The Associated Press Managing Editors Association spent four months in early 2008 examining the congressional practice of inserting thousands of special spending requests in large federal spending bills. In March and April, APME, in partnership with the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation and Taxpayers for Common Sense, offered day-long training on how to find, analyze and effectively report the so-called earmarks and the interests, and often, money, behind them. More than 220 reporters from 150 news organizations participated.

APME and participating member newspapers set the weekend of June 7-8 as the target for publishing en masse stories reporting the findings. The Associated Press provided a national overview, incorporating some of the best examples of not only wasteful earmark spending but also those clearly serving a public good. Below are links to the coverage:

Ledford: Are earmarks good public policy or political pork?

View front pages from across the nation

AP: Pet projects abound despite outrage at Congress

AP: Earmark beneficiaries help benefactors' re-election

AP: Making the case to Congress for your pet project

AP: New rules force more disclosure of earmarks

Searchable map of earmarks (AP)

Searchable database from the Asbury Park Press

Searchable database from The Fresno Bee

Searchable database from the Nashua Telegraph

AP chart: Alaska leads states in project funding

APME, AP, newspapers team up to scrutinize Congress' pet projects

Government watchdog resources

About the APME national reporting project

Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group, offers at no charge a searchable spreadsheet detailing earmarks in the final Fiscal Year 2008 appropriations bills. The spreadsheet has 22 fields of information, including requesting member(s) of the House or Senate, state, county, intended recipient, where the earmark is located in the appropriations bills and the project heading. The .xls file is 4.2 MB in size. Save it to a folder on your computer, then open it in Microsoft Excel. To download the file go to:

www.taxpayer.net/earmarks.php (Brief, free registration required)

■ Goodlatte's earmarks focus on localities, nonprofits (Staunton, Va., News Leader)

■ Bond & Bacon (Columbia Daily Tribune)

■ Are congressional earmarks vital spending or fat? (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Defense earmarks feed perception of an inside track (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Earmarks secured by the Pennsylvania delegation (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Editorial: Here's an idea: Allow citizens to pick works for greatest good (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Pulled Pork: A closer look at Federal Earmarks impact on Southern Indiana (Jeffersonville Evening News, New Albany, Ind., Tribune)

■ Earmark projects abound (Muskogee, Okla., Phoenix)

■ Pulled Pork: A closer look at Federal Earmarks impact on Southern Indiana (The Jeffersonville Evening News and The New Albany Tribune)

■ Goodlatte's earmarks focus on localities, nonprofits (Stauton, Va., News Leader)

■ Thompson, Woolsey defend federal earmarks (Santa Rosa, Calif., Press-Democrat)

■ Giving and getting (The Columbus Dispatch)

■ Earmark requests should be made transparent (The Modesto, Calif., Bee)

■ Bringing home the bacon (The Monterey, Calif., County Herald)

■ U.S. Rep. David Davis Received Donations From Company He Secured Money For (Bristol, Va., Herald Courier)

■ Boucher: Earmarks should be used for public benefit (Bristol, Va., Herald Courier)

■ Earmarks help South Sound in surprising ways (The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.)

■ Are state's earmarks wasteful? You decide (Concord, N.H., Monitor)

■ Making the case to Congress for your pet project (Concord, N.H., Monitor)

■ Shelby plays earmark game, and Tuscaloosa benefits (The Tuscaloosa News)

■ Some decry them as pork, but congressional budget add-ons benefit state (The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.)

■ Earmark projects abound (Muskogee, Okla., Phoenix)

■ Millions directed to local company by Rep. John Peterson (Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.)

■ Sen. Arlen Specter's earmarks (Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.)

■ Sen. Robert P. Casey's earmarks (Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.)

■ In Congress, pork can be important prize (The Roanoke Times)

■ Virginia 2007-2008 congressional earmarks database (The Roanoke Times)

■ Costello's name attached to several earmarks (The Southern Illinoisan, Carbondale, Ill.)

■ Big donors get big earmarks (Bucks County, Pa., Courier Times)

■ Visclosky brings home $69.9M in earmarks (Post-Tribune, Merrillville, Ind.)

■ Earmarks help South Sound in surprising ways (The Olympian, Olympia, Wash.)

■ Will this jump-start reform in Congress (Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.)

■ Arizona Dems don't mind earmark game (Arizona Republic, Phoenix)

■ AP IMPACT: Pet projects still abound in Congress (Los Angeles Times)

■ Boon or boondoggle? Earmarks' character is in eye of beholder (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Are congressional earmarks vital spending or fat? (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Defense earmarks feed perception of an inside track (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Earmarks secured by the Pennsylvania delegation (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Here's an idea: Allow citizens to pick works for greatest good (The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa.)

■ Illinois lands plenty of pork (The Associated Press)

■ Bond and Bacon (Columbia Daily Tribune)

■ Earmarks benefit local interests (The Carroll County Times, Westminster, Md.)

■ Thompson, Woolsey defend federal earmarks (The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.)

■ Is it pork or bringing home the bacon? (The Bismarck Tribune)

■ Are earmarks from Congress best for U.S.? (The Bismarck Tribune)

■ Comment on the APME/member earmarks project