Investigations
Documents first, sources second, and a right of reply for everyone we write about before a story runs.
Every investigation starts the same unglamorous way: a records request. Federal stories usually begin with a Freedom of Information Act request; state and local stories go through the open-records law of whatever state or county holds the documents. Public records are slow — some requests take months to fulfill — but they produce something a source’s memory cannot: a paper trail that does not change under pressure.
Once documents are in hand, we corroborate before we publish. Any disputed fact needs at least two independent sources or a document that confirms it directly. Interviews are recorded with consent and kept on file. Before a story runs, every person or organization named in connection with wrongdoing is contacted for comment and given a real chance to respond — not a token call placed the night before publication.
Spending, procurement, and ethics disclosures across federal agencies and state governments.
Regulatory filings, workplace safety records, and how companies describe themselves versus what their own records show.
Inspection reports, environmental monitoring data, and how agencies respond when they find a problem.
Complaint databases, licensing records, and the gap between marketing claims and enforcement history.
In late 2024, an Epoch Signal review of maintenance logs tied to a $40 million annual transit-maintenance contract at a mid-sized regional transit agency found that nearly a third of the agency’s bus fleet had gone months past scheduled brake inspections, despite public safety reports stating full compliance. The story took eleven weeks of records requests and cross-checking maintenance logs against the agency’s own inspection calendar. After publication, the agency’s board ordered an outside audit and released a revised inspection schedule within a month.
An investigation does not end at publication. We track what happens next — a hearing, a policy change, a resignation, or sometimes nothing at all — and when there is a meaningful update, we publish it as a follow-up rather than letting the original story stand as the last word. If a subject of a story later provides new information that changes the picture, we report that too.
If you have documents or firsthand knowledge relevant to a story, we take source protection seriously. Reporters can discuss options for keeping a source’s identity confidential before you send anything, and we do not publish a source’s name or identifying details without clear, explicit agreement.
Ask a reporter about secure delivery options before sending anything over email.
