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 "CPS" ...
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Power in Play
The series is an ongoing investigation into a proposed nuclear power expansion, which “doubles the size of the nuclear power supply”. The project became the “biggest investment the city ever made”. But what the public didn’t know was it was likely to “cost $4 billion more than what the utility company had been telling” them.
Tags: nuclear energy; utilities; CPS Energy; reactors; financing; costs; South Texas Project
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Reaching Black Boys
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) had the highest suspension rate out of the country's 10 largest school districts. Many of those suspended were young black men. This came at a time when Arne Duncan, CEO of CPS, said he aimed to close the achievement gap. Depriving black students of valuable class time due to suspensions seemed contradictory to the goal.
Tags: CPS; Chicago; Schools; black; arne duncan; suspension; classroom; expulsion; achievement gap; role models; african; school district;
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Unprotected: An Investigation o Sacramento County's Child Protective Services
A dozen years after the 1996 torture-death of one boy triggered major reforms within Sacramento County's Child Protective Services, -- and resulted in a quadrupling of the agency's budget and doubling of its staff -- many of the same problems persist in 2008. The Sacramento Bee found that, despite the massive increase in resources, numerous children continue to be injured or killed who had prior involvement with Sacramento's CPS. Among the problems detailed by The Bee: inadequate supervision and training, sloppy investigations, poor evaluation of children's risk, lack of accountability for serious mistakes. In its follow-up stories, which prompted a grand jury investigation, The Bee used a new state law related to child deaths to push CPS to release case files and found it had illegally altered the records of one boy who died in their care.
Tags: child protective services; county government; torture; child welfare; government agency; government accountablity; child services
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CPS Worker Safety
KVOA found that Tucson's Child Protection Services employees were being threatened by parents, guardians and family members.
Tags: child protection service; employee; safety; surveillances; security; state government; FOIA
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CPS Must DIe
City-owned utility CPS Energy plans to double the size of its South Texas Nuclear Project bye adding two nuclear reactors without knowing how much the new plants will cost. A reports by the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy shows that the state's future energy needs don't include the need for new power plants to be constructed.
Tags: natural gas; resource; electricity; solar; coal; Mike Kotera
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State of Denial
Arizona Child Protection Services is the state agency charged with protecting abused and neglected children. Until a new law took affect in 2005, CPS workers were not required to have background checks. A number of CPS caseworkers had criminal backgrounds and couldn't pass the checks. Unsure what to do, CPS didn't fire those workers and the situation remains.
Tags: Child Protection Services; criminal backgrounds; government workers; background checks; child abuse; neglect; Arizona Open Records Law
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Washington Park School
The I-Team investigated Cincinnati School Board decisions related to the relocation of one inner city public school. The story provides insight into how CPS is managing a billion dollars of new school construction. It revealed problems of student safety, economics, Board incompetence and conflicts of interest. The school board deviated from standard property appraisal procedures, overpaid for the school, located it in Cincinnati's most dangerous area and could have renovated a nearby school for far less money.
Tags: school board; school construction; inner city schools; conflicts of interest; student safety
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Suspensions Up in CPS
This analysis found that Chicago elementary schools are cracking down on discipline problems by suspending more and more students, most of them African-American.
Tags: Chicago public schools; incident reports; school board; expulsions; education; suspension.
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Children of a Lesser God
"It was a modern day horror story: a little girl hidden away in rat-infested squalor for most of her life. When the authorities' took her away from her mother and grandmother, the nine-year-old had never been to school or played outside and could only make squeaking noises. Now dedicated social wokers, academics, and foster parents are trying to undo years of unimaginable neglect.
Tags: child abuse; foster care; social work; neglect; Child Protective Services (CPS); Austin's Children's Center; Kristene Blackstone; Rosedale; mainstreaming; mute; speech pathology
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The Once and Future Mom
A mother in Phoenix loses custody of her two daughters while on the verge of eviction and suffering from dysthymia, a mood disorder. Little was done to help reunite the biological family, and parental rights were severed based on the recommendation of CPS caseworkers. New incentives (up to $6,000 per child) in the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) pave the way for children to move from foster care into permanent homes. However, this case was overturned on appeal, largely because CPS failed to make "reasonable efforts" to reunite the family.
Tags: Children's Protection Services (CPS); foster care; child care; dysthmia