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 "State Bureau of Investigation" ...
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Trail of the Gun
After a wave of gun violence in Seattle, KING 5 examined some of the most basic techniques that police use to solve gun crimes. By analyzing documents received through public records requests the television station learned that most large police departments in Washington state are not conducting routine ballistics tests on the so-called “crime guns” they seize from suspects and crime scenes. This means that guns, that could hold clues to unsolved crimes, are sitting right under investigators’ noses in their own evidence rooms. The investigative series "Trail of the Gun" also unearthed the results of federal firearms “traces”, which police use to determine how a gun ended up in the hands of a criminal. These trace results revealed that a large number of Seattle’s crime guns came from an unexpected place. After the stories aired, several large police departments pledged to begin ballistics testing programs for their crime guns. The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms offered to assist local police agencies to test every gun in their evidence rooms. And, the feds unveiled a warrant targeting one of the gun dealers identified in the series.
Tags: Guns; gun crimes; police
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Backdoor Branches
The investigation turns up "backdoor branches" where unscrupulous dealers are using loopholes within state and federal business laws to purchase license plates and titles for undocumented drivers.
Tags: license plates; bureau of motor vehicles; I.D.; backdoor branches
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"Deaths at the State Hospital"
This ongoing investigation reveals major misconduct by the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo, the largest public psychiatric hospital in the state. The investigative team exposed and detailed the deaths of four patients that resulted from the "mistakes, lack of training, incompetence and possible criminal neglect" carried out by hospital employees. The series also reveals the attempt of state human services officials to cover up the mistakes.
Tags: mental health; patients; grand jury; DA; Pueblo; Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment; database; Pueblo State Hospital; Nexis-Lexis; 441.com; CoCourts.com; Colorado Bureau of Investigation
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"A License To Lose"
This investigative report reveals weaknesses in security in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, as well as in the BMVs of two nearby states. WBNS-TV found that hundreds of social security and registration papers were being discarded in unsecured trash receptacles. The report also reveals that the BMV was aware of the security breach two years prior to the occurrence, but failed to do anything about the issue.
Tags: Bureau of Motor Vehicles; BMV; partial driver's license; registration
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Ghost Drivers
"For years, Indiana has suffered the embarrassment and dubious distinction as a "fraud Friendly" state when it comes to obtaining bogus licenses and identification cards. A new administration vowed to put a stop to it. But 13 investigates discovered the state's top agencies for prosecuting fraud weren't following through on the legal end. Investigative Reporter Sandra Chapman began tracking the case of an accused Bureau of Motor Vehicles worker accused of fraud. What she found instead was a system allowing known illegal drivers using social security numbers from decreased residents to operate free and clear of Indiana law."
Tags: identification cards; identity fraud; fake credentials; drivers licenses; driving records
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Takings Initiatives Accountability Project: The Center for Public Integrity investigates ballot initiatives that would radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states
The [non-partisan]Center for Public Integrity investigated 2006 "ballot initiatives that were designed to radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states. They discovered that a trio of "secret donors" accounted for 99% of the propostions' bankrolls, and some of the initiatives did not comply with campaign-finance and other regulations. Then the Center revealed that 85 percent of the funding was coming from a single wealthy real estate investor and Libertarian activist, Howard RIch All but the Arizona inititative failed at the ballot. The Center for Public Integrity set up a stand-alone website-- www.takings initiatives.org-- and filed more than 50 articles on it. "Our general practice-- and a novel one as far as we can tell-- was to mount verbatim transcripts of the interviews on our website, including audio recordings where available. We sought to allow proponents, opponents funders and experts to have a chance to present their side of the story in their own words." The Center also checked with state and federal regulators for compliance of relevant laws and regulations.
Tags: Takings Initiatives; takings clause; ballot initiatives; land-use regulation; environmental regulation; tax-exempt organizations; Howard Rich; Andrea Millen Rich; Council for Responsible Government; William A. Wilson; state campaign-finance filings; public records requests; state freedom of information requests; America At Its Best; Americans for Limited Government; John Tillman; Howard Ahmanson; Fieldstead & Company; property rights; prefessional signature-gatherers; Colorado At Its Best; term limits; nonprofit advocacy organizations; Sam Adams Alliance; Sam Adams Foundation; Legislative Education Action Drive; Parents in Charge Foundation; Social Security Choice.org; Illinois Charitable Trust Bureau; educational vouchers; tuition tax credits; National Taxpayers Union; First Class Education; Susquehanna International Group; Jeffrey YAss; Cato Institute; Alliance for School Choice; Decision Education Foundation; Eric Brooks; Susan Mitchell; Pete Sepp; Kern Family Foundation; Generac Power Systems, Inc.; Milton Friedman; Taxpayer Bill of Rights; TABOR; Laird Maxwell; This House is MY Home; John Whitehead; Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Exoxemis, Inc.; Family Farm Preservation Pact; Citizens for Community Protection; Kelo v. City of New London; eminent domain; New York Millionaires Assistance Act; Wallace Global Fund; Nicholas C. Dranias; PRNewswire; Eric O'Keefe; getliberty.com; George Soros
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Uncovering 'Coingate': From State of Turmoil to State of Change
In the second year of investigations into corruption in the State of Ohio, a Toledo Blade investigation into investment and corruption scandals takes down a former COP county chairman who channeled illegal contributions through more than 20 conduits into the 2004 Bush/Cheney campaign.
Tags: Ohio Bureau of Investigation; kickbacks; Ohio Republican Party; Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation; hedge funds; Coingate; GOP fundraiser Tom Noe; rare coin trading; pay-to-play; contribution laundering
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Discharged and Dishonored
Adams and Young from the Knight Ridder Washington Bureau investigated the Department of Veterans Affairs to see how it was handling veterans' disability compensation programs. They found inconsistencies among states, over half a million eligible veterans who were not receiving benefits, a 23 percent in processing claims, and more than 13,700 veterans who died in the past decade while waiting for an appeal on their claims to be resolved, among other problems.
Tags: VA; Post-traumatic stress disorder; PTSD; Gulf War syndrome; disability claims; VFW; Foreign Legion; veterans benefits; precision journalism
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Pittsburgh Terror Plot
In October 2001, it was made known that Pittsburgh was on a list of seven US cities cited as possible targets for terrorism. The WTAE-TV investigation confirmed with sources inside the US Justice Department that in the days following the attacks of 9/11, American intelligence agents in Hamburg, Germany, discovered plans for a possible Al Qaida assault in Pittsburgh. The target was the US Post Office and Courthouse in Pittsburgh.
Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation; United States Marshal; United States Coast Guard; Al Qaida; United States Post Office and Courthouse in Pittsburgh
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State Oversight Lax for Vocational Schools
Students who signed up for vocational schools seeking training in computers, health care and cosmetology among other fields of study, have filed 1,177 complaints to California's Bureau for Postsecondary and Vocational Education in the past two years. Bureau administrators admitted to being passive regarding student complaints which were most often about school fraud, false advertising and failure to make refunds. Schools failed, with impugnity, to report satisfactory graduation and job-placement records as required by law. And recently the SEC has opened an investigation of one company, ITT Educational Services, for possible falsified attendance records, grades and job-placement statistics, none of which was caught by California's bureau.
Tags: Vocational training; computer schools; medical care; lack of governmental oversight; cosmetology schools; class action lawsuits