Investigative Reporting Program
Pennsylvania’s fracking boom is hurting its oldest residents
Kate Raphael reports on how fracking effects older adults' health for Grist.
Survivors from California’s Period of Forced Sterilization Denied Reparations
Cayla Mihalovich ('24) reports on why it's so hard for formerly-incarcerated people to receive the promised reparations for forced sterilization in California prisons.
Have this talk with your parents now to reduce heartache later
Leqi Zhong reports on a difficult conversation between older adults and their adult children.
Losing control: When San Jose police confront people in mental health crisis, why do they end up hurting them so often?
Through the California Reporting Project, IRP students found that a staggering number of people hurt or killed by San Jose Police are mentally ill or intoxicated.
Lack of transportation strands seniors in rural Kansas, a worsening problem as the country ages
Andrew Lopez ('23) reports on how lack of transportation presents a challenge for older adults who want to age in their rural communities.
1970s-era ‘back-to-the-landers’ now aging in place together
Ruth Dusseault reports on how 'back-to-the-landers' age in place in Northern California.
Should Hotel Chains Be Held Liable for Human Trafficking?
The IRP's Managing Editor, Bernice Yeung, investigates hotels' role in human trafficking for The New Yorker.
As worker shortages loom, some states move to train paid caregivers
Katie Rodriguez reports on efforts to standardize training for caregivers, the latest in the IRP's reporting on Aging in America.
Aging farmers toil well past retirement, with no heirs or desire to leave land they’ve tended for decades
Cara Nixon reports on the challenges of succession planning for Oregon farmers.
With 1 in 4 New Yorkers over 60, state seeks public’s help in master plan for surging senior population
Ruth Dusseault reports the latest in our coverage of Aging in America
Violence and ‘crisis’: How hundreds of L.A. County’s abused children ended up in hotels
IRP reporter Kathryn Hurd finds that state officials have run out of foster homes, leading them to put abused youth in unlicensed places.
Pets can make aging easier, but they’re expensive. CT volunteers are looking to help
Richard Tzul reports on The Senior Paw Project, a program that helps older people take care of and keep their pets.
Older Adults in Sonoma County to Get Fire-Safety Home Retrofits — for Free
Kate Raphael ('24) reports on a Sonoma County program to help older adults retrofit their homes.
Making churches more welcoming for members with dementia: ‘ We don’t want them to think they’re forgotten.’
Celeste Hamilton Dennis ('24) reports on a program to make church services more welcoming to members with dementia
Violence and ‘crisis’: How hundreds of L.A. County’s abused children ended up in hotels
Kathryn Hurd ('21) finds that state officials have run out of foster homes, leading them to put abused youth in unlicensed places.
After police killings, families are kept in the dark and grilled for information
Brian Howey ('23) reports on how police officers are trained to grill family members after police shootings. This story was Brian's investigation in Prof. David Barstow's second year investigative reporting seminar.
Amid FBI investigation, Antioch police refuse to release use of force records, including a controversial neck hold that has since been widely banned
IRP Reporters Krissy Waite ('23) and Bella Arnold ('24) contribute to reporting on Antioch's refusal to release records that would shed light on police use of force.
Nearly 1.5 million California seniors could get help to buy food, but don’t. Here’s why
Kori Suzuki reports the latest in our coverage of Aging in American
Long-term HIV survivors find familial support in unique S.F. group home
Jeremiah Rhodes ('24) reports on older adults living with HIV, the latest in the IRP's coverage of Aging in America
How SF’s Affordable Housing Crisis Is Crushing Retirement For Its Low-Income Seniors
Chris Chang reports on how low-income seniors struggle to find housing in San Fransciso.
The Black Box: Colleges spend thousands on AI to prevent suicides and shootings. Evidence that it works is scant.
The second installment of Ari Sen (22) and Dereka Bennett's (22) investigation into how colleges use AI to monitor students published by The Dallas Morning News
‘Villages’ for the aging coming to more Black communities
Myah Overstreet reports on the Kingdom Care Senior Village in the latest from our Aging in America Project.
Is High School Running in Need of a Reckoning?
Margie Cullen ('22) and Anne Marshall-Chalmers ('22) report for Runner's World on the troubling consequences of increasingly competitive high school running programs.
‘DYING INSIDE’: CHAOS AND CRUELTY IN LOUISIANA JUVENILE DETENTION
Meg Shutzer and Rachel Mueller's deeply reported investigation into the Ware Youth Center in Louisiana publishes on the front page of The New York Times
The unseen toll of nonfatal police shootings
Brian Howey ('22) reports with Wesley Lowery on the devastating toll of nonfatal police shootings for The Washington Post.
Inside Anti-Abortion Groups’ Campaign to Sell Women on Unreliable Birth Control “Alternatives”
Berkeley Journalism students provided reporting for this story in collaboration with Mother Jones, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, UC Berkeley's Human Right Center on this investigation.
Tracked: How colleges use AI to monitor student protests
Ari Sen (22) and Dereka Bennett's (22) investigation into how colleges use AI to monitor students published by The Dallas Morning News
LGBTQ seniors can struggle to find affordable housing. A Sacramento development is trying to help.
Felicia Alvarez ('23) reports on on an affordable housing community aimed at LGBTQ seniors in Sacramento.
How to keep older adults safer during heat waves? Give them housemates.
Sofie Kodner ('22) reports on intergenerational housing as a way to protect seniors during extreme heat waves.
Climate change is fueling extreme heat. Who’s looking out for the most vulnerable Americans?
Katie Rodriguez ('23) reports on the risk extreme heat poses to older Americans and how "buddy" programs are emerging to help.
When Private Equity Takes Over a Nursing Home
Yasmin Rafiei, the IRP's reporter-in-residence, reports on the devastating decline in residents’ care and increase in deaths after the acquisition of St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged.
In Climate-Driven Disasters, Older People and the Disabled Are Most at Risk. Now In-Home Caregivers Are Being Trained in How to Help Them
Katie Rodriguez ('23) reports how in-home caregivers are preparing for climate emergencies for the IRP's Aging in America project.
Dancing away the loneliness: In the UK, social prescriptions help fight isolation during the pandemic
Sofie Kodner ('22) and Zachary Fletcher ('22) report on social prescriptions for loneliness in older adults for the IRP's Aging in America reporting project.
US-expelled Haitians fuel charter business to Latin America
Planes arrive empty to Haiti but return to South America full. An Associated Press, Investigative Reporting Program, and Berkeley Human Rights Center investigation reveals how Haitians have become a lucrative market for travel agencies and low-budget airlines
News Analysis: Anthony, Noah, Gabriel and beyond: How to fix L.A. County DCFS
Reporter Garrett Therolf of the Investigative Reporting Program and Matt Hamilton of the Los Angeles Times report on the systemic flaws behind L.A. County's failure to prevent child abuse.
No way out: How the poor get stranded in California nursing homes
Jesse Bedayn ('21) reports for CalMatters on how nursing home residents end up stuck in facilities and unable to return to the community.
How new monitoring systems keep a close watch on older people
Sofie Kodner ('22) reports on how surveillance technology is changing caregiving for older Americans.
Conversation and Cookies Lead to An Intergenerational Friendship
Zachary Fletcher ('22) reports on the friendship of octogenarian Sukari Addison and millennial Kathleen Toohill.
How Amtrak Trains Became One Retired Traveler’s Sanctuary During the Pandemic
Will McCarthy ('21) reports on one woman's trip across the country during the pandemic.
‘It makes a humongous difference’: Lack of Wi-Fi in city SROs deepens residents’ isolation
Sofie Kodner ('22) reports on lack of access to the internet in San Francisco's SRO buildings.
Before a 4-year-old boy’s killing, authorities wavered on rescuing him
An investigation by the Investigative Reporting Program and Los Angeles Times uncovered how failures in the child welfare system led to a young child's death.
Extreme weather hurts older Californians. That’s started a wave of climate activism
Zachary Fletcher ('22) reports on a new wave of climate activism among older adults.
Doulas hope to regain momentum as Covid restrictions ease
Sarah Hoenicke Flores ('19) reports on how Covid restrictions have affected doula care. Photos by Stephanie Penn ('21).
Drought in the Klamath Basin inflames a decades-old war over water and fish
In this story for Inside Climate News, Anne Marshall-Chalmers ('22) reports on how the drought has fueled tensions between farmers and Klamath tribes.
Hope and disappointment for the homeless in Oakland
Brett Simpson ('21) reports for The New York Times on a homeless couple's yearlong odyssey to find permanent housing in Oakland.
An explosion in Texas shows the hidden dangers of tanks holding heavy fuels
Sabrina Shankman ('09) and Julia Kane ('21) report on safety hazards posed by tanks holding heavy fuels.