Injustice'
Reporter John Solomon, who worked with "60 Minutes" on the joint investigation of discredited FBI forensic science, says in his online Q&A today that he is continuing to report on this topic. He tells one reader that the findings of the investigation are especially important in the era of CSI...
By The Editors | November 19, 2007; 12:10 PM ET | Comments (2)
Welcome to Washington Post Investigations
From Watergate to the Abramoff lobbying scandal and the mistreatment of veterans at Walter Reed, The Washington Post has long been committed to investigative journalism. Now we have a home on the Web for the kind of work that holds government, business and other institutions accountable for their actions. The...
By | November 18, 2007; 1:12 AM ET | Comments (0)
Oil and Water
The American Petroleum Institute today rescinded its offer to give the Smithsonian $5 million for a major exhibit hall and Web site on the world's oceans. Two leading members of the Board of Regents, including Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), indicated they would oppose accepting the gift. They said they...
By The Editors | November 16, 2007; 6:54 PM ET | Comments (2)
D.C. Tax Scandal
The growing scandal over the alleged theft of millions of dollars by District tax employees has focused attention on the performance of D.C. Financial Officer Natwar M. Gandhi and his oversight of the city's financial operations. In a 2005 investigation, reporters Dan Keating and David S. Fallis found that city...
By The Editors | November 16, 2007; 1:05 PM ET | Comments (6)
Loudoun County Development
The tug of war between pro-growth and slow-growth factions in Loudoun County didn't end with last week's election. Voters approved a slate of officials who promised to moderate growth in the fast-growing county, but several proposals and thousands of new homes, will come before the outgoing board in the...
By The Editors | November 15, 2007; 1:03 PM ET | Comments (0)
Followup: The Missing Chess Money
Among the examples in our recent investigation of thefts from student funds in the D.C. public schools was the more than $50,000 taken from charitable donations to the student chess club at the Moten school. It was a 2003 column by The Post's Marc Fisher that prompted the donations....
By The Editors | November 13, 2007; 3:18 PM ET | Comments (0)
