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 "Denver municipalities" ...
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State of Emergency
The story revealed how, for the past decade, Denver Health has been able to systematically lobby the Mayor's office to lower the ambulance response time standards in the operating agreement the hospital keeps with the city. Even as call volume has increased significantly year by year, the contractual changes have enabled the hospital to stay in response time compliance without adding more paramedics and ambulances. This series also showed how the hospital was deleting a key chunk of call duration from the figures being reported to the city, in violation of the municipal agreement. The city's actual ambulance response times vastly underperform nationally accepted standards. Veteran Denver Health paramedics say the increasing delays in emergency response have dire consequences.
Tags: ambulance response times; municipal agreement; ambulances; Denver; hospital; slow ambulance response
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Water Thieves
When Colorado was in the midst of a severe drought, a street sweeping company was stealing water from the local municipalities. The New4 investigation team videotaped these incidences or almost three months and aired an interview with the owner of the company.
Tags: Colorado draught; water problems; Denver municipalities; street cleaning companies; city of Johnstown; Great American Sweepers
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Colorado Farmers Find Their Water Is Worth More Than Their Crops
The Wall Street Journal reports on new developments of water struggles in the West, as burgeoning urban areas need more and more water. The story reveals that farmers in Colorado are giving up their water rights to the municipalities of Denver and other large cities in the state. The articles looks at how the City of Aurora has taken over the Rocky Ford Ditch, and how ditch shareholders have been forced to sell their water rights and shares to the city. "As more and more Rocky Ford water goes to the city, some fear that the local economy will collapse like a rank melon," the Journal reports.
Tags: farmers; agriculture; ranchers; municipalities; city government; urban development; land; Denver; Colorado Spring; canals; rivers
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High Flying at DIA
Westword conducts a number of investigations on government contracts at Denver International Airport, uncovering rampant waste, cronyism and questionable spending. The series finds that a public relations firm hired by the city tried to put a positive spin on DIA coverage in the media; law firm invoices showed that the bond work performed by law firms was less vital and less complex that the public was led to believe