Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

1. Sunlight Labs weighs in on Earmark bill

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 25, 2010 2:40 p.m.

   In yesterday’s Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs meeting, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said that portions of the bill were far too complex and were not able to be aggregated.

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2. Levin and Coburn, toe to toe on Earmark Transparency Bill

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 24, 2010 5:49 p.m.

   A Senate committee’s planned markup of an Earmark Transparency Bill was postponed until July after the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs briefly debated the bill this afternoon.

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3. Earmark Transparency Act reaches first Committee

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 24, 2010 11:18 a.m.

   The first Congressional discussion of the Earmark Transparency Act will take place today when the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs debates the bill at a business meeting at 2:30 p.m.

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4. Reporter's Notebook: How we got the latest FTA disappearmark data

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 22, 2010 8:59 a.m.

   When we first reported about how we attempted to track down disappearmarks from the Federal Transit Administration, we recounted the difficulties in getting data in an electronic format. In response to our first Freedom of Information request, we were given a 121-page printout of a database, which in the end didn’t accurately include the information we sought: which SAFETEA-LU earmarks went unspent.

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5. Disappearmarks: Millions in SAFETEA-LU transit earmarks are unspent

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 22, 2010 8:58 a.m.

   A sketch of what Rochester's Renaissance Square bus terminal would have looked like.

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6. Barton plans Florida Keys fundraiser; Apologizes to BP

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 17, 2010 1:45 p.m.
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7. Matching bundlers to fundraisers

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 3, 2010 11:29 a.m.

   Here at the Reporting Group, we’ve always wanted to tie the fundraising invitations in our Party Time database to actual donations reported to the Federal Election Commission by a politician or a political action committee--to be able to show a donor gave money to a politician at a certain event.

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8. Disappearmarks: Buffalo’s Switcheroo saves earmark

   By Lisa Chiu Jun 1, 2010 2:27 p.m.

   Congressman Brian Higgins (right) breaks ground with Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown on historic streets in the Buffalo Inner Harbor in September 2009. (Photo: http://www.buffalowaterfront.com)

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9. Search new Subsidyscope database on federal aid to nonprofits

   By Lisa Chiu May 27, 2010 2:22 p.m.

   Subsidyscope nonprofit funding map.

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10. Case study in trying to analyze earmark data

    By Lisa Chiu May 4, 2010 12:25 p.m.

    Each year, Congress allocates billions in earmarks that come in the form of annual appropriation committee requests or are attached to various bills that become law. The Sunlight Foundation thought it would be interesting to examine which earmarks, after all the Congressional debate and bluster has dispensed, actually get spent.

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11. From earmark to disappearmark: Bush administration policy shift cut funding for congressional projects

    By Lisa Chiu May 4, 2010 12:24 p.m.

    Rep. David Price, D-N.C.

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12. Illegal immigrant stats available, but yet to appear on Data.gov

    By Lisa Chiu Apr 27, 2010 1:59 p.m.

    According to Department of Homeland Security statistics, there were an estimated 460,000 unauthorized immigrants in Arizona in January 2009. That statistic, making Arizona the state with the seventh largest illegal immigrant population, was often cited last week, as Gov. Jan Brewer signed the nation’s toughest law on illegal immigration.

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13. Financial reform lobbyists host fundraisers for senators

    By Lisa Chiu and Elham Khatami Apr 22, 2010 2:47 p.m.
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14. OGD: Food access mapping tool provides more than just its title

    By Lisa Chiu Apr 13, 2010 10:39 a.m.

    As part of the First Lady’s campaign to combat childhood obesity, the Department of Agriculture in February launched the Your Food Environment Atlas – an online mapping tool of the nation’s access to food at the county level.

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Investigations by Sunlight Foundation reporter Lisa Chiu