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 "cemeteries" ...
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The Deadliest Place in Mexico
The Juarez Valley, a narrow corridor of green farmland carved from the Chihuahuan desert along the Rio Grande, was once known for its cotton, which rivaled Egypt’s. But that was before the Juarez cartel moved in to set up a lucrative drug smuggling trade. “The Deadliest Place in Mexico” explores untold aspects of Mexico’s drug war as it has played out in the small farming communities of this valley. The violence began in 2008, when the Sinaloa cartel moved in to take over the Juarez cartel’s turf. The Mexican government sent in the military to quell the violence — but instead the murder rate exploded. While the bloodshed in the nearby City of Juarez attracted widespread media attention, the violence spilling into the rural Juarez Valley received far less, eve as the killings began to escalate in brutal ways. Community advocates, elected officials, even police officers were shot down in the streets. Several residents were stabbed in the face with ice picks. By 2009, the valley, with a population of 20,000, had a murder rate six times higher than Juarez itself. Newspapers began to call the rural farming region the “Valley of Death.” This investigation uses extensive Freedom of Information Act requests, court documents, and difficult-to-obtain interviews in Spanish and English with current and former Juarez Valley residents, Mexican officials, narcotraffickers and U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials, to reveal that many of these shocking deaths were perpetrated with the participation of Mexican authorities. It shows scenes of devastation — households where six members of a single family were killed, without a single police investigation. It uncovers targeted killings by masked gunmen of community activists and innocent residents for speaking out against violence and repression facilitated by corrupt military and government officials. And it gathers multiple witnesses who describe soldiers themselves, working in league with the Sinaloa cartel, perpetrating violence against civilians. "The cemeteries are all full. There isn't anywhere left to bury the bodies," one former resident said. "You'll find nothing there but ghost towns and soldiers."
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Grave Matters
"Grave Matters follows a dozen families that conduct 'green' burials for their loves ones, including burials that take place in 'natural' cemeteries and at sea, as well as cremations and funerals at home."
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Show and Tell Tape #2
2004 IRE National Conference (Atlanta) Show and Tell Tape #2 features the following stories: 1)Randy Travis (WAGA-Atlanta) Modeling company Options Talent Group placed photos on their Web site and claimed their services would help clients become models for $500 a month, but agencies rarely took models from Options. 2)Darcy Spears (KVBC-Las Vegas) This hidden camera investigation into government found employees slacking on taxpayers' money by taking too long, and too many smoke breaks. 3)Mark Greenblatt (WBBH-Ft. Meyers) This investigation exposes a pet cemetery, widely used by veterinarians in the area. The cemetery does not fulfill its promises of dignified pet burials, and leaves dead animals exposed above the ground. 4)David Schechter (WCCO-Minneapolis) Profits from reservation casino gambling have garnered millions for certain tribes. Despite this, some Native Americans are left tribeless and living in poverty. 5)Steve Chamraz (KCTV-Kansas City) The investigation found Kansas City police aren't effectively tracking Internet predators, and lack computer resources to catch up. 6)Angie Moreschi (WTHR-Indianapolis) Indiana Social Services failed to research one family, resulting in a father with a history of abuse, who beat his child to death.
Tags: tape; show and tell; investigative; Atlanta; no transcripts; IRE
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Show and Tell Tape #1
2004 IRE National Conference (Atlanta) Show and Tell Tape #1 features the following stories: 1)Phil Williams (WTVF-Nashville) A hidden camera investigation proves that special interest lobbyists are buying Tennessee lawmakers. 2)Stephen Stock (WESH-Orlando) An investigation into new home inspections found inspectors conducting too many inspections daily with a passing rate as high as 99 percent in one county. 3)Anna Werner and David Raziq (KHOU-Houston) Children as young as 11-years-old were being physically abused at the juvenile probation department in Harris County, Texas. 4)Tony Pipitone (WKMG-Orlando)The Brevard School District in Orlando requested additional funding from the federal government for poorer schools but put that money toward helping the district as a whole. 5)Brian Collister (WOAI-San Antonio) A national report claimed that San Antonio police were among the best in the country for not targeting minority motorists, but an investigation proved police officers skewed the data. 6) Jacqueline McLean (KGMB-Honolulu) A cemetery that hasn't been licensed in nine years makes room for more bodies by removing old ones. 7) Chris Halsne (KIRO-Seattle) Mapping software found 605 sex offenders living near day cares statewide. None of the day cares were ever notified. 8) Bog Segall (WITI-Milwaukee) Many inmates use their phone privileges to call their victims, intimidating them in the hopes they won't show up at trial. 9)Larry Posner (Inside Edition) An investigation into Pitts, one of the largest door-to-door magazine sellers in the country, found the company charging high rates, abusing employees and hiring felons. 10)Randy Travis (WAGA-Atlanta) This undercover investigation found a state court judge having 19 drinks and then getting in his car to drive. 11)Jim Strickland (WSB-Atlanta) This investigation exposed forgery and fraud by an Atlanta Booting company. 12)Bebe Emerman (KIRO-Seattle) A problem with the powercord of one brand of oscillating fans was linked to 20 house fires. 13)Elisabeth Leamy (WTTG) This story discusses the lives of those held in concentration camps and the Nazi tattoos they received.
Tags: tape; show and tell; investigative; Atlanta; no transcripts; IRE
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Born to Believe
Westword looks at the issue of religion and medical care. "Between 1990 and July of this year, eleven children born to members of the First Born were buried in the Pea Green cemetery." Church members believed God would heal their children, but authorities say that children may have survived if their parents had sought timely medical attention.
Tags: healing; faith healing; religion; Church of the First Born; Colorado
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Dying in Florida
"Nearly 170,000 Floridians died last year at a rate that outpaced the nation. Here, the competition to sell funeral and burial services is intense. Florida Today reveals changes and problems in the 'death care' industry that affect consumers' pocketbooks."
Tags: funeral business; burial; death; dying; Florida; elderly; corporations; funerals homes; cemeteries
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Cemetery Plot
This is the story behind the murder of Anastasia WitbolsFeugen, whose death was called a murder-suicide by police. It was only four years later that a girl who had witnessed the murder stepped forward. Trial testimony, material downloaded from the killer's website and an interview with the murderer provide a glimpse into why this bizarre murder may have taken place.
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Unholy Alliance
A New Times investigation reveals "how the nation's largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, at the instigation of Cardinal Roger Mahony, entered into a secret deal with one of the nation's largest funeral service company, Stewart Enterprises, Inc." The funeral chain and the Catholic church agreed to build for-profit mortuaries on the ground of church cemeteries. As a result, unsuspecting Catholics have been steered by parish priests -- pressured by the archdiocese -- to use the Stewart mortuaries at prices double than those of identical services provided by independent mortuaries. "It is an arrangement that appears tied to the cardinal's ambitious push to build a spanking new $193 million cathedral in Los Angeles," the Times reports.
Tags: religion; California Cemetery and Funeral Bureau; consumer affairs; Montebello; donations
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The Deathcare Business
U.S. News & World Report investigates how the funeral industry is making lots of money off people's grief. The article reports on the 20-year-long crusade of a Catholic priest, Henry Wasielewski, to educate funeral buyers about morticians' markups. One of the findings is that chain-owned funeral homes charge customers the most and often have unfair practices . "In the past five years, funeral prices have risen three times faster than the cost of living," the magazine reports
Tags: Funeral and Memorial Societies of America; churches; religion; Catholicism; corpses; mausolea; cemeteries; crematory