ProPublica

Study: Docs Who Get Company Cash Prescribe More Brand-Name Meds

The more money doctors receive from drug and medical device companies, the more brand-name drugs they tend to prescribe, a new ProPublica analysis shows. Even a meal can make a difference.

ProPublica
By ProPublica
Prescription drugs line a cabinet in this March 25, 2011 photo. (Photo by Eric Hunsaker via Flikr)

Doctors have long disputed that the payments they receive from pharmaceutical companies have any relationship to how they prescribe drugs. There’s been little evidence to settle the matter — until now. A ProPublica analysis has found for the first time that doctors who receive payments from the medical industry do indeed tend to prescribe

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5 Things You Should Know About the FCC’s Proposed Privacy Rules

It stops Verizon’s zombie cookie in its tracks, but allows AT&T to keep charging customers extra if they want privacy.

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By ProPublica
A man looks at his cell phone as he walks on the street.

Last week, the Federal Communications Commission proposed new privacy rules for Internet providers. The proposal was immediately praised by privacy advocates as “a major step forward” and lambasted by AT&T as an effort to place a “thumb on the scale in favor of Internet companies.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler stopped by our offices to explain

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Internal Memos Show Conservative Effort To Hide Campaign Donors

In internal memos, groups opposing tighter state campaign finance rules coach their local supporters on how to battle disclosure of political donors.

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By ProPublica
money_in_politics

How do you stop states and cities from forcing more disclosure of so-called dark money in politics? Get the debate to focus on an "average Joe," not a wealthy person. Find examples of "inconsequential donation amounts." Point out that naming donors would be a threat to "innocents," including their children, families and co-workers. And never

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Rocky Mountain High Or Reefer Madness? Legal Pot In Colorado Comes With Risks

A reporter returns to his hometown and confronts the new reality of legalized marijuana.

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By ProPublica

I walked through clouds of marijuana smoke Friday night to get to the Denver Nuggets basketball game. The sweet smell lingering in the air reminded me less of a family event and more of the time I saw AC/DC on "The Razor's Edge" tour at the old McNichols Sports Arena. I grew up in Colorado, but it's been a while since I lived in the state. When

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Catholic Hospitals Grow, And With Them Questions Of Care

A wave of mergers and alliances between Catholic hospital chains and secular, taxpayer-supported community hospitals have taken trend in Washington

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By ProPublica

Oct. 17: This story has been corrected Over the past few years, Washington state’s liberal voters have been on quite a roll. Same-sex marriage? Approved. Assisted suicide? Check. Legalized pot? That too. Strong abortion protections? Those have been in place for decades. Now, though, the state finds itself in the middle of a trend that hardly

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Do These Chemicals Make Me Look Fat?

An international team of scientists published findings in 2010 that two dozen animal populations have been rapidly packing on the pounds in recent decades.

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By ProPublica

  Everyone knows Americans are fat and getting fatter, and everyone thinks they know why: more eating and less moving. But the “big two” factors may not be the whole story. Consider this: Animals have been getting fatter too. The National Pet Obesity Survey recently reported that more than 50 percent of cats and dogs — that’s more than

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How A Telecom Helped The Government Spy On Me

Telephone records of a former New York Times reporter and others were obtained by federal agents assigned to investigate a leak of classified information.

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By ProPublica
google tracking

    By Raymond Bonner, a lawyer and former New York Times reporter, and the author of "Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong." Over the past several months, the Obama Administration has defended the government’s far-reaching data collection efforts, arguing that only criminals and terrorists need worry. The nation’s

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