StateImpact reporters in eight states produce radio reports, digital news reports and interactive multimedia presentations. Each state focuses on one of three topics:
- Education: Florida, Indiana, Ohio
- Energy: Pennsylvania, Texas
- Economy: Idaho, New Hampshire, Oklahoma
If you want to know what we cover and why, dive into the stories below:
Education
Florida
How Florida Schools Are Coping With Budget Cuts
Budget cuts are ultimately about people, and StateImpact’s focus on numbers is about people, too. Here, our reporters examine how $2.1 billion in cuts to state education funding are trickling down to students, teachers and property-tax payers.
How 20 Minutes With a Principal Determines 12 Months of Teacher Pay
“Performance pay” and “teacher accountability” are two big buzzwords in education today. Here, our reporters explain what those concepts mean and how they work in practice for teachers and administrators.
Why Florida Schools Want The Right To Paddle Misbehaving Students
StateImpact is about policy, but that doesn’t mean it’s all about budgets and tax rates. Sometimes policy can be as personally relevant as whether your state allows schools to paddle students without parents’ permission.
- No Choice: Florida Charter Schools Failing to Serve Students with DisabilitiesAccountability reporting is core to our mission. This investigative piece was nominated for numerous journalism awards.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Florida.
Indiana
Has The Community School Model Failed Indianapolis?
StateImpact’s best work combines audio with great photos and insightful analysis. This story looks at the term “failing school” through the perspective of one school that received this label based on state rules.
The Rise and Fall of Franklin Township Busing Fees
When we cover an ongoing news story, we aim to put the news in context. This coverage of a cash-strapped school district’s experiment with charging students to ride school buses won a national award from PRNDI for continuing coverage of an ongoing issue.
Indiana Vouchers Cover Students Whose Parents Could Pay On Their Own
As part of our focus on accountability, reporters often scrutinize how taxpayer money is being used in a time of tight state budgets.
- How YouTube Is Changing The ClassroomThis explanatory look at the use of classroom technology won a national award from PRNDI, the association of public radio news directors.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Indiana.
Ohio
Locked Away: How Ohio Schools Misuse Seclusion Rooms
This StateImpact collaboration with the Columbus Dispatch used public records requests to expose how schools use and misuse rooms for isolating students who behave badly. The story was picked up by the Associated Press and outlets around the country. It also inspired an editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
A Guide to Ohio’s Issue 2
StateImpact’s broadcast and digital coverage of the restrictions on teachers and other public unionized workers enacted by the Ohio Legislature — and subsequently repealed by voters – won multiple awards from the Cleveland Press Club.
Meet Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s Chosen Teacher
Our reporters use social media not just as a distribution tool but also as a reporting tool, as seen in this profile of a governor’s liaison to the state’s teachers.
- Teachers Caught in the Middle of Issue 2 CampaignsDuring election season, we explain the impact of state policy choices before voters.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Ohio.
Energy
Pennsylvania
Shale Play: Natural Gas Drilling In Pennsylvania
Before this interactive data presentation went live, it was difficult for Pennsylvania residents to know the exact locations of gas wells near them and whether those wells had violated state regulations. Shale Play is one of the reasons the StateImpact Pennsylvania website won an Edward R. Murrow award.
Dimock: A Town Divided
Understanding the impact of policy on communities yields stories like this one – where friendships have been lost over the effects of natural gas drilling.
Emergency Services Stretched In Pennsylvania’s Top Drilling Counties
Our reporters learn how to acquire and analyze data, like these call logs showing a spike in 911 calls.
- Methane Making An Appearance in Pennsylvania Water SuppliesSometimes our journalists repackage their local stories for NPR’s national audience. This story aired on Morning Edition.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Pennsylvania.
Texas
Dried Out: Confronting The Texas Drought
Powerful graphics and images of Texas’ historic drought serve as an introduction to an explanation of some difficult policy choices that Texas will have to make in the future.
Is It Legal To Kill Bigfoot In Texas?
An amusing story gets at a serious problem – invasive species – and how state policy is working to deal with the problem.
Texas’ Lax Pollution Enforcement Leads Harris County to Take Action
StateImpact reporters explore connections between national, state and local policy. In this case, a county steps in to fill gaps that it sees in state enforcement of polluters.
- Burying Toxic Water: Texas Community Keeps on Plugging To Halt ItThis story humanized concerns about wastewater storage – and won a regional Edward R. Murrow award.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Texas.
Economy
Idaho
Was A Small Idaho Sawmill A Smart Way To Spend Stimulus Dollars?
Our reporters ask tough questions about how state officials direct scarce federal resources, and, in this case, how that impacts local industries and workers.
Work In Progress: Tracking Unemployment In Idaho
StateImpact makes it possible for public media even in small states to produce state of the art information graphics.
Companies Receive Idaho Training Grants, But Make No Long-Term Promises
Our data-driven approach to journalism uncovered how a little-known tax credit program was siphoning tax dollars out of state coffers with no accountability and little transparency.
- Some Idaho Farmers Pray, Others Turn On The Water Our reporters find the nuance in stories on their beats, such as this report on how drought conditions have widely varying economic impacts on Idaho’s farmers.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Idaho.
New Hampshire
Getting By, Getting Ahead, Voices of the New Hampshire Economy
StateImpact is committed to exploring new ways to present audio in different media. This interactive presentation tells the stories of seven people in seven parts of the state, but lets the user decide who and what to listen to.
The States With The Best And Worst Wage Laws For Home Health Workers
By training reporters on how to obtain, analyze and visualize government data and research, we are making government more transparent and accessible.
Is New Hampshire Really As Anti-Tax As It’s Cracked Up To Be?
Comparing popular narratives to the hard facts of state policy is another way StateImpact reporters make stories come alive.
- Getting By, Getting Ahead: Merrimack Valley Teacher Wrestles With Life After LayoffProbing the very real impacts of budget cuts on individuals and communities is an important part of our mission.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact New Hampshire.
Oklahoma
Mapping Poverty in Oklahoma
The StateImpact team at NPR built a digital publishing platform (a customized version of WordPress) that includes features to let reporters embed their own maps and data posts into their daily reports by themselves. StateImpact journalists often hear from reporters at national news organizations that they wish they had similar tools.
Declassified: Chesapeake Wants ‘Relief’ from an Oklahoma Law It Helped Write
Sometimes, reporting on the impact of state policy requires looking at the influencers of state policy, as StateImpact did here.
Three Reasons Oklahoma’s Income Tax Cut Plan Failed
StateImpact sites are known for their clear, explanatory journalism, like this piece, breaking down the failed–and much anticipated–effort to cut state income taxes.
- Hard Times Familiar in Okfuskee County, Okla.Reporters travel their states to capture the stories of people who aren’t often heard about on the radio or on the web.Download
Read the latest news from StateImpact Oklahoma.