IowaWatch (https://caucus.iowawatch.org/tag/investigative-reporting/)
Two reporting interns will spend 10 weeks of their summer with the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism – IowaWatch. Olivia Allen and Maria Kuiper will focus on specific topics for the summer. Kuiper begins May 24 and Allen follows on June 1. Maria Kuiper
Kuiper is a 2021 University of Iowa graduate. She studied journalism with a minor in Arabic and a certificate in human rights.
Several front-line state workers at the Glenwood Resource Center, a state-run institution in Glenwood, Iowa, that cares for severely disabled patients, have raised concerns about the quality of care there after a slew of patient deaths earlier this year, an in-depth report by Des Moines Register Tony Leys revealed. Fourteen Glenwood residents had died at Glenwood between June of 2018 and April of 2019 when the article was published, which staff members say far exceeds normal death rates at the facility. Staff members at the facility got in touch with Leys, who covers healthcare for The Register, “only after complaints raised internally had no effect,” Leys wrote. Current and former staff members expressed concern to Leys that the quality of care at Glenwood had diminished following administrative changes and the unexplained firing of a longtime doctor at the institution. Using Iowa’s Open Records Law, Leys was able to read the resignation letter of a physician who resigned from Glenwood and talk with a former Glenwood pharmacist who left that position because of conditions at the facility.
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, or IowaWatch, has hired Suzanne Behnke to be its new executive director. Behnke, who starts in August, succeeds Lyle Muller, who will retire in September after leading IowaWatch since 2012. “Journalism and its future are my professional passions, and IowaWatch will allow me to work in both areas,” Behnke said. “There’s tremendous potential for IowaWatch to grow in depth and breadth so it can serve readers for years to come.”
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Behnke comes to IowaWatch from the Des Moines Business Record, where she has been an editor and contributor since May 2017. She also is a journalism and communications instructor at Simpson College in Indianola.
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism started its 10th year of operation after hitting its ninth anniversary on February 4, 2019. Here are some fast facts about the center.
Thanks to 123 generous donors The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, which runs the IowaWatch.org news effort, raised $29,023 in its end-of-the-year NewsMatch fund drive.
There’s an old expression that officials of Indian Hills Community College obviously have not heard about — or have chosen to ignore. The expression is simple: If you find yourself in a hole, stop shoveling. But the school continues to shovel — digging itself ever deeper into legal trouble and into a public relations quagmire. Randy Evans
STRAY THOUGHTS
Randy Evans is the executive director of the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. He is a former editorial page editor and assistant managing editor of The Des Moines Register.
The weekly public affairs program, Ethical Perspectives on the News, dug into how the news media function in American society, particularly in this era when reporters are under heavy criticism for the work they do, and how they do it.
In an IowaWatch interview, Des Moines Register investigative reporter Clark Kauffman talks about uncovering an Iowa judge’s willingness to let attorneys write rulings in cases they tried before him, plus Kauffman’s process while writing this article and other stories he has uncovered in his career with The Register.
Thanks to 179 generous donors The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism – Iowa Watch was able to raise $21,214 during its end-of-year News Match fund drive. Of that total, $19,021 was matched by the Fund for Nonprofit News at The Miami Foundation. The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Democracy Fund, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation provided funds for the News Match drive for Institute for Nonprofit News members. IowaWatch is a member of the Institute for Nonprofit News, a consortium of nonprofit news organizations in the United States that, for this drive, provided fund-raising training and support. [Ed note: This paragraph was updated March 13, 2018, to reflect IowaWatch’s receipt of the News Match funds.]
The grant will be used to fund news reporting.
Iowans with mental illness are being stranded at hospitals for months after being cleared to for release, according to a recent Des Moines Register report. In an IowaWatch interview, Register reporter Tony Leys said he heard a comment that led to this story during his coverage of other health care issues.