Once again, here’s a glimpse at some of our colleagues’ work that we admired this week.

Reporter Clive Goodman and investigator Glenn Mulcaire of News of the World, a British tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch, have pleaded guilty to hacking into the cell phones of members of England’s royal family, the New York Times reported. And now, lawsuits allege that even more celebrities may have been victimized. The story noted: :A dozen former reporters said in interviews that hacking was pervasive at News of the World. ‘Everyone knew,’ one longtime reporter said. ‘The office cat knew.’”

Americans are worried about the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, but 80 percent of the seafood eaten in the United States is imported. In the few inspections made by the Food and Drug Administration, inspectors find filth, antibiotics, chemicals and pathogens, reports Andrew Schneider. Just looking at shrimp as an example, improperly run foreign shrimp farms pack their ponds to raise more shrimp per acre. The overcrowding breeds dangerous waste and disease. Some producers use quantities of antibiotics, disinfectants and pesticides that would be illegal in the United States.

While researching the increase in the attention paid to cold cases in the San Diego area, a reporter with the VoiceofSanDiego.org noticed that murders get solved at a significantly different rate in the area depending on which department investigated. While the city of San Diego solved around three out of four murders, two jurisdictions in the county have solved less than half of the murders that occured over the last decade.

Officials with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have warned residents of Pavillion, Wy., not to drink the water and to ventilate while using water to bath or wash to avoid explosions, Propublica.org reported. Pavillion is the site of significant drilling for natural gas. The agency’s testing found “benzene, metals, naphthalene, phenols and methane in wells and in groundwater,” although officials said it was too soon to tell whether the contamination came from the gas drilling.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 10:20 am and is filed under Other media reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.