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 "MA" ...
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Grants, Graft and Greed at Workforce West Virginia
Mary Jane Bowling, an employee at the Workforce West Virginia office, secretly distributed federal grant money to her son's company, Comar, Inc. Martin Bowling then used the money to pay for travels to conferences that ultimately helped expand his company. Reporter Eric Eyre later exposed an attempted cover-up of the mishandled money by Mary Jane Bowling and her housemate, Christine Gardner, who ran the West Virginia State University's Economic Development Center in Charleston.
Tags: MetroValley Magazine; WVSU; Comar; Christine Gardner; Mary Jane Bowling; Martin Bowling; Albert Hendershot; Zi.ma; Mandi Felty
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Sex offenders mapped out of the city
An ordinance was passed that would ban sex offenders from within 2,500 feet of a school, park or daycare. This banishment zone covered 82 percent of the city's housing.
Tags: sex offenders; zoning; Taunto, MA; ordinance; mapping; sexual predator
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Ring Ma Bell
"When heavyweight Southwestern Bell gets into a brawl with AT&T at the legislature, consumers are the ones who get beat up."
Tags: telecommunications; AT&T; Southwestern Bell; legislature; monopolies; telephone service
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The Sorrow of Shannxi Farmers: The Story of Lawyer Ma Wenlin
This story examines "an incident that happened in Northern Shannxi's Zizhou County that caught overseas media attention: 30,160 farmers collectively signed an appeal letter asking the government to release lawyer Ma Wenlin, who was put in jail because he helped farmers to sue the local county government. Even though China has a large population, it still is a rare incident in which so many farmers are willing to take the risk to sign a letter that asks the government to release a lawyer." This investigation looks at why so many farmers care about the lawyer's fate.
Tags: CASSETTE TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; China; lawyers; law; politics; Ma Wenlin; farmers; taxes
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Shaky Foundations: Western Massachusetts' Housing Woes
The series revealed "the squalor conditions of low-income housing" in Springfield and Holyoke, MA. Reporters found that "unlike the eastern part of the state, the western area housing stock continued to suffer from blight and tax evading landlords that ran their buildings into the ground after the housing market bust of the 1980's." Part of the series "looked at the housing crunch in the student housing markets in the five-college area of Western Massachusetts."
Tags: diskette; housing; landlords; tenants; low-income; tax evasion
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Burning Question
"The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund, a pension fund for the state's public transit workers, loaned $7 million to a convicted racketeer who in turn, provided apparent kickbacks to the executive director and chairman of the pension fund."
Tags: crime; pension funds; Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Retirement Fund; racketeering; FBI; MA attorney general; building permits; zoning permits
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1999 IRE National Conference Show and Tell Tape #1
The 1998 IRE National Conference (Kansas City) Show and Tell Tape #1 is the first in a nine-part series. This tape includes: 1.) Darcy Spears (KVBC-Las Vegas) "Taken for a Ride". Taxi drivers getting kickbacks for taking clients to certain bars/stripclubs. 2.) J.W. August/Valerie Stapes (KGTV-San Diego). A follow-up investigation about university diplomas for sale. Documents passed off as though they're from Columbia University in New York City. Finds prominent city official using one as a reference. 3.) ?... Credit card lenders - Providian Visa 4.) Ken Miguel (KGO-TV - San Francisco) "Herbal Supplements" Investigation into supplements such as "Metabolife" that use ma huang and other harmful ingredients in these supposedly safe, natural pills. 5.) Chris Cantergiani (WSB-Atlanta) Investigation into Dekalb County employee who's getting paid by taxpayers to spend large portions of his day at home or on personal business. 6.) Julie Jacoby (WCCO-Minneapolis). After an accident, a taxi driver files lawsuits against the other party, then pays others to falsify documents that would notify the person of the court date. The driver ends up winning thousands of dollars when his opponent fails to show up in court. They don't even know about the lawsuit. 7.) David Schechter (WDAF-Kansas City) Focuses on Missouri's Methamphetamine problem by showing how easy it can be to buy drugstore ingredients despite recent restrictions.
Tags: TAPE; Kansas City; conference; no transcripts; IRE
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No title (id: 13247)
Health magazine investigates the radiation poisoning of a young, present scientist. The poisoning is suspected to be a result of an intense race to develop a new way to identify cancer genes. (March/April 1996)
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No title (id: 12818)
The break-up of Ma Bell was supposed to benefit consumers. It has also created problems such as "slamming." Slamming is when a consumer is tricked into switching their long distance service to another company. Although this process is against the law, WAGA-TV uncovered a major door-to-door slamming campaign affiliated with MCI and Amway. (Aug. 15, 16, 22 & 29, 1995)
Tags: TAPE; Travis D'Astoli Carr Carlin The grandslammer Contest entry 22 pgs.
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No title (id: 12557)
This is the story of a large, complicated and bitterly fought lawsuit between 8 working-class families from Wolburn, MA and two multinational corporations. The case involves a cluster of childhood leukemia victims living near city wells poisoned with industrial chemicals. Two of the nation's largest corporations, each with a plant near the wells, stand accused. (Sept. 1995)
Tags: Harr A civil action Contest entry Justice Courts Harvard Law BOOK