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 "Maine" ...
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Hospital at Risk
My investigation of the Minnesota Security Hospital, a state-run facility that provides psychiatric treatment to nearly 400 adults deemed "mentally ill and dangerous," uncovered high rates of violence and injuries of employees and patients at the facility, a critical shortage of psychiatrists, and widespread confusion among employees about what to do when a patient becomes violent. I found that much of confusion was the result of the abrasive, threatening management style of head administrator David Proffitt, who was hired in 2011 to reform the facility. I began investigating Proffitt and found he was hired without a basic background check. I uncovered many troubling details from Proffitt's past, including domestic violence, a PhD from a now-defunct online degree mill, a forced resignation from his previous job as the administrator of a private psychiatric hospital in Maine, and other failings. The state ordered Proffitt to resign and the Minnesota legislative auditor began an audit of the department's hiring practices. The assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services who led the hiring search also resigned. The governor proposed $40 million in renovations to address safety concerns. Regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facility for the first time in 21 years. The facility also implemented new training for employees to reduce violence. My investigation of the facility continues.
Tags: Psychiatrists; domestic violence; injuries
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Bad Neighbor Banks: How Big Lenders Spread Blight
Across South Florida, on block after block, homes abandoned in the foreclosure crisis have become eyesores, depressing property values, and posing health and safety hazards for nearby families. The Sun Sentinel investigated and found who was responsible for letting these homes rot: some of the world’s largest banks.
Tags: Hazards; property; banks; public health; public safety
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Bronx Prosecutors Drop Staggering Loads of Cases
A nine-month investigation by WNYC’s Ailsa Chang revealed that people accused of crimes in the Bronx have a greater chance of walking away without charges than anywhere else in New York City. Chang’s two-part series shows that the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office declines to prosecute thousands more cases than do the four other District Attorney offices. And the main reason is a troubling internal policy that no other prosecutors’ office in the city follows: In the Bronx, a case is dropped if a victim doesn’t cooperate within the first 24 hours after an arrest. Bronx prosecutors declined almost one quarter of all their cases in 2011. That’s nearly four times the average rate Manhattan and Brooklyn prosecutors declined cases.
Tags: Crimes; charges; prosecutors; declined cases; victim cooperation
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Sun Sentinel: Speeding Cops
A Miami cop in his marked patrol car set off a public fury in the fall of 2011 when a Florida state trooper clocked him going 120 mph to an off-duty job. Turning to technology and a never-before used tool – highway toll records – the Sun Sentinel produced back-to-back investigations documenting widespread police misconduct and the professional solidarity that allowed it to flourish. In "Above the Law," a three-part series published in February, reporters used police toll records to confirm what many South Florida drivers had witnessed for years: cops were among the worst speeders on the roads, taking advantage of the badge and patrol car to ignore the very laws they enforce. "Short Shifted," a two-part series published in December, used those same toll records to detail how many South Florida cops, paid to serve and protect, were regularly leaving their beats and cities before their shifts ended.
Tags: Police; police speeders
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Cracks in the Empire: Inside Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson, the gold standard of corporate America for its single-minded devotion to its customers, is fending off federal, state and consumer allegations that the company harmed and cheated the ill. The Press found that the New Brunswick, NJ-based copmany set its sights in the last decade on making record profits but at a high cosst. Its main OTC pain reliever company was shut down in part for being too dirty. Thousands of hip replacement patients say the device failed inside their bodies, causing them great pain.
Tags: Johnson & Johnson; pain relievers; drugs; pharmaceuticals
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All the Devils are Here: The Hidden Story of the Financial Crisis
The book attempts to explore all the various forces -- on Main Street; Washington; and Wall Street -- that led to the financial crisis of 2008.
Tags: Wall Street; financial crisis; lending; subprime mortgage
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All the Devils are Here: The Hidden Story of the Financial Crisis
This book offers an attempt to exlore all the various forces -- on Main Street, Washington and Wall St. -- that lead to the financial crisis of 2008. They explored the extent that subprime loans fed the crisis; how Wall Street dictated the degraded lending terms; and the efforts of federal regulators to thwart predatory lending at the state and local levels.
Tags: financial crisis; subprime lending; housing crisis; foreclosure; predatory lending; Wall Street; Contrywide; Ameriquest; Goldman Sachs; Merrill Lynch; AIG;
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Fire Mark: Did prosecutors wrongfully convict a 17-year-old of triple homicide in the 1995 blaze that killed three firefighters?
The Innocence Institute of Point Park University looked into the conviction of Greg Brown who was charged with arson in a fire that lead to the death of three firefighters. Through their reporting efforts, the Innocence Institute the fire was not started by Brown - it was cause by a natural gas leak, not arson. And that some of the main witnesses had been paid as much as $10,000 to testify.
Tags: wrongful conviction; arson; crime; Innocence Project; FOIA; ATF; Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
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NCAA: Mixed Messages
The phrase “student-athlete” has been used for a number of years, but recently it seems unsuitable for college athletics. In this series, a number of issues are spotlighted and they include “academics, the arms race, television money, the use of likenesses and images, and the myth of the four-year scholarship”. The main purpose of this series was to display the recent activities of college athletics and let you decide if the phrase “student-athlete” still applies.
Tags: athletic department; FOIA; Florida State; Rutgers University; sports; networks; money; grades; classroom; education
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"The Plane Truth"
Sun-Sentinel reporters found Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp were using government planes for personal travel. In two years, more than half the trips taken were between the lieutenant governor's home and the capital. In two years, Kottkamp "billed taxpayers" nearly $425,000 to finance the flights.
Tags: Charlie Crist; Jeff Kottkamp; Gov. Crist; Frank Brogan