Reporters for both organizations were present at the awards ceremony at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Illinois EPA has created a Koppers resource website, with documents related to all four Illinois EPA violations, due to “significant public interest” in the facility. And the state attorney general’s office said it received more information from the Illinois EPA related to Koppers’ alleged violations in December, saying in a statement that it is “evaluating the matter.”

This week’s For the Record shares how reporters at MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente overcame rejection in their “Air We Breathe” series.

After the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock published investigative articles about air pollution and the chemicals company Koppers, it hired a public-relations firm to organize a secret, behind-the-scenes campaign to influence local officials.

Después que Cicero Independiente y MuckRock publicaran artículos de investigación sobre la contaminación atmosférica y la empresa química Koppers, ésta contrató a una empresa de relaciones públicas para organizar una campaña secreta entre bastidores para influir a los funcionarios locales.

MuckRock has won the First Amendment Coalition’s Free Speech and Open Government Award for its data journalism collaborations and was named a finalist for the National Institute for Health Care Management Awards and Sigma Awards.

Some state and federal laws require what are called “demand letters,” or notices of legal action, to be sent from one party to another before a lawsuit is filed.

See what you might have missed from this year’s NICAR conference.

Después de que la EPA de Illinois les enviara el otoño pasado un aviso extenso de infracciones, los ejecutivos de Koppers empezaron a vender acciones a un precio sin precedente. Después de que MuckRock y Cicero Independiente reportaron sobre esas violaciones, la compañía que cotiza en bolsa contrató a una empresa de comunicación experta en manejo de crisis para reunirse con funcionarios electos y manejar las consecuencias en la comunidad.

After the Illinois EPA sent them a lengthy violations notice last fall, Koppers executives began selling stock at an unprecedented rate. After MuckRock and the Cicero Independiente reported on those violations, the publicly-traded company hired a crisis communications firm to meet with elected officials and manage the community fallout.