A fascinating series on new radiation treatments for cancer patients by New York Times reporter Walt Bogdanich caught my eye for two reasons.

First, because he bases his reporting--showing that there have been hundreds of people injured, some fatally, by these new technologies, even as so many are also saved--in part by wresting accident report and other records from federal, state, and city government sources. In other words, via government data.

And second, because the week before his first story appeared, my mother underwent such treatment for a benign brain tumor, a meningioma, that was growing back nearly 15 years ...