Creative Commons/Richie Fingers The largest tech companies in the Bay Area have avoided paying federal taxes on more than $225 billion they have accumulated through foreign subsidiaries, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show. By sheltering their assets overseas, Silicon Valley companies such as Apple, Google, eBay and Hewlett-Packard are able to reduce […]

 The 621st Contingency Response Wing/Flickr An estimated 1 in 4 jobs in San Diego County are tied to the military sector, and $32 billion in defense-related activities is linked to that area alone, more than the entire economic output of Panama.   So what happens if tens of billions of dollars in defense spending is […]

Derek Purdy/Flickr An armored personnel carrier bought by a sheriff’s office in Washington state with anti-terrorism dollars was used to pull over a suspected drunk driver. A $21 fish tank, a hog catcher and a $24,000 “latrine on wheels” were purchased with homeland security funds in Texas. A counter-terrorism summit was held on an island […]

Judge Manuel Real of the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles was appointed to the bench in 1966.Photo by Virginia Lee Hunter A federal judge has issued three key rulings over a four-year period that favored companies in which he owned stock, a California Watch analysis has found. Measures are in place to prevent judges […]

Tracy Gary, one of the original members of the Vanguard collective and an heir to the Pillsbury fortune, said Hari Dillon was responsible for the foundation’s downfall. “But so, too, was the culture that all of us created,” she said.Michael Short/Center for Investigative Reporting The Vanguard Public Foundation was once a social justice leader in […]

selensergen/Shutterstock.com Despite his vast wealth, Sheldon Adelson was not exactly a household name when the Republican presidential primary campaign got under way. But the casino magnate’s multimillion-dollar contributions to a pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC ended that. Adelson’s support was linked to a shared stance with Gingrich as staunch supporters of Israel. Not quite so well […]

Brooks Elliott/Flickr The focus on billionaires’ and corporations’ contributions to super PACs this year has highlighted the impact of the rich and powerful on the presidential campaigns. But an analysis by the Investigative News Network of contributions by wealthy individuals in seven states shows that their giving is greater than any one cause or race reveals – […]

Texting on a smartphoneJhaymesisviphotography/Flickr Women might use emoticons more than men, but men have a broader emoticon vocabulary. That’s what researchers from Rice University are saying in a new study that evaluated the use of emoticons in text messages. “This was a unique study in that we were able to collect data from subjects as […]

Republican presidential candidate Mitt RomneyJim Young/Reuters Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney – and portrayed by President Barack Obama’s supporters as a gang of corporate raiders – has pumped nearly $4.5 million into Democratic campaigns and causes, public records show. A Center for Investigative Reporting analysis of campaign […]