May 23, 2026 · View in browser

Hi there,

ProPublica reporters sometimes need the public’s help to crack open important investigations. When these kinds of stories arise, the reporters come to ProPublica’s engagement team. We specialize in crowdsourced and community-informed investigative reporting.

Our work is powered by a simple premise: People who are directly affected by an issue are often the best people to help us convey those issues to our readers. When our reporting partners at the Idaho Statesman, for example, learned public schools were crumbling and hadn’t been assessed in 30 years, we enlisted superintendents, students, parents and teachers across the state to document the decay. Or when people living near sugarcane farms complained that the scheduled burns were affecting their health, despite assurances from the industry that the burns were safe, we partnered with residents and scientists to test the air quality.

Over the years, you may have seen one of our signature reporting tools in a newsletter or on our site: a callout asking for your help. We’ve used callouts to reach communities across the country to tell thousands of people’s stories and bring about meaningful change.

Today, I want to tell you about four callouts for stories our team is working on now. My hope is that if you know someone affected by any of these issues, you’ll share the callout and encourage them to write to us. Their voice is an essential tool in reporting that holds power to account.

Earlier this month, KQED reporter Holly McDede and ProPublica data reporter Mollie Simon found at least 67 cases in which California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing did not revoke the licenses of educators despite determining that they had committed some type of misconduct. In their first story, McDede and Simon uncovered how one teacher was able to keep his credentials and go on to teach in two other schools even after he was fired for sexually harassing students and deemed “unfit to teach” by an independent panel.

(The Commission on Teacher Credentialing said the state automatically revokes teachers’ credentials when they are convicted of sexual criminal offenses, but not necessarily when a district determines they have committed sexual misconduct or harassment. The teacher McDede and Simon wrote about, who has not been accused of a crime, did not respond to multiple requests for interviews or questions about students’ accusations and his job history. He previously denied any sexual motivation in touching students, telling the independent panel that he was simply offering students support.)

Revealing the full scale of teacher misconduct across the state is tricky because California’s Commission on Teacher Credentialing releases few details about these cases and how they’re handled, leaving the public largely in the dark. Only students, parents and educators can help us piece together a more complete picture of how the system actually works. Here’s how to get in touch. 

Our partners at The Frontier have been documenting the ways in which pollution from Oklahoma’s oil and gas industry seeps into people’s lives across the state. They found that wastewater pollution killed livestock and contaminated residents’ drinking water, leaving them with sores in their mouths. And in one instance, a thick, oily sludge flooded a family’s home, forcing them to abandon it. 

We aren’t done digging. We know oil and gas pollution has a huge impact on the lives of Oklahomans across the state. To show just how widespread and destructive the pollution is, we’re collecting photos, videos and other documentation from affected residents. Anyone dealing with contamination can submit materials here.

The federal government has spent billions of dollars of public money to try to fix internet problems in Alaska. Taxpayers across the U.S. pay a surcharge in each monthly phone bill to help fund a program Congress created to bring fast, reliable phone and internet service to hard-to-reach places. That’s much of Alaska, where many areas can be reached by only plane or boat. The problem is, reporters at the Anchorage Daily News found, despite all the money spent, that many Alaskans still don’t have fast, reliable internet. 

Now, our partners at the Anchorage Daily News want to know how slow and shoddy internet affects the day-to-day lives of Alaskans. They’re looking for monthly bills, stories and internet speeds. Get in touch here. (Slow internet? Here’s the text-only version of the story and our callout). 

For years, reporters at the Lexington Herald-Leader heard troubling stories from employees of Addiction Recovery Care, once Kentucky’s largest residential addiction treatment provider. In April, reporters from the Herald-Leader and ProPublica found that ARC had allegedly used staff to falsely bill Kentucky Medicaid for millions, an allegation the company denies. 

Their initial story has led them to another important reporting question: How did ARC’s actions impact the people who came to the organization seeking help with their sobriety? To tell this next story, the reporters want to hear from former clients as well as the staff hired to provide recovery care. They hope you’ll be in touch if you know anyone.

If you know someone in one of the states we’re currently looking into — California, Oklahoma, Alaska and Kentucky — please forward this newsletter. 

You never know who has a story to tell. 

Many thanks,

Nicole Lewis 

Deputy Editor, Engagement