Jill Riepenhoff 68561q
Investigative Producer 2m3a6r
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Jill is an experienced investigative journalist who spent more than three decades at The Columbus Dispatch in Ohio. Jill investigated, among other things, naughty teachers, predatory mortgage brokers, slumlords, guardians who neglect and steal from mentally incompetent adults, and college campuses where rapes and other violent crimes are hidden. For kicks, she digs into sports and has written extensively about the dark side of youth, high school and college athletics. Her work has won dozens of state and national awards. 701qr
High School Hustle: Athletes cash in on name, image and likeness as states grapple with regulations 3u2t4u
NIL regulations vary by state for high school athletes. Our investigators take an in-depth look at the journey of Jada Williams and Richie Clementi as they navigate the business side of sports at a young age.
Waiting Period: Behind bars, access to feminine hygiene products can be limited 1sj60
Access to feminine hygiene products for women behind bars can be difficult. Many states lack laws or written policies to provide women with unfettered access to all the types of products they would need to manage their menstrual cycles.
Outbreak: Tainted food sickens millions each year 5r1gy
Every year, foodborne illnesses sicken 50 million Americans and claim an estimated 3,000 lives. The food safety system is governed by 15 different federal agencies responsible for the enforcement of 30 laws. But that oversight, food safety advocates say, is fractured.
Backlogged: Few cases finished after millions spent investigating COVID vaccine claims 6v6r6m
For most patients seeking damages for an injury related to flu, measles, polio and other public health vaccines, the process is well-established and transparent. The process also keeps manufacturers out of legal processes and puts the lawsuits in the hands of special federal vaccine courts. But for more than 10,000 Americans who filed a claim due to a potential COVID vaccine-related injury, the process is slow, secretive and handled by a little-known agency that had only four employees when claims began arriving in 2021.
Defective: Toy companies continue selling similar products following recalls 1i5r52
Recalls of dangerous consumer products can sometimes take months if not years. But even after a recall, similar-looking products remain on the market. InvestigateTV examined toys that had been recalled and similar-looking products that weren't.
Defective: Dangerous consumer products find their way into America by ship and through online retailers 1g5w41
Every year, the SC finds thousands of everyday household products for sale online or arriving at shipping ports that fail to meet federal safety standards. It is illegal to sell products in the U.S. that have been banned, recalled or failed to meet federal safety standards.
Hazed and Excused: Some national fraternities shift financial responsibility in hazing deaths through self-created insurance system 163v6r
Many national fraternities have established their own insurance companies that primarily protect headquarter executives, often leaving the burden of cost and blame on the undergraduate .
Defective: After recalls, Americans continue to die and get injured as products remain in homes and for sale online 94b16
An InvestigateTV analysis of Consumer Product Safety Commission data shows that since 2000, the agency has had to re-announce the recall of at least 46 products because the original alert did not reach the ears of consumers and, in many cases, continued to cause harm.
Death by ZIP Code: How state borders dictate critical screening for newborns 4n5v35
The state where a baby is born determines what serious and rare disorders he or she will be screened for shortly after birth. It’s a patchwork of policies across the country that could have dire consequences. Some parents call it death by ZIP code.
Hazed and Excused: Colleges and universities rarely expel fraternities, sororities for hazing violations 4j2m2f
Bowling Green State University in Ohio agreed to a $2.9 million settlement with the family of Stone Foltz, who died in 2021 following an alcohol-fueled fraternity hazing event. The university vowed to unite with the Foltzes in their mission to eradicate hazing. The Foltzes sued Bowling Green, in part, for its failure to punish the bad actors on its campus in the years prior to Stone’s death. Their lawsuit listed dozens of examples in which allegations of hazing weren’t fully investigated by the university or cases in which fraternities and sororities were merely placed on probation for serious violations. It's a similar story at other campuses across the country.
Defective: New report on product recalls reinforces that a flawed federal law has led to unnecessary injuries e3k16
Despite its best efforts to safeguard consumers from dangerous household items, a report from a non-profit consumer group found the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is hamstrung, in large part, by Congress.
Defective: Federal database of consumer product complaints leaves out deaths, injuries the government and manufacturers know about 3k5l53
More than two decades ago, the death of a toddler in a recalled portable crib prompted Congress to a new consumer protection law. Yet today, children still are dying in unsafe products, recalls remain largely ineffective at ridding homes of dangerous products, and the SC website that was supposed to help creates a false sense of security, an InvestigateTV analysis of federal records shows.
Defective: The federal government knows that consumers are using hundreds of dangerous everyday products 5q35n
When a company learns a product it sells could be defective and dangerous, it has 24 hours to let the federal government’s Consumer Product Safety Commission know about it. But it could take months or years for the public to find out about the company’s possible concerns, if they even come to light at all. InvestigateTV has been battling SC and companies to disclose information about the products companies have sounded the alarm on – an alarm that remains relatively silent.
Big Bucks, Big Buyouts: Public universities shell out millions of dollars firing coaches who didn’t win enough 4r6k3n
For many college coaches, it pays to get fired. Over a 17-year period beginning in 2005, public universities have shelled out more than $1.1 billion in buying out the contracts of college coaches, according to an InvestigateTV analysis of NCAA financial data collected by Syracuse University. Most of that money was spent on football coaches who play at the highest level of Division I athletics. As football coaches' annual compensation now stretches into seven digits, massive severance payments also grow bigger and bigger.
Defective: When government safety officials learned about 13 deaths tied to an infant rocker, a federal law prevented them from immediately alerting the public 66636t
After the deaths of 13 children over the last 12 years, this summer, Fisher-Price and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned parents not to let their children sleep in certain rockers the company has made since the 1990s. Now, InvestigateTV has discovered that during a 2021 Congressional hearing, the company dodged questions about whether it currently had products on the market linked to children’s deaths.
Betting on Change: Horseracing long plagued with scandals and equine fatalities 361l6s
A new federal law takes effect in July that aims to clean up thoroughbred horseracing, which for years has been plagued by scandals, drugs and equine fatalities. Racing insiders have pushed for decades for such a measure and they welcome the new oversight.
Defective: Congressional Democrats say it’s time to lift the veil of secrecy on potentially harmful products in Americans’ homes 4q5726
Consumer advocates say the time is long past due to lift the cloak of secrecy at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The issue rests with a provision in the Consumer Product Safety Act, known as Section 6(b), which requires the agency to receive approval from manufacturers before releasing any information about a specific product.
Defective: Government agency shackled by law often takes years to issue recalls on potentially dangerous products i2339
It takes years for the Consumer Product Safety Commission to remove dangerous products from the market because of its cumbersome rule-making process and ineffective recalls that don’t incentivize consumers to return or destroy dangerous items.
Defective: Federal agency meant to protect consumers given little power to ban defective products 2m374p
The federal agency created to watchdog consumer products - from crock pots to xylophones - is muzzled by its governing law, which gives all the power to manufacturers, including those with dangerous toys, appliances and other items on the market. The Fisher-Price Rock N Play – an inclined sleep product that defied the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines for safe infant sleeping – exposed all that is wrong with the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Large swaths of rural America are health care deserts with too few primary care doctors, pediatricians, and OB-GYNs to care for residents 4c2r1v
In 207 counties in 2018, there wasn’t a family, general or internal medicine doctor – the primary care doctors mainly for adults, according to an InvestigateTV analysis of federal data.
Consumer complaints against credit-reporting agencies double during pandemic 6d155
The federal government told credit reporting agencies they could relax investigations into consumers' disputes during the pandemic. At the same time, complaints against the agencies more than doubled from the previous year.
Penalties at Play: Millions of dollars flow to nursing homes from fines they have paid for poor care 376a36
Every year millions of dollars flow to nursing homes from a fund that is padded with fines collected from long-term care facilities that inspections show have put the health and safety of residents in jeopardy.
