Resource Center

Stories

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 "alcoholic beverages" ...

  • Bomboozled, a Story of Liquor and Money

    Profits from North Carolina's monopoly on retail liquor are supposed to flow back to the state. However, the investigation uncovers waste and corruption are causing the liquor boards to lose money.

    Tags: alcohol; liquor; waste; Alcoholic Beverage Control; retail liquor

    By Stuart Watson; John Givay; Rachel Clapp; Jeremy Markovich; Corrie Harding; Dave Wagny

    WCNC-TV (Charlotte

    2010

  • "DWI Death Capital"

    KHOU-TV set out to answer a frightening question: Why is Harris County, Texas "the DWI death capital of the country?" Employees of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission revealed "little-known amendments" that offer immunity to bars and bartenders "from civil liability" or "state administrative action" that could result from the state law that prevents over-serving alcohol.

    Tags: Safe Harbor; TABC; Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; dram shop; liquor distributors; drunk driving; bartender; public records; Texas Public Information Act; Harris County

    By Jeremy Rogalski; Keith Tomshe; David Raziq; Eddie Lozano

    KHOU-TV (Houston)

    2010

  • Sour Grapes

    This story exposes a Dallas wine retailer who uses false health and wine information to lure novice wine enthusiasts into buying large quantities of close-out and spoiled wines at highly inflated prices. False health information used to sell these wines may violate Texas law, which states that advertising for such products may not be false or misleading.

    Tags: alcohol; alcoholic beverages; wine retailers; false advertising

    By Mark Stuertz

    Dallas Observer

    2005

  • Blurring The Badge

    This investigative series exposes how Houston's uniform lawmen break the very laws they are meant to uphold. These are the lawmen working at nightclubs to maintain order but are captured by KTRK's hidden cameras as they fail to assist or even back up State alcohol agents as they raid the clubs. Such inactivity of these lawmen is the prime focus of the story.

    Tags: Harris County; Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; Houston Police Department; Gabrield Vasquez

    By Wayne Dolcefino;Steve Bivens;David deFranchi

    KTRK-TV (Houston)

    2003

  • High-alcohol malt taps market furor

    In 1991, G. Heileman Brewing Co. planned to release PowerMaster, a malt liquor beverage that was 5.9% alcohol with 50% more alcohol than a regular can of malt liquor. Black communities accused Heileman of targeting them and trying to harm them, by citing the fact that (at the time) black and Hispanic men drank most of the malt liquor in the United States.

    Tags: Olde English 800; Schlitz Malt Liquor's Red Bull; Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco and Firearms; G. Heileman Brewing Co.

    By Martha T. Moore and Mindy Fetterman

    USA Today (McLean, Va.)

    1991

  • Where was the ABC?

    A three-month investigation by the Courier-Journal found that the Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control has failed to protect consistently the public from bars, clubs and package stores that break the law. The ABC has been so lax and disorganized that some liquor law violators -- even those repeatedly sold to minors -- haven't been punished swiftly or severely. The ABC has failed to inspect some liquor license holders for years; as a result serious violations have gone unpunished. Enforcement has been hampered by friction within the ABC.

    Tags: CAR; Alcoholic Beverage Control; alcohol; liquor; corruption; license; inspections

    By R.G. Dunlop

    Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)

    1997

  • No title (id: 9567)

    Daily Egyptian (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale) looks at the rise in underage drinking on the SIU campus and finds that minors have little trouble gaining access to alcoholic beverages, May 11, 1993. # IL Davies

    Tags: None

    By None

    Daily Egyptian (Southern Illinois University at Carbondale)

    1993

  • Drunk-Driving Foes Accept Big Gifts from Alcoholic-Beverage Companies

    Chronicle of Philanthropy debates whether anti-drinking and driving organizations should accept contributions from beer, wine and liquor companies.

    Tags: SADD RID anheuser-Busch Heileman Miller Stroh Seagram Walker Gallo

    By William Montague

    Chronicle of Philanthropy (Washington, D.C.)

    1989

  • I'll Drink to That

    "This one-hour investigative documentary disclosed that Louisiana's Office of Alcoholic Beverage Control had become a virtual do-nothing agency. We documented a pattern of non-enforcement of alcoholic beverage laws, petty bribery, ticket fixing, political favoritism and payroll padding."

    Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT Lobbyists State police

    By John Camp

    WBRZ-TV (Baton Rouge, La.)

    1988

  • No title (id: 2291)

    Common Cause Magazine tells how the alcohol industry has used its influence to avert tax increases on alcoholic beverages, which have remained constant for nearly 40 years, May/June 1988.

    Tags: Novak alcohol CSPI PACs CART DISCUS drug abuse

    By None

    Common Cause Magazine (Washington, D.C.)

    1988