The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Adams County" ...
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Investigating Adams County corruption
Elected and appointed officials in Adams County, northeast of Denver, misused millions of tax dollars, benefiting from campaign contributors, their relatives and themselves. The elected assessor slashed millions of dollars from the taxable values of warehouses owned by his leading contributor then personally kept their taxable values unchanged through his first two terms of office.
Tags: corruption; tax; campaign; officials; Denver
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Puppy Pipeline
The Post tracked a puppy mill pipeline stretching from the Ozarks to South Florida, one that brought thousands of sometimes-sick puppies from mass-operations to local pet stores. At least 2,500 puppies were delivered to Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties from out-of-states breeders in an 11-month period. Roughly one in three of those came from breeders or distributors cited for problems by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees wholesale dog breeding. Citations varied from keeping animals in too-small and rusting cages with exposed nails or wires, to caked feces, to infestations of roaches and other insects that covered the walls and ceilings of kennels. In dozens of cases, kennel owners averted USDA inspection entirely.
Tags: puppy mill; puppies; USDA; dog breeder; breeding; Department of Agriculture; animal mistreatment
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Trip to Nowhere
On the eve of a vote to raise taxes nearly 10 percent and cut spending, the stories laid out in detail how auto allowances routinely granted to dozens of county officials were not justified by their documented needs. Commissioners, department heads, and 15 of their secretaries and staff were receiving what amounted to bonuses that often exceeded more than 10 times what they could document in obscure but required forms. In a followup story, the county administrator reversed course and said he would study discontinuing auto allowances that exceeded the documented needs for two recently hired county watchdogs who were supposed to guard against waste and abuse. Finally, in a third story, the county acknowledged it had failed to meet states and local requirements to document "typical" mileage before all employees began receiving allowances, and said it would change its policy.
Tags: Tax; budget cut; finance; documents; fraud; corruption; auto allowances; bonuses; county
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The Body Shop
Questionable hiring, misidentified bodies, sexual harassment charges and refusal to provide autopsies to defense attorneys are a few of the many problems facing the Adams County Coroner's office. Jim Hibbard, who heads the office, was elected to his position, but had a history of conflict as a former police officer. He appears to have brought that conflict to the coroner's office in the form of sexual harassment, ruined evidence and regulatory violations.
Tags: Coroner; Adams County; autopsy; medical examiner; Jim Hibbard; sexual harassment; identity; defense; police; problems;
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Judge Hecht
Newly elected Superior Court judge, Michael Hecht, was accused of picking up "male prostitutes" and of threatening to kill one of them to keep him quiet. Reporters found a number of witnesses and sources in downtown Tacoma who backed up the scandalous claims. They also found that the police were in the middle of a similar investigation. Hecht denies all charges.
Tags: Judge Michael Hecht; Pierce County; Judge Sergio Armijo; Tacoma
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Justice Delayed, Justice Denied
This four part series deals with the delays of the criminal justice system in some Kentucky counties. Reporters found more than 650 cases in Franklin county alone that had to be dismissed because of lack of prosecution. The problem, according to the story, was a continual backlogging of cases, as well as a general mismanagement of the system as a whole. In a few cases, prosecutors and judges debated as to whose responsibility it was to track the number of pending cases.
Tags: None
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"When Seconds Count"
Reporters from WFTS-TV performed an analysis of emergency response times for EMS districts in the Tampa Bay area. What they found was that the St. Pete an d Pinellas counties were, on average, 6 minutes slower to respond for emergency calls. The action team also discovered that, in some districts, ambulances were not well equipped to decrease their response time.
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Health Department Director Under Fire
"The stories examined the first six months in office for Alfred E. Adams, the head of the Volusia County Health Department, including the staff turnover, his relationships in the community and his dispute with the state over obtaining a Florida medical license. The investigation showed that he had ignored repeated requests from the state medical board for more information about his license application and that he had been chastised by his bosses for using the title of director without first obtaining the license. The investigation also showed that he had established a trend of missing meetings with civic and community leaders and that he had forced much of the department's senior administration to either resign or be fired."
Tags: FOIA
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Justice Delayed, Justice Denied
The Courier-Journal investigates inept administration and case backlog at the Bullitt County, Ky., court system. The series reveals that "more than 200 felony indictments ... either were never prosecuted or else were incompletely prosecuted between 1998 and 2000," according to the contest entry summary. The mishandling was due to clerks' errors and inept record-keeping.
Tags: crime; prosecutors; judges; rape; drug-dealing; punishment; law enforcement
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Locked in Suffering
Many inmates in Kentucky's county jail are not receiving care for mental illnesses, leaving them to suffer or even die. At least 17 people killed themselves during a 30 month period from Jan. 1, 1999, and June 30, 2001. Less than six ever saw a mental health professional. These mentally ill inmates have limited access to hospital beds and employees in the prisons have little to no training with the mentally ill.
Tags: prisons; corrections; mentally ill; health care; state custody; suicides