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 "Federal Housing Administration" ...
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Bad loans, No penalties
The state of Ohio leads the nation in failed loans, which the federal government corrects while the communities suffer. One of the biggest stories, which led to the investigation and this series, was when “Columbus developers walked away from an apartment-renovation project and $26 million in government-insured loans”. Further, there wasn’t anything that held these developers liable to repay the money.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration (FHA); tenants; neighbors; local officials; foreclosure; taxpayers; property; Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
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The Subprime Wolves Are Back
Consumer advocates revealed in interviews that some mortgage lenders and brokers have reinvented themselves as FHA-backed lenders to feed off of the consumer panic following the national financial bailout.
Tags: fraud; Wall Street; paper trail; bankruptcy filing; Federal Housing Administration; stimulus package;
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Foreclosing on the American Dream
More foreclosures are filed in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina than any other county in the state.
Tags: Foreclosure; real estate; depreciation; Mecklenburg county; FHA; Federal Housing Administration; home loans; mortgage
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Randy "Duke" Cunningham
The Union-Tribune reveals that Rep. Cunningham was involved in shady dealings with MZM, a Washington, DC-based defense contractor--a bribe that contributed to ending the congressman's career and sending him to prison. Reporters also detail Cunningham's relationship with California military contractor Brent Wilkes, identified as Coconspirator No. 1 in the federal corruption case against Cunningham.
Tags: Randy Cunningham; Duke Cunningham; House of Representatives; Congress; corruption; bribery; conspiracy; Mitchell Wade; Federal Elections Commission; MZM Inc; PAC; ADCS; Brent Wilkes; CAR; Federal Aviation Administration; Lear
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Bush versus the environment
This book "shows how the White House is quietly undermining the entire system of environmental safeguards that has developed over the past thirty years." The investigation shows how the administration encourages lawsuits against the federal government that challenge environmental laws, ignores scientific evidence that doesn't support its goals, and uses "fuzzy math" to overestimate costs and underestimate the benefits of environmental regulations.
Tags: BOOK; Bush; environment; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; business; industry; environmental law
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Erasing the rules; (Mostly) White House
This Newsday investigation finds nearly half of the Bush administration appointees come from corporations, law or lobbyists. This put them in a position where they could use the system to pass laws that helped their industries and in turn help their businesses. One of the instances that this story talks about is the regulations regarding pollution have been eased by the Bush administration. The administration turned over the federal environmental agencies to lobbyists that launched an effort to rewrite pollutions rules, ease curbs on the development of natural areas, and allow more drilling.
Tags: George Bush; Bush administration; Bush's lobbyists; corporations linked to George W. Bush; pollution laws; FDA regulations; control of reactive chemicals; walnuts; Boeing Co.; White House; FOIA
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A Changing Landscape
"These stories provide a portrait of the Bush environmental policies and the largely hidden political process that produced them. They also provide a window into the secretive administration's domestic-policymaking and its impact in the West and elsewhere. The reporters penetrated the federal bureaucracy to show how the White House and political appointees at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Interior Department manipulated science, circumvented the law and marginalized or steamrolled career employees. These reports detail how, in the process, the administration adopted regulations or policies that benefited its corporate patrons at the expense of public health and the environment." Also included is an update from February, 2005, that relates the results of a study done by Nikki Tinsley, the EPA's inspector general, at the request of seven senators who read the LA Times original series. Tinsley's report confirmed the LA Times findings.
Tags: environment; pollution; mercury; national Forrest; oil drilling; Halliburton; Clean Air Act; Clear Skies initiative; EPA
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Opportunity of Exploitation?
These stories deal with how a company, Maxi Staff Inc., used promises of good pay, great housing and the chance to escape poverty and high unemployment to recruit laborers for Puerto Rico to work in U.S. meat processing plants. The stories revealed how, once they were in the United States, the laborers' dreams turned to dust and they found themselves in an unfavorable economic situation. The company charged recruits for the recruits' flights to the U.S. They were put in substandard and unsanitary housing. Workers made less money than they had originally been told, often making less than $100 for a 40-hour week. Recruits who fell ill or got injured on the job were fired and evicted from their housing with 48 hours notice.
Tags: Maxi Staff Inc.; poverty; unemployment; Puerto Rican Laborers; U.S. meat processing plants; U.S. Department of Labor; Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration; Puerto Rico Department of Labor and Human Resources; Ronell Industries; Empire Kosher; Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry; Catholic Social Services; Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations; Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church; U.S. Department of Labor's Employment Standards Administration Wage and Hour Division; OSHA; Puerto Rican recruits; Pennsylvania Statewide Latino Coalition
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On the Job of Last Resort
The Omaha World-Herald reports on how the U.S Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has provided only "minimal oversight" over the contractors who clean up meatpacking houses every night. The World-Herald found that "most of these contractors are undocumented workers, and that their cleaning is every bit as dangerous as day-time meatpacking" -- and in fact their injury rate is four times higher than normal workers in the industry. In the demand for speed from employers, many of these workers "have lost fingers, arms and even legs when they tried to keep pace. Harried workers have been known to clean cutting and grinding machines while they are still running, which is a clear violation of federal safety rules." But with undocumented workers fearful to come forward because of their legal status, and some pushed out of their jobs by their bosses when they raise safety concerns, the situation is only getting worse. The World found OSHA gave considerably less scrutiny to the problem, in part because it lumped those cleaning packinghouses into the same industry category as "janitors and maids."
Tags: OSHA; meatpacking; meat; packing; food; industry; safety; workers; workplace; cleaning; cleaner; machine; agriculture; undocumented; illegal workers; immigrants; human resources; occupational safety; USDA; hispanic; latino; union; contracting; contractor
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Federal scrutiny on home deals
In an effort to deal with property flipping and mortgage problems in Baltimore, federal officials have barred a half-dozen Maryland real estate appraisers from the Federal Housing Administration program that insures home mortgages. The action is part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development effort to deal with a growing problem of inaccurate appraisals.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration; HUD; appraisers; home mortgages; FHA