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 "Rhode Island" ...
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Death by Detention
Boubacar Bah slipped into a coma at an immigration jail in New Jersey after hitting his head while in custody and then shackled in a disciplinary cell for 13 hours.
Tags: Central Falls; Rhode Island; customs enforcement; skull fracture; comatose;
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Robert Felner
Former University of Louisville Dean Robert Felner was involved in a money laundering scheme that led to the misappropriation of $2.3 million in contract and federal grant funds.
Tags: Thomas Schroeder; mail fraud; University of Rhode Island; education; graduate school;
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Target 12 Investigators: Checking Up On Your Doctor
"It is common practice for doctors to hold medical licenses in multiple states, but...it can take a significant amount of time for sanctions issued in other states to be verified by the Rhode Island Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline. ...In the meantime any patient checking that doctor's record would have found a clean slate, with no indication of the out-of-state sanction or the Rhode Island board’s investigation. We further uncovered that under the current system the only way for patients to truly check a doctor's background is to find out each state the doctor has ever been licensed in and check with each licensing authority individual."
Tags: medical license; doctor; Rhode Island; sanctions;
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Caught in the Driver's Seat
This investigation stared when a driver with a suspended license for more than 10 years hit and killed a jogger. In a 6-month investigation, WJAR-TV found violations such as reckless driving, DUIs, suspended licenses and criminal violations missing on driving records. Without these histories, courts were unable to fully prosecute habitually irresponsible drivers. As a result of this investigation, the state of Rhode Island set up a system to update records automatically.
Tags: reckless driving; suspended license; DUI; DWI; driving records; department of motor vehicles (DMV)
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911 Test
What's unique about the 911 emergency system in Rhode Island is that it allows operators to trace a persons location using a GPS system. As this story explains, this system can be useful only if the cell phones have a GPS chip in it, which is present only in newer models.
Tags: 911; emergency calls; GPS technology; cell phones; mobile phones; GPS mapping
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Health care influence at the Rhode Island General Assembly
This series of stories raised a number of ethical concerns involving state legislators. The stories detailed how the president of the senate made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling Blue Cross Insurance to CVS pharmacy employees, while as a legislator he used his position to kill pharmacy choice legislation. Other stories showed how another senator worked as a "consultant" for health care concerns and how the national drugstore industry entertained state legislators from around the country at luxury resorts. Following the newspaper's reports, the senate president and the head of Blue Cross resigned, while the state police and the FBI began an investigation.
Tags: politics; health care industry; pharmaceutical industry; drugstores; ethics; corporate influence; lobbying; special interests
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Resident #1
"Resident #1" is the alias for a Providence nursing home patient whose health rapidly deteriorated due to repeated neglect. Levitz looks at how the Rhode Island Health Department allowed this patient and many others like her to slip through the cracks, jeopardizing their safety. Levitz reports on how the system that is supposed to protect these people rarely closes poorly performing homes, and even waives fines, keeping public in the dark about how these homes measure up.
Tags: Rhode Island Department of Health; nursing home; assisted living regulations
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Up In Flames
Following the disastrous nightclub fire in Warwick, Rhode Island, CBS examines the causes that led to the tragedy. In this story, the question the national fire safety codes that waives the requirement of sprinklers for facilities with fewer than 300 patrons. As part of this investigation, the story also shows how a similar nightclub fire just weeks before the one in Rhode Island, had been contained by a sprinkler system with no loss of life.
Tags: Miami Beach Fire; Jim Shannon; National Fire Protection Association; Jack Chartier
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The Station Fire
A fire in a nightclub killed 100 people in Rhode Island. This set of stories investigates how so many people were killed that night. The reporters revealed that there were over 400 people packed into a place with a capacity of about 250. The story also looks at the harrowing experience of the people trying to get out of the place and how structural changes could have avoided the fire in the first place.
Tags: Fire; Fire Department; Construction; Nightclubs; West Warwick Fire Department; The Station Nightclub
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Where The Bad Boys Are
The Rhode Island Months reports on training schools for juvenile offenders. The schools attempt to put kids back on the right track with mandatory education, helping kids learn how to learn when they have blown off or been blown off by school. GED scores that are well above passing is what happens when "you get them away from all the bullshit in their lives and they can focus on education," one teacher says. The recidivism rate is still around 30 percent, though. Each kids cots taxpayers about $80,000 a year to house at the schools.
Tags: juvenile justice; GED; training schools