{
  "id": "2002-march-april-following-the-riverboat-pilots",
  "slug": "2002-march-april-following-the-riverboat-pilots",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-march-april-following-the-riverboat-pilots.html",
  "year": 2002,
  "month": "March-April",
  "monthNum": 3,
  "headline": "Following the riverboat pilots",
  "kicker": "SPOTLIGHT: WORKPLACE",
  "author_name": "Jeffrey Meitrodt",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "The New Orleans Times-Picayune",
  "summary": "An investigation by The Times-Picayune reveals high salaries, nepotism, and lack of accountability among Louisiana's riverboat pilots through spreadsheet analysis of resumes and accident reports.",
  "keywords": [
    "nepotism",
    "river pilots",
    "Louisiana"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Government & Politics",
    "Public Safety"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Excel"
  ],
  "full_text": "Teal Grue was the poster boy for our lead story about what's wrong with Louisiana's archaic system of selecting and overseeing Mississippi River pilots. Grue dropped out of high school after 10th grade, had a DUI conviction, and tested positive for marijuana before becoming an elite river pilot. We reviewed resumes and typed them into an Excel spreadsheet after The Times-Picayune decided to investigate what some believe is the ultimate good-old-boys club in Louisiana. Louisiana pilots earned about $321,000 each last year, and we documented that widespread nepotism makes it virtually impossible for non-relatives to join. Of the 100 people elected to become river pilots in recent years, 85 are related to other pilots. We also analyzed accident reports and pilot misconduct records, which are judged by the pilots themselves. The records contained several bombshells. First, we discovered that two pilots were allowed to keep their jobs after testing positive for cocaine use in 2000. Second, we found that one group racked up nearly 100 accidents yet failed to discipline a single pilot in a decade.",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "pre-v2",
    "extracted_at": "",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "1999-october-being-prepared-pays",
      "score": 0.259
    },
    {
      "slug": "1995-april-all-in-the-family",
      "score": 0.167
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-march-recent-car-stories",
      "score": 0.108
    },
    {
      "slug": "2000-april-recent-car-stories",
      "score": 0.094
    },
    {
      "slug": "1998-december-investigating-the-fbi",
      "score": 0.086
    }
  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-march-april-following-the-riverboat-pilots.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-march-april-following-the-riverboat-pilots.json"
}