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 "bill process" ...
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Testing the System: Justice for Rape Victims
Thousands of rape victims in Colorado were victimized twice – once by their attacker and again by a system failing to utilize a crucial piece of evidence, a rape kit. Our investigation revealed the vast majority of rape kits police collected were never tested and the painful process a victim endures to provide the evidence is often in vain. Our story immediately prompted change. One department changed its policy and is testing old rape kits that should have been tested years ago. State lawmakers are filing bills to require rape kit testing. These changes have led to more thorough rape investigations in police departments and could ultimately prevent a rapist from striking again.
Tags: rape; rape victims; rape kits; police; criminal justice system; broadcast
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Prognosis: Profits
In their quest for growth and profits, large nonprofit hospitals in North Carolina have pushed up healthcare costs, paid executives millions and left thousands with bills they struggle to pay. In a joint investigation, the Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh found that urban hospitals in North Carolina have generated some of the nation’s largest profit margins and have amassed billions of dollars in reserves. Hospitals in the Charlotte area have sued thousands of needy patients they could afford to help, frequently putting liens on their homes and damaging their credit. Raleigh-Durham hospitals, meanwhile, have sent collection agencies after thousands of patients, ruining the credit ratings of many in the process.
Tags: Healthcare; nonprofit hospitals; patients
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Salt Lake Tribune, editorial stance, Lobbying keeps Utah's open record laws intact
"After a significant change in Utah's open records laws passed legislation without typical due process. The paper's editorial and government relations staff aggressively reported on the claims from both supporters and opponents of the bill."
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Sponsored Bills in Sacramento: How Our Laws are Really Made
The series takes an in-depth look at how many bills in the state legislature are written by outside sponsors and their lobbyists. It examines the connection between lawmakers who introduce these bills and the campaign contributions they receive from the groups that sponsored the bills.
Tags: bill; lobby; government; bill process; state government
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Mississippi Cold Case
"The process of making the documentary, "Mississippi Cold Case" solved an intractable civil rights era hate crime and helped put a Ku Klux Klansman behind bars for life. The film tells the step-by-step story of how victim's family member Thomas Moore and documentary filmmaker David Ridgen reignite interest in Charles Moore and Henry Dee case..."
Tags: Civil Rights; KKK; Ku Klux Klan; murder; FBI; James Ford Seale; Cold Case Bill;
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Kids in Crisis: When the State Steps In
This documentary examines the process behind court ordered forcible removal of children from their families. It covers exchanges between social workers, police, parents, children and judges and follows the real-life court intervention of an Indiana family. Cameras follow the forcible removal of children from their home in the middle of the night.
Tags: child welfare; social services; family court; police; families; children
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The fine print: Bush forces a shift in regulatory thrust
This three-day series revealed how small, subtle regulatory changes by the Bush administration at three federal agencies have had large consequences for the American people. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has eliminated nearly five times as many pending regulations as it has completed. The Data Quality Act, slipped into an appropriations bill, directs the Office of Management and Budget to ensure all information disseminated by the government is reliable, but in practice it allows industries to challenge the need for stiffer regulations. A one-word change in another regulation accelerated "mountaintop removal" mining because the debris was reclassified from "waste" to "fill."
Tags: federal regulatory process; Occupational Safety and health Administration; OSHA; Office of Management and Budget; OMB; Data Quality Act; federal government; Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions.
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Profiting from Hope
The Parker Hughes Cancer Center of Minnesota's Twin Cities promises their patients hope in the face of life-threatening disease. But the Star Tribune investigates these promises, and finds that the clinic has a pattern of excessive and sometimes unnecessary tests and treatments. Patients also have complaints about billing processes and unusual charges. The clinic also built up the doctors' credentials, making them sound more qualified than they actually were. Also, the clinic allegedly solicited financial 'rewards.' For example, one physician asked the Red Cross to give money to the clinic as an award for buying blood products.
Tags: Parker Hughes Cancer Center; cancer; doctor; HMO
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Dubious Value: A Haphazard System for Assessing Property Values Produces Huge Differences in Tax Bills for Similar Properties
This investigation unearthed some major issues with property assessment in New Orleans. People who bought homes in New Orleans in 2003 paid, on average, 70 percent more than the value assigned by the assessor. These deficiencies in the appraisal process occur because many valuations have been "...Out of whack for decades, leading to accumulated tax inequities in the tens of thousands of dollars on some properties." The biggest breaks go to homeowners in neighborhoods that have experienced steep price appreciation in the last decade. The implications of this problem manifest themselves in the potholes on the streets and low-quality school buildings -- the city is losing tens of millions of dollars in property tax revenue every year.
Tags: property management; assessment; taxation; education; city programs; homeowners; housing market; garden district
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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