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 "auditors" ...
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Hospital at Risk
My investigation of the Minnesota Security Hospital, a state-run facility that provides psychiatric treatment to nearly 400 adults deemed "mentally ill and dangerous," uncovered high rates of violence and injuries of employees and patients at the facility, a critical shortage of psychiatrists, and widespread confusion among employees about what to do when a patient becomes violent. I found that much of confusion was the result of the abrasive, threatening management style of head administrator David Proffitt, who was hired in 2011 to reform the facility. I began investigating Proffitt and found he was hired without a basic background check. I uncovered many troubling details from Proffitt's past, including domestic violence, a PhD from a now-defunct online degree mill, a forced resignation from his previous job as the administrator of a private psychiatric hospital in Maine, and other failings. The state ordered Proffitt to resign and the Minnesota legislative auditor began an audit of the department's hiring practices. The assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services who led the hiring search also resigned. The governor proposed $40 million in renovations to address safety concerns. Regulators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facility for the first time in 21 years. The facility also implemented new training for employees to reduce violence. My investigation of the facility continues.
Tags: Psychiatrists; domestic violence; injuries
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State of Emergency
The story revealed how, for the past decade, Denver Health has been able to systematically lobby the Mayor's office to lower the ambulance response time standards in the operating agreement the hospital keeps with the city. Even as call volume has increased significantly year by year, the contractual changes have enabled the hospital to stay in response time compliance without adding more paramedics and ambulances. This series also showed how the hospital was deleting a key chunk of call duration from the figures being reported to the city, in violation of the municipal agreement. The city's actual ambulance response times vastly underperform nationally accepted standards. Veteran Denver Health paramedics say the increasing delays in emergency response have dire consequences.
Tags: ambulance response times; municipal agreement; ambulances; Denver; hospital; slow ambulance response
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System Failure
"In June 2006, the auditor general of Newfoundland and Labrador began filing blockbuster reports on the spending habits of the province's politicians. The money is question came from their constituency allowances- a type of expense account that had long been derided as a type of political slush fund."
Tags: MHA; Derek Green; M.O. Morgan; Lloyd Snow; Douglas Oldford; Beaton Tulk;
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Expressway Authority Investigation
This series investigated the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which prompted an investigation by Governor Jeb Bush's office, an investigation by the Florida Legislature's Auditor General and an ongoing investigation by the FBI.
Tags: transportation; highway; political scandal; politicians; lobbyists; special interests; state government; Hillsborough County Florida
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Secrets, Lies, and Sweatshops
Although American businesses claim to exploit "sweatshop" labor with on-site monitoring and strict codes of conduct, Chinese factories are hiding the abuse. The factories have been found to have two sets of books to fool the auditors and its employees are given written scripts in case they are questioned.
Tags: China; children; wages; sweatshop; Ningbo Beifa Group; contractor; violation
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Would you pay $840,925 for this house?
Colorado Springs Utilities has spent over $6 million to purchase property for a reservoir that has yet to be granted a federal permit. The purchase prices were much higher than the appraised and market values, while including additional payments for "relocation costs."
Tags: realty; housing; over priced; reservoir; grant; permit; rent; auditor; jimmy camp creek
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UConn 2000
This series investigated the construction program at the University of Connecticut, exposing significant flaws, safety violations and cost overruns in the $2.5 billion program, the largest public building project in state history. The Courant found that the university ignored recommendations from auditors on construction and budgeting issues, resulting in cost overruns and safety violations that will cost millions to correct. The university withheld critical audit findings from the state legislature even as it was requesting more than $1 billion in additional public funding. The university changed the dimensions of a student-housing complex to bypass state fire inspections that would have delayed construction. The university handed out no-bid contracts, in some cases to contractors who increased their donations at the time they received the work.
Tags: University of Connecticut; UCONN; safety violations; cost overruns; public construction; auditors; budget; Connecticut state legislature; public funding; contractors
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Bucks Unlimited
This investigation uncovers unfair funding for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Decades ago, the Department fought for a tax to care for the state's wildlife areas; now, the agency's goals have been met but the tax keeps bringing in millions of dollars. In a time where other state agencies are dealing severe cutbacks, the Conservation Department spends frivolously on hotel rooms, conferences, concerts and even motivational training for the employees. The situation is worsened by the fact that the Conservation Department does not report directly to the state legislature. Furthermore, the department auditor, who should be keeping spending in line, went into business with several department employees.
Tags: conservation; environment; natural resources; hunting; forestry; advertising; tax
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A Billion - Dollar Bet
This investigation showed how Baltimore developer David S. Cordish used tax-free municipal bonds to build two glitzy casino complexes for the Seminole Tribe in Florida. Tax-exempt bonds are supposed to be issued only for "essential government functions" and private developers are barred from benefiting from them. But, those regulations were being ignored, until these Sun reporters brought the deal into the spotlight.
Tags: real estate; development; gambling; bonds; IRS; Internal Revenue Service; Auditors
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Contracts with America
As the Washington Correspondent for Mother Jones, Scherer's investigation looks into the world of federal contracting and how a lack of government oversight is decreasing competition among contractors. "In 2002, nearly 52 percent of the contract dollars, about $138 billion, was awarded without competition, attracted only one bidder, or used multiple-award contracts or federal purchase cards--practices that auditors say are often used to skirt federal requirements to compete contracts."
Tags: federal contracting; Government Accountability Office; Defense Contract Management Agency; CAR; homeland security