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 "San Francisco" ...
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Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Cooper
Scapegoat is the true story of the horrific Chino Hills murders -- the highest profile crime in San Bernardino County history. It shows how law enforcement ignored eyewitness information implicating three white men as the perpetrators in order to pin the crime on Kevin Cooper, a recently escaped black prisoner from the nearby prison in Chino, California. It shows how his public defender lost the case before the trial even began and how the justice system has failed Cooper at almost every turn. It also shows the heroic work of an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco that adopted Cooper's case pro bono just three months before his scheduled execution in 2004 and won him a stay and how lawyers from this firm continue to appeal his wrongful conviction.
Tags: Murders; crime; law enforcement; police; prison; justice system; wrongful conviction
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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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Investigation of fatal pipeline blast
Before the National Transportation Safety Board issued its findings into the 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, the San Francisco Chronicle had already exposed negligent management by pipeline operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and lax regulation by the state and federal governments that contributed to a disaster.
Tags: NTSB; National Transportation Safety Board; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; pipeline
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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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Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0
Many local business owners began to believe something bizarre was happening when sales reps from Yelp.com offered to remove negative reviews off of the website. The only way the negative reviews could be removed was if the local businesses would advertise with Yelp. If the business owners refused the offer, they began noticing positive reviews disappearing.
Tags: local business owners; sales representatives; reviews; San Francisco; website; advertising; online; Internet; companies; businesses; Jeremy Stoppelman; Russel Simmons
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War of Values
The piece uncovers the mystery of the Lembi family and their expansion into the San Francisco real estate market. During a time period, they bought almost every apartment available on the market and tripled their real estate holdings by overbidding on properties. “The family’s expansion drove up rents citywide, chased out thousands of tenants and changed the face of San Francisco by driving out thousands of citizens.”
Tags: San Francisco; Real Estate; Wall Street; Lembi; Renting; Financial Crisis; Landlords
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Code 3
"Code 3" focused on ambulance delays in San Francisco and provided a rare glimpse inside an inherently complex and often secretive bureaucracy. The project began as a two-day series and continued with several follow-up reports. Paramedics and quality control experts say the city does not have enough ambulances and needs to hire more paramedics. A history of tensions between paramedics and firefighters, and a lack of coordination between the Fire Department, the Department of Emergency Management and the Public Health Department, continues to undercut the city's 911 medical responses and the quality of care. The city does not collect sufficient data on 911 responses to fully audit ambulance delays, examine particular treatments and learn from clinical mistakes
Tags: ambulances; emergency response; San Francisco; first responders; fire department; department of emergency management; public health department
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Snitch
"Snitch" told the story of a terrified grandmother from a housing project who witnessed a murder and reporter it anonymously, only to be coerced into testifying in court and then forced into a witness relocation program. The story also revealed the strong-arm tactics of a crime-laden city's homicide unite and district attorney's office which failed to provide accommodations for the relocated witness's pet dog, who was eventually euthanized. The story also described the realities of living in San Francisco's worst housing project, where murder is common and named witnesses are almost unheard of.
Tags: murder; witness; coercion; witness protection program; legal system
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Code 3
"'Code 3,' a two-day series that focused on ambulance delays in San Francisco, provided a rare glimpse inside an inherently complex and often secretive bureaucracy." Findings included: 439 people died while waiting for the ambulance to arrive; in 27 percent of high-priority medical calls, first responders failed to meet the city's time standard; and the city's 911 call center was the weakest link.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award; ambulance; response time; 911; Fire Department; Department of Emergency Management; death; medicine;
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Mayor's Aide Accused of Dirty Tricks
"Over the past four years, we've reported so many stories of ineffective government, mismanagement; and corruption that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom refuses to speak with us for any report. In January, we learned that his Press Officer was taking it a step further- going on-line under fake names and blasting us on local blogs, including our own website. This story gave viewers an insight into the resistance all investigative reporters sometimes face, and the difficulty of pursuing hard-hitting stories."
Tags: city government; mayor; web site; blogs; identity; Gavin Newsom; San Francisco