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 "business ethics" ...
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The Puddingstone Group
The Puddingstone Group is a real estate investment company started in 1999 by a judge, a banker, and a real estate developer, which has become involved in dozens of lawsuits arising from alleged predatory practices, breaches of legal ethics, campaign contributions, and collusion with businesses, banks, and politicians.
Tags: Real Estate; Legal Ethics
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Utility Ethics Flap
When the top lawyer for Indiana's utility regulatory commission suddenly quit his job to work for the state's largest utility (Duke Energy Corp.), reporters smelled a rat and demanded state records to see if the two organizations had been engaged in improper conversations. The lawyer in question, Scott Storms, had been the chief administrative law judge for the state, ruling on numerous cases involving the utility, notably its new $2.9 billion power plant. What they found was eye-opening. Mr. Storms had been in talks with the utility for many months about a job, even as he was ruling on cases involving the company, and approving huge cost over-runs for a new power plant. The matter was of deep public interest, because the state agency rules on utility rates paid by all state residents and businesses, and it's dealings were compromised by possible undue influence.
Tags: State Finances; Scott Storms; Ethics; Utility; State Records; Duke Energy Corporation
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Treasury Luxury Travel
The Oregonian's investigation spotlighted an obscure corner of state government where Wall Street practices became business as usual, where a set of high-paid employees were granted special exemptions to operate outside the scope of state gift and ethics laws, and functioned with little internal or public oversight. The newspaper revealed that state investment officers charged with monitoring more than $50 billion in state pension investments routinely travel in luxury, paid for by taxpayers and the Wall Street investment managers they are supposed to be overseeing. They stay at high-end resorts and five-star hotels, eat at celebrated restaurants and fly first class. The tab is often picked up by investment firms managing Oregon's investments, who are competing for hundreds of millions of dollars in fees that the pension fund pays annually. The state treasury didn't monitor that travel. It kept no record of the expenses or gratuities provided its employees. And it ignored the potential conflicts of interest.
Tags: State Government; Corruption; Finance; Wall Street; Exemption; Business; Gift and Ethics Law; Travel; State Treasury; State Employees
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"House for Sale"
After retiring as "speaker of the Missouri House," Rod Jetton focused on his political consulting business and raised money for many "Republican lawmakers." An in-depth investigation into Jetton's business revealed cases "during the 2009 legislative session that seemed to test the tolerances of state and federal law."
Tags: Rod Jetton; Speaker of Missouri House; Ethics Commission; Rex's World; Rex Sinquefield; Steven Tilley
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A Political Crime Spree
Reporters worked for years to expose the corruption within the administration of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who rode into office on promises of reform and transparency. Tribune stories unraveled the complex inner workings of the governor and his closest advisers, showing how they rewarded friends and political contributors with state work, how people who did business with the governor's wife got benefits from state government and how politics infiltrated law enforcement and regulatory agencies. These stories helped lay the foundation for a massive federal investigation that eventually led to the governor's arrest.
Tags: Blagojevich; government investigation; FOIA; search warrants; fraud; ethics legislation; Chicago governor arrested; shoe-leather reporting; administrative cover up;
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Bob Waterson stories
The Bee found that Bob Waterson, chairman of the Fresno County Board of Supervisors, had engaged in personal and business dealings that raised ethical questions. For example, he bought a luxury vehicle at an apparent discount from a tribal official as he was opposing plans for a competing tribe's casino.
Tags: Corruption; chairman; Fresno County Board of Supervisors
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Computer Security Faults Put Boeing at Risk
This package reveals Boeing's struggles with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in its information technology department. For the past three years, Boeing has failed, in both internal and external audits, to prove it can properly protect its computer systems against manipulation, theft and fraud. These concerns were not shared with shareholders.
Tags: corporations; businesses; information technology; hacking; business ethics
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Ethics Revealed
After finding that 12 local politicians owed money to the state, The Times examined the state ethics board's fining system. It showed that "the ethics board may have selectively enforced fines, had allowed delinquent candidates to run for office despite a state law forbidding them from doing so, and conducted the majority of its business in secret."
Tags: politicians; money; fines; elections; ethics board; unpaid
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Do you know when and where your City Council is meeting?
"The report investigated how well Jacksonville City Council members followed Florida's Sunshine Law, which requires public officials to provide advance notice and access to meetings of two or more officials from the same board and commission. After the meeting, someone must record written minutes of the session." However in Jacksonville "dozen of meetings about public business [were] held without public notice or written minutes and several meetings that took place in private locations, which violated the city's ethics code and numerous Florida Attorney General opinions."
Tags: sunshine law; city council; Florida; editorials
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Allerca
Allerca is a biotechnology firm in San Diego, which claimed to have engineered the world's first hypoallergenic cats. Though the cats recieved a lot of media attention, this investigation was the first to take a hard look at the company and its founder, Simon Brodie. The investigation uncovered a string of debts, umpaid employees, court judgements, and a fraudulent and illegal fake charity website.
Tags: animals; biotechnology; public records; business; business ethics; Allerca foundation; cats