New Urgency Targets Mystery Kidney Disease in Central America
By Sasha Chavkin Center for Public Integrity – April 29, 2013 SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Bringing new urgency to a mysterious kidney disease afflicting the region’s agricultural laborers, Central America’s health ministries signed a declaration Friday citing the ailment as a top public health priority and committing to a series of steps to combat...
Mystery in the Fields Wins Public Service Award
By the Center for Public Integrity, published April 23, 2013 The Center for Public Integrity won three 1st Place honors in the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Awards, the Society of Professional Journalists announced Tuesday, with journalists recognized for investigations into a mysterious kidney disease, the shadowy trade in human body parts, and threats to blue...
“STOCK Fraud?” cited on The Daily Show
By Sasha Chavkin – April 23, 2013 Watch Jon Stewart citing Sasha’s story on the STOCK Act On April 23, Jon Stewart cited Sasha’s story on Congress’ flimsy rationale for rolling back the STOCK Act ethics reform law. The reference is at the end of clip above.
STOCK Fraud?
By Sasha Chavkin Columbia Journalism Review – April 17, 2013 On Monday, President Obama quietly signed a bill repealing the major provisions of the much-touted ethics law known as the STOCK Act. Passed in 2012 after a 60 Minutes report on insider trading practices in Congress, the STOCK Act banned members of Congress and senior...
Island of the Widows Named One of “100 Great Stories” For Columbia Journalism School Centennial
Published by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, April 1, 2013 SELECTION PROCESS We compiled this collection by culling the school’s archives, researching the recipients of a wide array of journalism prizes, consulting with colleagues and scouring some of the best journalism ever produced. In fall 2011, we enlisted our faculty and a group of...
Immigration Reform and Private Prison Cash
By Sasha Chavkin Published by the Columbia Journalism Review, February 20, 2013 As immigration reform picks up steam in Congress, conventional wisdom holds that a handful of key players are shaping the legislation. Labor unions. Big business. Advocacy groups for and against a path to citizenship for the undocumented. But little scrutiny has been directed...
State Registries Saved Lives During Sandy, But Not in NYC
By Sasha Chavkin Published by WNYC and The New York World, January 16, 2013 Listen to Sasha Chavkin on WNYC’s Morning Edition In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a registry that would allow disaster responders to know where to find people most urgently in need of aid. But he does not appear...
Snow Job?
By Sasha Chavkin Published by the Columbia Journalism Review, January/February 2012 issue Side by side, the two cartoon figures stride across the screen, their stick arms wrapped around massive boxes of gifts. Mischievous music tinkles in the background and a bemused narrator—his words punctuated by comic sound effects—tells a tale of petty corruption by Colorado...
NYC Lags in Granting Relief to Some Illegal Immigrants
By Sasha Chavkin Aired on WNYC, November 26, 2012 Listen to Sasha Chavkin on WNYC’s Morning Edition Benito rarely emerges from the sushi bar where he works preparing fish and meat, and making deliveries on a small white motorbike, before the middle of the night. He considers ten, eleven or even twelve hours of work...
Education Department Adopts Crucial Reform for Disabled Borrowers
By Sasha Chavkin Published by ProPublica and the Chronicle of Higher Education, November 15, 2012 The Education Department enacted a crucial reform on behalf of borrowers who become disabled, issuing new rules earlier this month that make it easier for these borrowers to get their federal student loans forgiven. The rules, which the department has...
Sasha Chavkin Talks to NBC About Mystery Kidney Disease
By the Center for Public Integrity, published October 15, 2012 Watch Sasha Chavkin speaking to NBC News, October 15 NBCnews.com interviewed journalist Sasha Chavkin about a mysterious kidney disease that’s killing rural workers in Nicarauga. Chavkin traveled to Central America, India and Sri Lanka to write about the condition, those suffering from it and the...
Mystery in the Fields Wins Sidney Award
By the Sidney Hillman Foundation, published October 10, 2012 The Sidney Hillman Foundation announced today that Sasha Chavkin, Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Ronnie Greene of the Center for Public Integrity have won the October Sidney Award for “Mystery in the Fields,” an international investigation into a mystery kidney disease killing young farm workers in India,...
