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 "Pierce County" ...
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Prium
A report on the dramatic rise and fall of Prium, a Pierce County, Washington State real estate company which lurched into one of the largest bankruptcy filings in state history.
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The Other Side of Mercy
"On Nov. 29, 2009, Maurice Clemmons shot and killed four Lakewood police officers in a Pierce County coffee shop, committing one of the worst crimes in the history of the Pacific Northwest. "The Other Side of Mercy" chronicles Clemmons' criminal history, exposing a variety of system breakdowns that set the stage for this shocking ambush."
Tags: Maurice Clemmons; police; murder; criminal history; criminal record; violence
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"Washam's Law"
In this investigative report, reporter Sean Robinson took a hard look at the personal and political life of Dale Washam, elected to Pierce Country Assessor-Treasurer to the "surprise" of many in 2008. Serving as Pierce Country Assessor-Treasurer for two years, Washam has been called a "gadfly" and a "busybody." This series of stories "exposed Washam as a fraud" who was only interested in his own "crusade."
Tags: Pierce County; Dale Washam; Ken Madsen; gadfly
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Judge Hecht
Newly elected Superior Court judge, Michael Hecht, was accused of picking up "male prostitutes" and of threatening to kill one of them to keep him quiet. Reporters found a number of witnesses and sources in downtown Tacoma who backed up the scandalous claims. They also found that the police were in the middle of a similar investigation. Hecht denies all charges.
Tags: Judge Michael Hecht; Pierce County; Judge Sergio Armijo; Tacoma
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Dumping Ground
Ex-convicts and former prisoners are sent to live in Pierce County into the work-release programs to help them ease back into society. Pierce County has three of these programs- RAP, Progress, and Lincoln Park houses- to help rehabilitate prisoners. But the programs are adding to the already large number of ex-cons living in Pierce County, and the number is increasing.
Tags: jail; inmate; correctional facility; Gerry Horne; pre-release; correction
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Parrots in Peril
This package of stories exposed cruel and unsanitary conditions and practices in the parrot-breeding industry. A parrot breeding facility in Pierce County, Washington, had many birds that were dying of malnutrition, and the local humane society did not act despite having proof of cruelty. The story showed that substandard, giant factory farms are common in the pet bird industry, and that such conditions could lead to outbreaks of diseases such as avian flu.
Tags: animals; pets; parrots; birds; avian flu; humane society; animal cruelty; factory farms; breeding
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"Badge of dishonor"
A five-month investigation showed that at least 41 officers in King and Pierce counties have been accused of domestic assault. Most faced few, if any, professional reprimands, and only half faced charges. Furthermore, most law enforcement agencies lacked policies about how to handle domestic violence involving law officers. Amid the newspaper's investigation, a chilling example highlighted the danger : a police chief accused of domestic violence fatally shot his estranged wife before killing himself.
Tags: domestic violence; police; domestic assault; domestic abuse; internal affairs; law enforcement; CAR; computer-assisted reporting
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Jail security: The state of the art is failure
This article describes the newest prison facility in Pierce County, WA. This jail, which went over budget and opened late, is riddled with problems. There are countless computer glitches which cause doors to open unexpectedly, cameras to go blank and the intercom to have a delay. All of these issues pose a security threat, yet the justice department did not delay opening the facility out of concern that the public would be angry.
Tags: Pierce county; prison
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Homes' Tax and Sale Values out of Synch
The News Tribune "acquired a database of more than 270,000 property records from the Pierce County Assessor-Treasurer's office. The records included several fields of information about every property in the county." Sullivan found that although "property owners in Pierce County have known for the last few years that the sky-high home prices in Seattle/King County were trickling south, ... one thing we didn't know was how fast they could change and where they were changing the fastest."
Tags: CAR; property; homes; assessment
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Law Enforcement Weapons Sales
CBS News 'ongoing investigation looked at the policies of major police and sheriff's departments across the country when it came to sales or trades of old service weapons. Using the Freedom of Information Act, and various state Public Records Acts, we collected documents and databases from more than thirty major cities and counties in the United States. Our investigation found that some of America's biggest law enforcement agencies are also some of the biggest arms dealers...."
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT CAR hand guns machine guns grenade launchers gun dealers assault rifles Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco and Firearms ATF budgets destruction