Corrections

The Center for Public Integrity is dedicated to ensuring that all material disseminated by Public Integrity is accurate and reliable. If Public Integrity does make a mistake of fact or substance, we will quickly and transparently correct it and explain the correction. Minor errors of spelling or punctuation will be corrected on the site without notice.

If you believe you have found an inaccuracy in a Public Integrity publication, let us know.

Posted March 11, 2019, 9:58 a.m.: The story “Transgenderpolitical candidates are increasingly common. The money backing them is not” reported an incorrect title for Nicole Elias. She is a professor of public management at the City University of New York.

Posted, Oct. 26, 2018, 8:20 p.m.: The story “How cryptocurrency is sneaking into state elections” incorrectly reported that 10 U.S. House candidates had raised at least $889,000 worth of cryptocurrency donations. It has been corrected to reflect that federal election records show eight candidates raised at least $550,000.

Posted Oct. 24, 2018, 10:25 a.m.: The article “Noncompete clauses: They’re not just for executives anymore” gave the incorrect first name forthe current Massachusetts attorney general. It has been corrected from Martha Healey to Maura Healey. Also, a Florida law firm’s name has been corrected from Pollard LLC to Pollard PLLC.

Posted July 26, 2018, 12:15 p.m.: The article “Connecticut in Crisis: How inequality is paralyzing ‘America’s country club’” originally stated that the General Assembly revised the Hartford bailout deal. It has been updated to reflect that the General Assembly passed legislation to revise the deal, but Governor Malloy vetoed that proposal.

Posted June 28, 2018, 11:51 a.m.: The article “Federal officials struggle to drag political ad rules into the internet age” has been updated to reflect that the Interactive Advertising Bureau is a digital media and marketing trade organization, not a media company.

Posted Dec. 24, 2017, 11:52, a.m.: The article “Is Congress expanding credit for the poor or enabling high-interest lenders?” incorrectly stated that Ken Rees started ThinkCash in 2001. Rees became CEO of ThinkCash in 2004.

Posted Dec. 14, 2017, 4:58 p.m.: In an earlier version of Conflicted Interests: State lawmakers often blur the line between the public’s business and their own, The Associated Press and Center for Public Integrity reported erroneously that Nevada lawmakers in a special session last year took a historically unprecedented step in waiving requirements that legislators disclose potential conflicts of interest when they approved money for an NFL stadium. Lawmakers took a similar step with budget-related matters during a special session in 2009, according to legislative documents.

Posted Nov. 6, 2017, 2:32 p.m. An earlier version of Surge of women run for office in first major races since Trump’s win incorrectly described Emerge America as an EMILY’s List affiliate. The group partners with EMILY’s List but the organizations are independent of each other.

Posted Sept. 14, 2017, 1:11 p.m.: The article Can anti-Trump fervor win elections? These Democrats aren’t seeing the money has been updated to correct the timing of when Democrat Hala Ayala declared her candidacy for Virginia’s  51^st District House seat. She quit the day before she launched her campaign, according to her campaign manager Shu-Yen Wei.

Posted Sept. 6, 2017, 5:15 p.m.: The article Los Alamos laboratory director announces he will step down has been updated to correct McMillan’s term of directorship. McMillan served as director since 2011. Previous to that he was principal associate director at Los Alamos.

Posted May 3, 2017, 1:36 p.m.: An earlier version of Big tax cuts for the rich, less for the poor incorrectly stated North Carolina’s actions in regard to the state sales tax rate. North Carolina expanded the items that were subject to the state sales tax. The story also should have made clear that in North Carolina, the state charges a sales tax of 4.75 percent and that another 2 percent, or more, can be added by counties. The story also incorrectly stated North Carolina’s top income tax rate in 2012. The top income tax rate was 7.75 percent. The story also should have made clear that some states are phasing out state income tax rates over time. Added is a clarification on the Tax Foundation’s position on North Carolina’s and Kansas’ tax reform proposals. 

Posted Dec. 21, 2016, 5:12 p.m.: An earlier version of Trump and immigration: tough talk masks a complex reality reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center had labeled NumbersUSA a hate group. The SPLC has criticized NumbersUSA as “nativist” and for ties to a founder who has expressed racially charged views.

Posted Nov. 9,  2016, 12:54 p.m.: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of Left counters election losses with ballot measure victories incorrectly reported the result of a Maine gun control measure. It failed.

Posted Oct. 13, 2016, 10:37 a.m.: An earlier version of National groups spar over South Dakota ballot measure mischaracterized Represent.Us as progressive. The group is nonpartisan.

Posted Aug. 5, 2016, 2:51 p.m.: An earlier version of U.S. declines to acknowledge Afghanistan’s child soldiers, experts complain incorrectly stated that more than half of the child soldiers verified by the United Nations worked for government-backed forces in Afghanistan. Over one-fourth worked for government-backed forces.

Posted July 20, 2016, 11:05 a.m.: An earlier version of Union-backed vets super PAC weighs in against Trump misidentified Paul Eaton’s rank. He is a retired U.S. Army major general.

Posted May 12, 2016, 4:22 p.m.: An earlier version of Rich people have access to high-speed Internet; many poor people still don’t identified Ashley Brown as working for the Goochland County department of education. She works for the Virginia Department of Education.

Posted April 6, 2016, 2:32 p.m.: An earlier version of What do the possible Supreme Court nominees have in their wallets? gave the incorrect due date for the disclosure reports covering 2015. They are due mid-May.

Posted April 5, 2016, 3:20 p.m.: An earlier version of Impact of Panama Papers rockets around the world; U.S. officials react cautiously incorrectly referred to Iceland’s prime minister as a head of state.

Posted March 10, 2016, 5:02 p.m.: An earlier version of Most voters favor cutting defense spending. Politicians say otherwise stated that 61 percent of those surveyed supported cutting $12 billion from the defense budget. Actually, 61 percent of those surveyed supported cutting the defense budget, while fifty-two percent supported cutting it $12 billion or more.

Posted March 2, 2016, 1:32 p.m.: An earlier version Republican super PACs pile on Trump with ad barrage reported that 6,000 anti-Trump ads were aired in the two weeks prior to Super Tuesday. Super PACs and candidates aired about 8,500 ads.

Posted Jan. 22, 2016, 12:19 p.m.: An earlier version Is ‘dark money’ boosting Bernie Sanders? reported the National Nurses United for Patient Protection has spent $2 million supporting Sen.Bernie Sanders’ presidential run. This super PAC has so far spent about $969,000 on Sanders.

Posted Jan. 5, 2016, 12:28 p.m.: An earlier version of Steel mill that never was ‘casts a shadow’ on EPA Office of Civil Rights misstated the name of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Posted Dec. 16, 2015, 2:17 p.m.: An earlier version of Marco Rubio: The force awakens? misspelled Norman Braman’s name.

Posted Nov. 21, 2015, 9:00 a.m.: Vermont gets D- grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation has been updated and corrected to reflect a correction in the data. Vermont is now ranked 37th overall, its auditing score is 73 and a reference to the incorrect data has been edited and clarified.

Posted Nov. 12, 2015, 3:28 p.m.: An earlier version of Capitol Gains: Vague terms cloak S.C. lawmakers’ expenses incorrectly reported that Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, bought a Toshiba computer. The candidate who described the purchase in great detail was former state Rep. James R. Smith, R-Warrenville. 

Posted Nov. 12, 2015, 9:40 a.m.: An earlier version of New Mexico gets D- grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation article incorrectly referred to New Mexico Competes as a political committee. The story has been corrected and clarified.

Posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, 4:15 p.m.: An earlier version of Oregon gets F grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation incorrectly reported that the ethics commission lacks the authority to independently investigate bad behavior.

Posted Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, 3:16 p.m.: An earlier version of Connecticut gets C- grade in 2015 State Integrity Investigation reported the incorrect title for Carol Carson. She is not also the general counsel of the Office of State Ethics.

Posted Thursday,  Nov. 5, 2015, 3:27 p.m.:An earlier version of How TV ads are shaping Tuesday’s election reported the incorrect amount that pro-pot advocates spent on TV airtime trying to pass a measure legalizing marijuana in Ohio. At the time, they had spent an estimated $4.8 million.

Posted Thursday,  Nov. 5, 2015, 2:45 p.m.:An earlier version of Ohioans reject marijuana legalization measure reported the incorrect total for how much money pro-pot advocates spent on TV airtime supporting the measure to legalize pot in Ohio. The group spent an estimated $6.2 million on TV ads. ​

Posted Thursday, Aug. 20, 2015, 12:48 p.m.:An earlier version of How to fix the EPA’s broken civil rights office mistakenly ran a photograph of a sewer lagoon in Uniontown, Alabama, rather than one of the Arrowhead Landfill.

Posted Tuesday, July 21, 2015, 3:38 p.m.:An earlier version of Hotel industry targets upstart Airbnb in statehouse battles reported the incorrect title for Cynthia Crews. She sits on the steering committee of the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters, which has no president.

Posted Wednesday, July 15, 2015, 5:12 p.m.:An earlier version of Hotel industry targets upstart Airbnb in statehouse battles reported incorrect information about Airbnb host Gregg Stebben’s relationship with public relations and lobbying firm Targeted Persuasion. Stebben said he was not trained by the firm before his testimony. 

Posted Wednesday, June 8, 2015, 11:53 a.m.:An earlier version of 11 things to know about Virginia’s legislative primary reported the incorrect margin that Democrats need to effectively have a majority in the Virginia Senate. The party currently needs just one seat to win control because the lieutenant governor, now a Democrat, serves as tie breaker under the state constitution. 

Posted Wednesday, March 11, 2015, 6:12 p.m.:The story, U.S. efforts to stem ‘extreme threat to global security’ far from complete, stated there are nine nations that don’t have nuclear weapons but have enough fuel to build one. There are 10 such nations.

Posted Thursday, March 4, 2015, 3:01 p.m.:The story, Liberal ‘dark money’ group scrutinized in Pennsylvania, originally misspelled Anne Chapman’s last name.

Posted Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015, 3:35 p.m.:The story, Big business crushed ballot measures in 2014, and its accompanying chart reported an incorrect total for Wal-Mart’s contribution to a state ballot measure committee in North Dakota. The company actually contributed $3.6 million. Because of that error, the total amount contributed to ballot measure campaigns overall, as well as by the top 50 donors, were incorrect. The correct figures are $424 million and $266 million respectively.  

Posted Friday, Dec. 12, 2014, 2:35 p.m.:The graphic on the story, A long-term blank check for ‘war’ spending, has been updated to include revised amounts from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

Posted Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, 12:25 p.m.:The story, Koch-linked operative mum on mystery millions, has been updated to clarify that Sean Noble no longer serves as a director of the Phil Kerpen-headed American Commitment. 

Posted Sunday, Oct. 26, 2014, 4:09 p.m.: The story, Corporations, advocacy groups spend big on ballot measures, originally overstated the amount that Sustainable Hawaiian Agriculture for the Keiki and the ‘Aina has raised to back the ballot measure banning GMO farming, because of inaccurate information provided by one of the creators of a citizen-initiated ballot initiative. The group now says it raised about $76,000, not $700,000.​ The Center regrets the error. 

Posted Monday, Oct. 6, 2014: The story, Investigators find Islamic State used ammo made in 21 countries, including America, originally reported that IS fighters used oxy-acetylene torches to obscure serial numbers on weapons. According to the Conflict Armament Research report, “unidentified parties” removed the original serial numbers. 

Posted Tuesday, June 10, 2014, 4:37 p.m.: The story, Despite allegations, no prosecutions for war zone sex trafficking, originally misidentified the Armor Group program manager in Kabul who was under investigation. The Center regrets the error. 

Posted Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013, 1:37 p.m.:The story, A hyper-super PAC boosts McAuliffe in Virginia race, originally stated that the Republican Governors Associated donated $1 million to Ken Cuccinelli’s attorney general campaign account. That money instead went to Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign account as part of nearly $5.7 million it has donated overall.