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 "beef" ...
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For-Profit-College Business Model Breeds Exploitative Marketing Tactics
In the first radio piece: Interviews with former recruiters, faculty, administrators and students of a small group of for-profit colleges in Minnesota paint a picture of schools that are exploiting unsophisticated students for their financial-aid money. Analysis points to a high-enrollment, high-dropout business model that earns the company millions but provides questionable return on taxpayer investment. In the second radio piece: Political differences at the federal level make it unclear how much the government will regulate for-profit colleges. At the Minnesota state level, the leading official for higher-ed says his agency doesn’t have the resources to go after problem colleges – and isn’t sure whether beefing up enforcement would be the best use of higher-education funding.
Tags: Non-profit colleges; financial aid; business models; for-profit colleges
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CHE: Scientists Shilling for Beef Industry
Agriculture school scientists are singing the praises of drugs that supersize beef cattle-- even though the resulting meat is tough and tasteless. The drugs' effects on animal health, human health, and the environment are even less appetizing. Guess who is sponsoring their research.
Tags: agriculture; beef cattle; meat; animal health; food safety
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Trouble on the Tray
This series found problems in the federal, state, and local programs that supplied food to the nation’s schoolchildren. Some of the major findings: beef supplied for school lunches wouldn’t pass at national fast-food restaurants, chicken found at schools is only quality enough for pet food, supplied recalled beef to schools, failed to inform schools of bad tortillas, and many schools lacked the two inspections per year.
Tags: Food safety; Schoolchildren; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Schools; Cafeteria; Government; Lunch; Beef; Children; Food; Bad food; E. coli
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Deadly Roads: A Special Report
A special report from the Orlando Sentinel looks at the number of fatal accidents in the lesser travelled highways in Florida. Deliberating on fatal accidents on the Colonial Drive in Central Florida, the in-depth report reveals that even though the traffic on the highways has lessened, the rate of accidents remains high. As a result of this series, the highway police are beefing up security in the area and there have also been initiatives to rebuild certain sections.
Tags: Transportation; road safety; Florida roads; Orange County; fatal road accidents; Colonial Dr; Central Florida; Florida Highway Police
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"Downer Cow Controversy"
This investigation began by raising questions about the lack of federal inspection outside a slaughterhouse and the treatment of cows. Particularly it raised questions about health risks involving "downer" cows -- weak, sick or crippled dairy cows processed into beef for the kitchen table. The state's beef and dairy commissions, state agencies funded by fees attached to beef and dairy products, criticized the station's reports. The television station was tried in abstentia by the Washington News Council and found to have been unfair to the beef industry. The station earlier had refused to participate in the arbitration, saying its reports were accurate and that the council itself is partial. On Dec. 23, the first U.S. case of mad cow was announced. The animal was a downer cow processed at the same slaughterhouse that was the subject of the station's initial investigation.
Tags: beef; cattle; mad cow; downer cows; USDA; dairy; E. coli; food safety; meat-packing plants; slaughterhouse
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If you've got a beef with a futures broker, this judge isn't for you. In eight years at the CFTC, Levine has never ruled in favor of an investor.
According to the article, "In his job as a federal administrative law judge, Bruce Levine decides whether aggrieved investors have been defrauded by commodity dealers and should get money back. In nearly 180 cases over eight years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, he has a remarkable record. Except for a handful of cases in which defunct firms failed to defend themselves, Judge Levine has never ruled in favor of an investor."
Tags: Bruce Levine; judges; investors; Commodity Futures Trading Commission; cases; law; trial; federal administrative law judge
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Unpaid parking tickets cost city
Several people in Greensboro, N.C owe the state thousands of dollars in unpaid parking tickets. News & Record finds out that this amount sums up to a neat $ 931,279.96. The collection of these fines has not been the top priority for the officials so far, but they say, that the system will soon be beefed up.
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Downer Cows
A KIRO-TV report on how sick, dying and injured dairy cattle are being processed for hamburger, with little or no oversight by federal meat inspectors.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; meat; federal meat inspectors; beef; cattle; dairy cattle; slaughterhouses; food safety
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ConAgra Meat Recall
The Denver Post analyzes the "inner workings of an ongoing recall by the ConAgra Beef Co. In Greeley, CO, which first began as a modest 354,200-pound call back and expanded into the nation's second largest ever. The plant was later shuttered because of recurring problems with contamination. The stories examine... violations at the plant and secrets kept from the government, the USDA's gaff in delaying it's own findings and warnings to the company and public, the public's inability to learn whether they have contaminated meat, and ConAgra's broken promises to inform the public."
Tags: meatpacking; ConAgra; Colorado; food poisoning; USDA; contamination; meat
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Modern Meat
Frontline investigates health hazards posed by the nation's meat industry. The story points to evidence that the "widespread use of antibiotics to promote growth and keep livestock healthy may result in the development of bacterial strains that are resistant to antibiotic treatment." The investigation started with examining a lawsuit that a Texas meat-grinding company, Supreme Beef -- after failing federal salmonella standard tests three times -- filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Tags: hygiene; diseases; deaths; food safety; USDA; Center for Disease Control; FOI requests; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT