FOI FRIDAY: Clown crimes, daily A&E visitors, attacks on buses and pauper funerals

Sexual exploitation within a police force < Birmingham Mail Three West Midlands Police officers abused their position of authority by sexually exploiting underage children in the last two years. The predators in uniform were sacked or resigned after being convicted at court for targeting a 15-year-old and two 14-year-olds. Meanwhile, other officers from the force

FOI Friday: School places, child exploitation, serial criminals and council home waits

How likely are you to get your child into a school? < Teesside Gazette Hundreds of schoolchildren in Middlesbrough are missing out on a place at their school of preference. Figures from a Freedom of Information request show that while places are in high demand, non of the town’s secondary schools were able to cater

FOI Friday: Air bag thefts, obese toddlers, asbestos in schools and the £26,000 chairs

How much is a broken arm worth? < Eastern Daily Press Victims of crime in Norfolk have been awarded compensation payments of up to £370,000 for injuries including a broken arm, collapsed lung, and even serious brain damage, new figures have revealed. Data from the Criminal Injury Compensation Authority (CICA) show that in the past

FOI Friday: Social workers sacked, unsolved crimes, bailiffs after benefit cuts and dodgy drivers

Thirty-year-old unsolved murders in Surrey – Surrey Advertiser/GetSurrey A total of 41 murder cases in the county – the earliest dating back to 1974 – remain unsolved to this day, the Surrey Advertiser can reveal. Data released under the Freedom of Information Act has revealed murders in Epsom, Ash, Guildford, Effingham, Ashtead, Virginia Water and

The 12 days of Local Pressmasness: Seven Foodbank campaigns

One of the biggest political scandals of the year, for me, has been foodbanks. Not the fact they exist – that, it should go without saying, is indeed a scandal – but the way that politicians from all sides have tried to use them for political ends. The Tories claim the growth of foodbanks is

Ho Ho Ho: It wouldn’t be Christmas without Jesus being stolen … and four other festive news favourites (including Christmas Day babies)….

Mince pies. Turkey. Tinsel. The Queen’s Speech in 3D. Traditions are created all the time at Christmas, and it wouldn’t be Christmas without these five Festive-themed stories…

Hillsborough: Front pages which make you proud to be a regional journalist

To be in Liverpool yesterday was to witness something remarkable. The most outrageous wrong righted after 23 years. The truth revealed, but justice still to be done. Proof that if you believe in what you’re doing, you should keep fighting, even when the whole world appears to be against you, determined to keep secrets under

Going up, going down: The end of the of the football season in newspaper front pages

Nobody covers a football club quite like the local newspaper. The highs and the lows, the frustrations and the delights (with the sports desk normally being blamed for the former by readers, but rarely thanked for the latter). So it’s no surprise that when the not-quite-life-and-death matters of promotion and relegation are dealt with, the

FOI Friday: Problem families, housing benefit cheats, kids in cells and unsolved crimes

1. How many ‘problem families’ have moved into your area? It’s not often it’s worth flagging up an FOI request before a result has come back, but this is a little different. The Ledbury Reporter newspaper reports on how Ledbury Town Council is trying to find out how many ‘problem families’ have been allocated housing

FOI Friday: Dirty schools, lying parents, superbug deaths and attacks on postment

Children lose school places after parents lie < < < Birmingham Mail RECORD numbers of Birmingham children are being left devastated by the city council withdrawing their prized place at school because the youngsters’ parents lied on their application form. The local authority has taken places off eight pupils who were due to start their