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 "Oakland, California" ...
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Returning Home to Battle
While the Obama administration declared care for returning U.S. military personnel to be a top priority, reporter Aaron Glantz found something entirely different when he drilled down in the San Francisco Bay Area – home to more than a quarter-million veterans. In a series of stories for The Bay Citizen, which is part of the Center for Investigative Reporting, Glantz exposed an alarming failure inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, where mistakes and massive delays in processing disability claims for ailing veterans were the norm, sometimes leading to tragic consequences. Glantz was the first to detail this trend, finding that tens of thousands of Northern California veterans had been waiting an average of 313 days for a decision from the Oakland office on compensation claims for conditions as serious as traumatic brain injury. The Oakland regional office ranks fifth in the nation for number of veterans served – nearly 1 million veterans from the Oregon border to Bakersfield. The story was so shocking it prompted 16 members of Congress to demand immediate help for veterans filing through Oakland. More action quickly followed. Glantz had found through his reporting that the problem was not limited to the Bay Area. Next he set out to show it. The decision to dig deeper – to go beyond the local story – helped bring greater context to such a critically important issue. Through rich storytelling and clear writing, Glantz ably captured the plight of our veterans in his series, Returning Home to Battle.
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Fabricated and Flawed Integrity Tests Threaten Public Safety and an Iconic $6.3 Billion Bridge
The investigation found that a technician who tested the structural integrity of the other new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge fudnation had fabricated results on othe structures and committed numberous testing errors, callling to question the stability of California's costliest and most important public works project ever, among other freeway structures statewide.
Tags: bridges; San-Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge; freeway structures
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"Fresno Cops Involved in Repeat Shootings Still on Duty"
This investigative report by Ali Winston found that "27 Fresno police officers were involved in repeat shootings of civilians" from 2003 to 2009. Winston compared the data to the Oakland Police Department, a city that has a higher crime rate, during the same period of time and found that "only five officers were involved in repeat shootings." The Fresno Police Department's chief of internal affairs was "unaware of the number of officers involved in repeat shootings until contacted by Winston."
Tags: Fresno Police Department; Oakland Police Department; Internal Affairs; California; Anaheim Police; LAPD; Robert Nevarez; Central Valley
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Trafficked
Youth Radio covered the issue of human trafficking into the sex trade, a problem prevalent in Oakland. Their coverage focused on the perspectives of the trafficked teenagers.The story "pieces together what life is like for girls who are kidnapped or ensnared by pimps -- and how law enforcement criminalizes juvenile victims, arresting them three times as often as the traffickers who exploit them."
Tags: prostitution; human trafficking; kidnapping; Youth and Family Services; Oakland, California; sex trade
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The Chancey Bailey Project investigation
"In 2008, The Oakland Tribune and The Chauncey Bailey Project began to shift from investigating the organization believe responsible for the killing to how the Oakland Police investigated the case." Their work revealed failure for the police to document key evidence of conspiracy, a delay in police action to raid Your Black Muslim Bakery during which time Bailey was murdered.
Tags: Chauncey Bailey; Your Black Muslim Bakery; murder; court documents; conspiracy; FOIA; California Public Records Act; Oakland; Alameda County; police investigation
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The Chauncey Bailey Project
After Chauncey Bailey, an editor at the Oakland Post, was "assassinated" the newspaper "leaped on the story. The next day, a 19-year-old employee of a long time Oakland business called Your Black Muslim Bakery was charged with killing Bailey and said in a confession he later recanted that he shot the editor to stop him from pursing stories about the bakery's trouble finances and internal power struggles."
Tags: Arizona Project; assassination; Chauncey Bailey; Oakland; California;
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Crimewise, OC ranks as peaceful area
Statistically, speaking, from a crime standpoint, Orange County is a tide pool in a turbulent ocean. None of the county's large cities ranks among the most crime-ridden communities in California. And crime rates elsewhere in the nation dwarf those in the county according to a Register analysis of the FBI's Uniform Crime Report.
Tags: crime rate; Stanton; Santa ana; Orange County; homicide; arson; Costa Mesa; FBI uniform crime report; statistics; Los Angeles; Inglewood; San Bernadino; Oakland; assault; gang shootings; break-ins
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2002 IRE National Conference Show and Tell Tape #2
2002 IRE National Conference (San Francisco) Show and Tell Tape #2 features the following stories 1) Tim Minton (WNBC-New York City) Security at local hospitals are lacking. 2) Brian Collister (KMOL-San Antonio) An inordinate number of court case have been thrown out of the local county court because judges ruled the defendants lacked a speedy trial. 3) Clips from a PBS project concerning scientists' genetic experiments. 4) Kevin Quinn (KFSN-Fresno) Area residents are suspicious of a local Muslim village called Baladullah, where the sounds gunfire has been heard emanating from the grounds. 5) Dan Noyes (KGO-San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose) Guardrails in California are often installed incorrectly, turning the protective barriers into potential dangers. 6) Craig Fiegener (ABC 30 Action News) Fifteen travelers are swindled by a travel agency, which sold them unconfirmed tickets for a cruise. 7) Joel Grover (CBS 2-Los Angeles) An undercover investigation reveals that valet parking attendants at LA's hottest night clubs steal from their customers. 8) Paul Gallagher (60 Minutes) An investigation of the U.S. Marine Corps' MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft reveals serious mechanical problems that contributed to two crashes in 2000, which killed 23 Marines. 60 Minutes also reports that "senior officers in the Osprey squadron had deliberately falsified maintenance records and lied about the aircraft's readiness -- in an apparent effort by the Marine Corps to win Pentagon approval for full production of the aircraft, at a projected cost to U.S. taxpayers of $41 billion." 9) Tom Martino (KDVR-Denver) An undercover investigation reveals that many beauty salons use a dangerous chemical to make fake nails. 10) (WGHP-Greensboro) An investigation reveals that construction works who built the homes in a subdivision failed to install the chimneys correctly, making them dangerous for those who live there. 11) Darcy Spears (KVBC-Las Vegas) A hearing aid center uses bait and switch tactics to take advantage of the elderly. 12) Jim Kenyon (WSTM-Syracuse, New York) Criminals in Canada involved in advance fee loan scams trick Americans out of thousands of dollars. 13) Bob Segall (WITI-Milwaukee) An undercover investigation reveals that security guards at a local county courthouse don't do a good job of stopping banned items from entering the building. 14) Karen Hensel (WISH-Indianapolis) Marian County inspectors don't always review homes under construction. 15) (WBTV-Charlotte, N.C.) Members of the Iredell-Statesville School Board use district funds to attend an education conference -- but then skip the convention and go on a vacation to Disney World, all on the taxpayer's dime. 16) Valeri Williams (WFAA-Dallas/Fort Worth) WFAA-TV follows up its 2000 IRE Awards entry with this return investigation into Fort Worth's John Peter Smith Hospital. Reporter Williams and producer Schucker continued their investigation, focusing on Dr. Lydia Grotti and her connection to suspicious and overlooked deaths in the emergency room. As a result of WFAA-TV's investigation the Texas Department of Health began conducting its own investigation and discovered additional deaths that took place in the ER. The county district attorney's office called in a special prosecutor to examine a total of eight suspicious deaths in connection with Dr. Grotti at the hospital. On Tape #2 is a short clip of Williams' work. Tape #3 features the entire series of stories she played at Show and Tell.
Tags: TAPE; San Francisco; conference; no transcripts; IRE
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How one man quietly assembled... A Towing Empire: Blackhawk man has built fortune off Oakland contract
The Oakland Tribune tells the story of Oakland multimillionaire Bill Taylor, a politically connected businessman who owns the only towing company contracted with the city of Oakland. Taylor's contract with the city has never been audited and the true value of the contract is known to no one expect Taylor and his associates. The Oakland Tribune suggests that Taylor may be getting preferential treatment from city council members.
Tags: Oakland; California; Bill Taylor; towing; city council; government; city politics; Blackhawk
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Oakland schools
Through a series of California Public Records Act requests and the construction of a database, DTVU found Oakland school district administrators had spent more than $20 million on outside consultants in the most recent two-year budget.