This 1998 piece was one of many stories that another reporter and I produced as part of a two-year series of articles investigating alleged corruption by former L.A. Councilman Richard Alatorre. We reported how he engaged in alleged bank fraud, showed up with wads of $100 bills after meeting with businessmen in his district and, in this piece, how he used cocaine with a contractor he supported for taxpayer-funded work. Alatorre later tested positive for cocaine in an unrelated child-custody case and was convicted in federal court for failing to declare income. The federal probe was sparked by our stories.

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This 2007 investigation examined breakdowns in oversight of paramedics and emergency medical technicians in California’s huge emergency medical network. We built a database with every paramedic discipline case recorded by the state agency charged with regulating the rescuers. We also built a similar database of people licensed as emergency medical technicians by county authorities and uncovered the same types of oversight problems. Our findings were acknowledged by state and local medical officials and helped prompt changes in the system.
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