for finding that an unusual spike in worldwide Facebook “likes” for the Los Angeles bid for the 2024 Olympics came from places like Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. https://yhoo.it/2otCxe4
for confirming a source’s tip that after several attacks involving suspects known to the FBI, the bureau is reviewing the handling of tens of thousands of terrorism tips. http://apne.ws/2opAje5
for a multiformat story establishing exclusively that dog attacks on postal workers were at their highest in three decades, in part due to an online sales boom. http://www.sfgate.com/nation/article/
for reporting exclusively that federal inspections of oil train rail lines across the United States have uncovered tens of thousands of safety defects, including ones similar to those blamed in derailments. http://apne.ws/2ozXUuy
for using public records to expose a Tennessee university after they fired a public radio station reporter because they feared the wrath of state lawmakers would affect funding. http://apne.ws/2oR5XkF
What do reporters do when more than 300 war-ravaged miles separate them from an immense story – in this case, the gassing of civilians in Syria, allegedly by their own government? They work the phones, and the apps.
Which is how Beirut reporter Sarah El Deeb came to interview Abdel Hameed Alyousef, who lost his two children, his wife and other relatives in the attack on the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun. And how she persisted in finding ways to bring the family’s story to the world in all formats.
And it is how she won the Beat of the Week.
As domestic production of oil has increased in recent years, Billings, Montana, Correspondent Matthew Brown closely followed derailments of trains carrying volatile crude. A train from North Dakota jumped the track, exploded and killed 47 people in Canada in 2013. In Brown’s own state, a derailment near the town of Culbertson spilled 27,000 gallons of oil in 2015. Last year, Brown reported that more than 800 potential safety violations were discovered on Union Pacific freight lines after a fiery June 2016 oil train derailment in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge.
But Brown wanted to know how widespread the problem really was. By pushing repeatedly for public records and working with a longtime source, Brown was able to exclusively report the results of a two-year federal inspection program for the nation’s oil trains – and he revealed that some safety defects uncovered where similar to ones blamed in derailments that triggered huge fires or oil spills in Oregon, Virginia, Montana and elsewhere. For his AP NewsBreak, Brown wins this week’s Best of the States award.
for a detailed examination of one of Thailand's most notorious criminal cases, revealing that the Red Bull heir accused in a fatal hit-and-run has been living the high life around the world since shortly after the crash four years ago. The story served as fresh evidence for critics of Thailand's court system who say the rich and powerful get their own form of justice. http://apne.ws/2p9EMAM
for using exclusive AP poll data to determine the top college basketball program in history. The team also wrote a detailed advisory and created an advance release plan to raise engagement among college basketball fans and colleges. http://collegebasketball.ap.org/ap-poll-all-time
for the first extensive look into what is going on inside Raqqa ahead of the U.S.-backed assault on the Islamic State group's de facto capital, revealing in particular the extent to which the militants are holding the population hostage. http://apne.ws/2p9m2l0
for using public records in Ohio to resolve questions about the age of actress and singer Doris Day. The entertainer responded to Elber's story by saying, “I’ve always said that age is just a number and I have never paid much attention to birthdays, but it’s great to finally know how old I really am!” http://apne.ws/2nSjAip
for following a tip that revealed the chairwoman of the Iowa Utilities Board was maintaining a profitable legal practice despite a law mandating she devote her "whole time" to state business. http://dmreg.co/2oFnLSh
for obtaining an investigative report and revealing that a stuntman was run over and seriously hurt on the set of the television series “Shooter” because actor Tom Sizemore improvised the scene and started driving an SUV, even though it wasn’t called for in the script or rehearsals. http://apne.ws/2o5pyxp
for following a tip concerning a private contractor fired by the state two years ago for falling well short of revenue targets it promised as part of a privatization of the state's lottery; crunching numbers, she showed the state is paying the contractor millions more now. http://apne.ws/2ncMde0
for an exclusive report about the NHL investing in China and for breaking the news that the U.S. women's hockey team had ended a boycott launched over a wage dispute. http://apne.ws/2nd1wTV
for following up the Trump administration’s actions promoting the coal industry with a reality check story and a quickly turned enterprise piece about what the actions might mean for one coal town. The latter story prompted a tweet from the president. http://apne.ws/2oF2cS5 http://apne.ws/2oDzzVQ
It began as an anniversary story, but one that would break news. With North Carolina’s hotly-contested “bathroom bill,” HB2, in place for nearly a year, AP’s Raleigh bureau was asked by the South Desk to assess the economic impact of the law limiting protections for the LGBT community.
Reporters Jonathan Drew and Emery Dalesio created a spreadsheet tallying the results of their digging, including searches of public records, among them previously unseen state calculations of lost business; they interviewed corporate leaders and state and local officials. And they were able to put a hard minimum figure on huge losses to the state economy even as legislators were negotiating a revision of HB2. “The deal was struck,” The New York Times noted, “days after The Associated Press reported that the backlash against the law would cost North Carolina at least $3.7 billion in business over 12 years.”
The timely exclusive by Drew and Dalesio is the Beat of the Week.
for revealing that the damage claims related to a toxic mine waste spill had been wildly inflated by a small law firm. http://apne.ws/2ncEaxO
The Associated Press has been working for more than a year with a group of media organizations to lobby the federal court system in New Jersey to release pre-sentencing memos in criminal court cases to pull back the veil on what goes into judge’s sentencing decisions.
With two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie convicted in the Bridgegate case set to find out their fates last week, New Jersey law enforcement reporter David Porter was done waiting.
For his work collaborating with AP members in New Jersey to fight for public access to the memos and then being the first to report on them, Porter wins this week’s Best of the States award.
for obtaining exclusive surveillance video of an attack on Paris' Orly airport showing that soldiers were caught off guard. This was no small feat: Surveillance video is almost never available publicly in France, and Hinnant scooped all international and local French media in getting it. http://apne.ws/2nnfaA1