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 "Brand" ...
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Wage Theft In the Fields
American farmworkers have often experienced egregious abuses, but nothing is more pervasive, nor harder to ferret out, than the wage theft that results from a practice called farm-labor contracting. Found in the fields of every handpicked crop in the country, farm-labor contractors not only provide growers with crews, but also handle wages and manage everything from verifying immigration status to providing workers' compensation. The problem is, the contractors systematically underpay the workers. “Farm labor contractors,” says writer Tracie McMillan, “give American produce growers what companies like China's Foxconn offer to Apple: a way to outsource a costly and complicated part of the business, often saving money in the process and creating a firewall between the brand and the working conditions under which its products are made.” And yet McMillan — a fellow with both the Knight-Wallace program at University of Michigan, and the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University — found that enforcement is rare: In 2008, inspectors visited only 1,499 of the more than 2 million farms nationwide; in 2011, California inspectors found just seven minimum wage violations on the state’s 86,000 farms. Fines are minimal: “It's cheaper to violate the law than to follow the law,” says one farmworker advocate. And wage theft is tedious to prove, requiring inspectors to interview workers, analyze time cards, and collect payroll records. That's why workers and their advocates in California are counting on a lawsuit brought earlier this year on behalf of two farmworkers against the contractors who hired them—as well as the growers who outsourced the work. The suit alleges that the contractors routinely undercounted the hours worked, failed to pay minimum wage or overtime, failed to provide safe or sanitary working conditions, and housed the workers in unsafe and unsanitary living quarters. The “collective action” suit—open to anyone who can prove he or she experienced the same treatment—may cover thousands of workers and deliver awards substantial enough to deter other employers from the same practices.
Tags: Labor; farms; working conditions; wage
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The Price of Parking
The City of Columbia disregarded a study it comissioned building a parking garage double the size of a 3rd party recommendation. The garage, at 5th and Walnut in downtown Columbia, MO, remains mostly empty putting financial strain on the city's parking utility. Yet the city plans on building another parking garage six blocks away from the brand new garage. The city didn't have the money to pay for the first garage and doesn't have money to pay for the second garage. The first garage cost taxpayers $21 million. The city says the second garage will cost another $12 million- not including interest.
Tags: Parking Garages; Columbia; Missouri; Parking
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No-Show Casket
An invesitgation of Batesville Casket Company, an on-line business that has no permission to sell certain brand-name caskets who has a history of frauding customers, never delivering caskets and runnning off with customer's money.
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Crime Inc: Counterfeit Goods
The story gives viewers a rare look at the production and sale of counterfeit goods. Viewers hear the story of a company whose brand was copied as well as that of a defense contractor who made counterfeit defense parts used in Iraq.
Tags: counterfeit; raid; fake handbag; fake shoes; fake jewelry; designer; underground industry
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Warhol Inc., The Brillo-Box Scandal
Even though he died more than two decades ago, Andy Warhol’s images are still in high demand. The prices for his paintings rank among some of the highest and his fame shows no signs of diminishing. Furthermore, the amount of products with his imagery continues to expand and his brand is becoming one of the most powerful in the world. The second part of this story, describes the Brillo box scandal. This scandal deals with Warhol’s Brillo boxes design being reproduced and sold as originals.
Tags: Andy Warhol; Brillo boxes; Brand; artist; Collectors; Work; Art; Paintings
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Spin the Bottle
Fiji Water, once an untouchable brand, is exposed as a company violating environmental and humanitarian principles that consumers once believed it held dear. Reporter Anna Lenzer traveled in dangerous territory to bring to light the real face of Fiji Water as the Fiji Junta demonstrated a vested interest in the company's reputation.
Tags: Fiji; Fiji Water; junta; government; exposed; environment; humanitarian; tax havens; anna lenzer; spin the bottle;
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Bad Bargain
This article identifies several people who suffered consequences after switching from brand name drugs to generic ones. Furthermore, this article identifies loopholes that allow these generic drugs to reach the market. These generics, many of us believe are the same as the brand name ones, are actual substandard and un-equivalent.
Tags: Prescriptions; Drugs; Generic; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Insurance companies; Brand Name; Doctors; Pharmacy; Pharmaceuticals
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Start Freakin'
In Seattle, "Stop Freakin', call Beacon" is the catch-phrase that propelled Beacon Plumbing into an instantly recognizable brand and the region's largest emergency plumbing service. We found the company doing unlicensed plumbing work, shoddy repairs, and overcharging customers. Ensuing investigations revealed that the man in the Beacon uniform might not be a plumber at all and that his former dress code may have included pinstripes at the State lock-up.
Tags: fraud; consumer investigation; professional license; advertising;
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The Price of Bananas
In Colombia a paramilitary death squad named the "head-cutters" have killed and tortured many residents, but what few know is that the group was paid for years by corporations doing business in the area. One of the companies was Chaquita Brands International, which admitted making $1.7 million "protection" payments over a six-year period.
Tags: execution; torture; Fernando Aguirre; Salvatore Mancuso; extortion; Mendellin
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The Partners Effect
The Partners Effect is a series that "focuses on an out-of-balance healthcare finance system that rewards a few big hospitals and pays them far more for work, even when there is no evidence that the higher-priced care produces healthier patients. The stories detail how New England's biggest healthcare network, Partners HealthCare, is increasingly using its marketplace clout to export its expensive brand of medicine into the suburbs, imperiling community hospitals, and how its cozy relationship with the state's largest insurer has helped to trigger a healthcare cost crisis.
Tags: hospitals; healthcare costs; monopoly; high-priced care; finance system; higher fees