On the Scent

Investigative journalism — the deep-dig pieces. Where Freedom Beagle follows a story until there's nothing left to find.

On the Scent

"Eminent Domain Is Supposed to Be for Projects That Benefit the Public Interest." Five States Just Tested That.

A 10-mile line in Morgan County, Indiana, carries capacity comparable to what would serve 800,000 homes. It is being built for one customer. The series closes where it started — on what "public use" means.

On the Scent

Maryland Hasn't Granted This Line the Power to Take Anyone's Land. Surveyors Showed Up With U.S. Marshals Anyway.

PSEG has no condemnation authority for the Piedmont Reliability Project and won't until the PSC rules — possibly not before 2027. It has already obtained federal court orders to enter 90 properties over their owners' objections.

On the Scent

Pennsylvania Protects Your House From This Power Line by 100 Meters. It Protects Your Farm by Nothing.

A nine-mile line to serve a proposed data center complex would cross more than 1,000 acres of preserved farmland. State law bars condemning a dwelling. It says nothing about the field behind it.

On the Scent

Virginia Approved the Route Its Own Regulator Called "Clearly Inferior" — Because the Better One Let a School Board Say No

A $513 million transmission project for Data Center Alley picked a route through Vicky Hu's backyard specifically because it avoided a school board veto. The regulator admitted the route it rejected was better.

On the Scent

Georgia Power Is Condemning 330 Parcels for a Transmission Line. About 80% of the Power Is Going to AI.

Nearly 30 homes and more than 330 parcels across four Georgia counties are being cleared under a 120-year-old statute that lets a regulated utility take your land without your consent — for a power line that will spend most of its capacity on data centers, not homes.

On the Scent

Flock's Trust Page Says the Cameras Don't Watch People. Flock's Product Page Sells People Search.

We read every public-facing page on flocksafety.com against every other page. The company's privacy assurances and its sales copy describe two different products — and the gap between them is where the marketing stops and the capability starts.

On the Scent

The Cameras, Update: The Appeal Is Waiting, the Laws Are Unenforced, and Colorado's Bill Died

Six months ago we said we'd follow the Fourth Circuit appeal and any state legislation that landed. Here's where both stand: the appeal is fully briefed and going nowhere fast, one state's ICE-data law has no audit trail to prove it's working, and the toughest bill on the table died on the floor.

On the Scent

The Cameras Don't Need a Warrant. That's the Problem.

There are currently 116,943 license plate readers bolted to poles across the United States (that we know of), and counting — and the courts still can't agree on whether that counts as a search.

Looking for a finished investigation? Completed series have moved to the Series archive.