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APM Reports
@apmreports.org
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Investigations and documentaries from American Public Media.

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A company allegedly used to launder money stolen from the government in the Feeding Our Future fraud case owns at least five houses where taxpayer-funded group homes operate. Those group home businesses have collected millions of dollars from the government.
Feeding Our Future defendant connected to taxpayer-funded group homes in Twin Cities
A company allegedly used to launder money stolen from the government in the Feeding Our Future fraud case owns five houses where taxpayer-funded group homes operate. Those group homes have collected m...
www.mprnews.org
December 30, 2025 at 12:35 PM
apmreports.org
A New Yorker article that says, in part: "Calkins eventually added phonics to Units of Study, partly in response to Hanford’s reporting. Nevertheless, in 2023, New York City began phasing out the curriculum, which it had used for years. The city recently released test results showing that the number of students meeting the bar for proficiency has risen by seven percentage points. (Columbia’s Teachers College moved away from Units of Study, too.) "Anne Wicks, an education and economics specialist at the George W. Bush Presidential Center, told me that Hanford’s podcast helped transform what had been a relatively obscure academic debate into an approachable subject for laypeople."
December 29, 2025 at 11:17 PM
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In Season 1, the Sold a Story podcast dispelled one of the big myths about learning to read: that schools didn't need to teach kids how to sound out letters.

Host Emily Hanford says new myths are popping up to take its place. Catch up at soldastory.org.
December 12, 2025 at 5:19 PM
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Early in her teaching career, Margaret Goldberg was skeptical of the science of reading. Today, she is working with neuroscientist Reid Lyon to bring it into more classrooms. Lyon and Goldberg joined host Emily Hanford for a live conversation.

New in the Sold a Story podcast feed today.
Emily Hanford LIVE from Planet Word with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg
www.apmreports.org
December 9, 2025 at 5:46 PM
apmreports.org
Politically prominent Nevada GOP activist and donor Robert Beadles has taken credit for hiring a private investigator who tracked Reno's mayor 3 years ago, ending a yearslong legal saga to unmask him as the client despite his attempts to remain anonymous.

By @tabithamueller.bsky.social:
Robert Beadles confirms he hired private investigator who tracked Reno mayor
The GOP activist, who has touted election fraud conspiracies, came forward after trying for years to remain anonymous. The U.S. Supreme Court declined his case.
www.apmreports.org
November 5, 2025 at 4:57 PM
apmreports.org
The Deputy Managing Editor (DME) guides the APM Reports team within MPR News. This is a national award-winning, ambitious, enterprising unit of investigative and documentary reporters, producers, and editors. The DME is responsible for the team’s complex and consequential works of original revelatory journalism on all channels. We are looking for an experienced investigative editor committed to creating essential and engaging journalism that serves the public interest. The editor will be an inspiring and insightful leader and mentor, upholding standards of journalism excellence, and setting the team’s vision in collaboration with their supervisor. Exceptional communication, expertise in investigative and data reporting, as well as partnership development are all critical for the candidate’s success. The DME will be responsible for working with each team member to set their coverage plans, goals, and deliverables. In addition, this role works to foster a collaborative team culture within MPR News, as APM Reports leads enterprise and investigative reporting across Minnesota, the region, and the nation. The editor will be in charge of juggling stories in various stages of completion, from long-term investigations to quick-breaking scoops often requiring close coordination with various stakeholders, teams, and departments, with air-tight attention to detail and accuracy in every story. The DME will work directly with other news and community partners on local investigative journalism projects and may be required to assist in grant reporting, monitoring, and foundation relations. Currently APM Reports continues its extraordinary education reporting, soldastory.org, and is focusing on mental health, as well as leading enterprise work of relevance in Minnesota and the upper Midwest region.
October 22, 2025 at 10:16 PM
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This job will be the boss of everyone here at APM Reports.

Please apply: recruiting2.ultipro.com/AME1098APMG/...
APM Reports strives to raise awareness, trigger debate and prompt positive change via non-partisan, independent investigative and documentary journalism. We are located in St. Paul, Minnesota, as part of American Public Media and Minnesota Public Radio.
October 20, 2025 at 8:30 PM
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Teachers, parents and community members: We've added new discussion guides to help you talk about the podcast Sold a Story: soldastory.org/discuss
October 17, 2025 at 8:20 PM
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By our @carmela.bsky.social. More at soldastory.org.
npr.org NPR @npr.org · Oct 7
The federal government has long surveyed high schoolers to help track how their academic choices may have influenced the course of their lives. The Trump administration put an end to that effort.
The government has long researched high school experiences. Then DOGE cut the effort
The federal government has long surveyed high schoolers to help track how their academic choices may have influenced the course of their lives. The Trump administration put an end to that effort.
n.pr
October 7, 2025 at 3:55 PM
apmreports.org
In the past three years, 26 states have enacted laws to better align reading instruction with scientific research.

We updated our map to include Missouri.

More: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...
A map of the United States shows states that have enacted laws in the past three years. They are colored three shades of blue to represent the year of the legislation.
August 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM
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Trump put an end to that effort as part of his quest to dissolve the Department of Education.

Story by @carmela.bsky.social:
A window into America’s high schools slams shut
For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so research...
www.apmreports.org
August 29, 2025 at 2:38 PM
apmreports.org
For decades, the federal government has surveyed high school students — and repeatedly followed up with them as adults. The goal was to gather data on their educational choices and careers so researchers could draw connections between them.
August 29, 2025 at 2:38 PM
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But most of the Institute of Education Science’s work has been stopped. Seventy-eight contracts haven’t come back.
A treemap identifies terminated contracts. They are sized by dollar value and shaded colors based on whether they have been reinstated.
August 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Its lawyers said it was evaluating 16 other contracts to possibly be reinstated, potentially after adjusting the scope and seeking bids from additional vendors.
August 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
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Beginning in February, Trump cut at least 106 contracts that funded education research, federal program evaluations, data collection and related priorities. In response to a lawsuit, the administration reinstated 12 contracts, including the experiment on the early warning system for reading.
August 27, 2025 at 7:24 PM
apmreports.org
The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administration agreed to finish the research only after it was sued.
Lawsuit saves massive reading experiment
The Trump administration tried to kill the largest reading experiment ever funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s research arm — just months before the yearslong study was complete. The administ...
www.apmreports.org
August 27, 2025 at 5:25 PM
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Episode 14: The Cuts

Listen at soldastory.org.
August 26, 2025 at 7:05 PM
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Into that regulatory void has stepped Andrew Whelton, an engineering professor at Purdue University who has made it his personal mission to help water utilities recover after devastating fires.

Story by @jenpenned.bsky.social: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...
When wildfires compromise drinking water, utilities lean on this professor’s advice
In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals which federally mandated testing is not designed...
www.apmreports.org
August 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
apmreports.org
In 2017, the Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa, California, exposed a new threat to public health: Wildfires can contaminate drinking water with toxic chemicals that federally mandated testing is not designed to catch.
August 26, 2025 at 4:02 PM
apmreports.org
The board canceled more than a dozen tests when it revised the NAEP schedule in April. This annotated version of the previous schedule, adopted in 2023, shows which tests were canceled. Topics annotated with a red star are no longer scheduled for revision.
A screenshot from a document showed scheduled NAEP tests. With red Xes and slash lines, canceled tests have been noted.
August 25, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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The tests regularly measure what students across the country know in reading, math and other subjects. They allow the government to track how well America’s students are learning. Researchers can also combine the national data with the results of tests administered by states to draw comparisons.
August 25, 2025 at 8:56 PM
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Among staff cast aside by DOGE were those who worked on the National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the Nation’s Report Card. The assessment is a series of tests administered nearly every year to a national sample of more than 10,000 students in grades 4, 8 and 12.
August 25, 2025 at 8:55 PM
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NAEP is one of the few education initiatives Trump has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed staff responsible for keeping tests up to date. And the board overseeing the assessment has eliminated more than a dozen tests, citing “cost efficiencies.”

www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...
‘At what point does it break?’ Nation’s Report Card at risk, researchers say
The National Assessment of Educational Progress is one of the few federal education initiatives that the Trump Administration has vowed to preserve. But the administration has slashed the staff respon...
www.apmreports.org
August 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
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New episode of Sold a Story.

𝟭𝟰: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝘂𝘁𝘀
The Trump administration is slashing government funding for science and dismantling the Dept of Ed. We look at what the cuts mean for the science of reading — and the effort to get that science into schools.

Listen: www.apmreports.org/episode/2025...
An illustration depicts workers leaving the Department of Education after losing their jobs.
August 21, 2025 at 5:55 PM
apmreports.org
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades.

Read: www.apmreports.org/story/2025/0...
Overdose deaths disproportionately impact older Black men. Few programs in Minnesota exist to support them
Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl have accelerated overdoses for Black men ages 55 to 74, who have suffered disproportionately for decades. One Ramsey County nonprofit is working to fill the gap.
www.apmreports.org
August 18, 2025 at 2:34 PM