The Breakthrough

For our first MuckReads podcast of 2013, we invited New York Times reporter David Barstow to talk to our editor Steve Engelberg about his investigation into how Wal-Mart used bribery to expand their business operations in Mexico.

Abrahm Lustgarten discusses what his story on companies releasing toxic materials into underground aquifers means for your drinking water, the long-term ramifications for drought-affected areas like Texas, and why the exemptions were enacted in the first place.

Journalist Mina Kimes' Fortune magazine report, "Bad to the Bone: A Medical Horror Story," lays out in detail how medical device maker Synthes navigated around FDA rules meant to inform and protect patients. Here's a Q&A with her.

Reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones joins the podcast and walks us through the history of the Fair Housing Act, George Romney's efforts to enforce the law, and how President Nixon stopped him at every turn. She also discusses HUD's conflicting mandate and why the agency has chosen not to withhold block grants from cites in order to get them to abide by the law. Ultimately, no president has had the will to force cities to integrate.

We sat down with reporter Sarah Stillman to discuss her recent New Yorker investigation on the fatal risks and lack of oversight in the world of confidential informants.

David Simon, the creator of The Wire, talks with A.C. Thompson and others about turning a real life New Orleans investigation into a fictional story line for the HBO drama Treme.

Amanda Zamora and Justin Elliott walk us through ProPublica’s rebooted Free the Files project, which aims to uncover outside spending in the final days leading to the presidential election.

In this week's episode, ProPublica's Kim Barker answers questions about her dark money investigation and asks, "Are we OK, as a democracy, with having all this anonymous money coming in" and influencing the presidential elections?

Wired's Mat Honan joins the podcast this week to discuss his terrifying hacking ordeal with longtime friend, and ProPublica senior editor, Eric Umansky.

ProPublica's Stephen Engelberg talks with the Boston Globe's Michael Kranish and Beth Healy about their investigation probing presidential candidate Mitt Romney and the financial firm he co-founded, Bain Capital.

Abrahm Lustgarten walks us through his new series on injection wells and how they might quickly become the nation's next big water pollution problem.

John Branch, a sports reporter for the New York Times, joins ProPublica’s Marshall Allen for a MuckReads podcast to discuss his series on hockey enforcer Derek Boogaard and the culture of violence that led to his untimely death.

Podcast: How We Found Oscar

Dafna Linzer joins the podcast to talk about the case of Clarence Aaron, an African American man whose quest for a commutation was denied, even though he had support from the judge and prosecutor in his case.

Podcast: AT&T Neglects Low-Price Requirement to Help Poor Students