Hot Off the Press: The Courier-Journal

This is today's Courier-Journal in Louisville, Ky.; click on the image for a bigger view. The newspaper, with a long history of public-service journalism, says this morning that one of Kentucky's congressmen, Republican Hal Rogers, has funneled nearly $90 million in federal money toward a proposed interstate highway that likely will never cross the state.

"Despite the substantial expenditure of funds,'' reporter R.G. Dunlop says, "not a single shovelful of dirt has been turned on Interstate 66, conceived nearly two decades ago as a coast-to-coast corridor that would run through Southern Kentucky. Since then, it has been abandoned by every other state as unnecessary or too expensive."

Reflecting new non-traditional forms of story-telling, the paper's investigation includes two videos. Projects like this are time-consuming and expensive -- just the sort of work publishers are tempted to eliminate at a time when they're looking for costs to cut.

What I would have added to today's story: the campaign contributions Rogers (left) got over the years, $5.5 million since 1989, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks campaign financing. Among Rogers' top 20 contributors: transportation engineering firm (gee, what a surprise!) Vaughn & Melton in Middlesboro, Ky.

Among the top 20 industries giving money to Rogers' campaign, the center says, are many that could benefit from a big highway project:

• No. 5. Construction services: $158,167
• No. 11. General contractors: $113,300
• No. 12. Transportation unions: $109,600

The best thing about the center's data is that it's stored online in free, searchable databases. Plus, for a reasonable charge, it will provide custom datasets for newspapers to publish on their websites.

[Image: Newseum]