The USA TODAY Network in New England and the Documenting COVID-19 project partnered to investigate how New England became a positive data anomaly in terms of COVID death reporting accuracy. Across the region, excess deaths during the pandemic are almost completely accounted for by official COVID deaths. In other parts of the country, these COVID deaths were missed or certified incorrectly as other causes.

After five years of trying to get records out of the Harvard University Police Department, I ended up spending $125 on a high-resolution photo German Chancellor Angela Merkel. This is the story of how and why.

We looked at five cities and the steps and policies that are bringing new technology to city hall.

To understand how the Massachusetts government is dealing with wage theft, MuckRock requested files on the Attorney General’s investigations into four companies that have allegedly stolen wages from their workers. The AGO estimated that the processing and reproduction fees for these files will be $200 - so we’re opening the request to crowdfund.

Last month, San Francisco became the first municipality in the country to ban the use of facial recognition by city departments. Later today, Somerville, Massachusetts may join its ranks. Agencies in other cities, however, aren’t waiting for city councils to weigh in, implementing policies that bar the use of facial recognition. Though the agency-level limits are not subject to the public development and enforcement that support city or state-level rules, they can be important measures in an agency’s own relationship with residents.