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 "character" ...
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The Speculators
Reporters investigated a small group of politically connected investors who are shaping the growth and character of one of the biggest land booms in the country. Because of their connections they operate unfettered by restrictions or requirements. If the deals go bad, the speculators face few consequences and quickly re-emerge unscathed while they continue to play fast and loose with other peoples' money.
Tags: land development; speculation industry; land owners; FOIA
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Who Knew?
This investigation traced the arc of the anabolic steroids age in Major League Baseball. The report describes the phenomenon by telling the story of critical characters in the national pastime's chemical history.
Tags: sports; drugs; illegal substances; BALCO; baseball; professional athletes
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A Shot in the Arm
Police arrested Darryl Burton on June 28, 1984, for the shooting death of Donald Ball, a notorious neighborhood gangster. Burton's trial in 1985 lasted two days, and a St. Louis jury found him guilty of capital murder and armed criminal action. Circuit Judge Jack L. Koehr sentenced the 23 year old Burton to life in prison. This story explores the murder conviction and the obstacles Burton has encountered in trying to get the conviction reversed. He was convicted on the strength of two eyewitness accounts. Gay finds that one of the eyewitnesses admitted perjury, and the other has had his character and testimony impugned by the arrival of new testimony.
Tags: Darryl Burton; reversed conviction; Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals; habeas corpus; FOI
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Marc Schaffel Profile
Court TV did an exploration of the biography and character of Michael Jackson's unindicted co-conspirator, Marc Schaffel. Schaffel has been a producer of gay porn films since the 1980s. He was known for recruiting young men who looked younger than they were. And he stage-managed the filming of the Jackson "rebuttal tape," telling Debbie Rowe what to say and how to say it.
Tags: Michael Jackson; gay pornography film industry; Marc Schaffel
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Reel life vs. real life
"Using many of the same categories found in the 2000 Census, USA Today tallied statistics about age, race and gender of the actors and characters in 2001 movies that played on at least 600 screens." It found that Hispanics lag, women are underrepresented, men are older and women are younger, and fewer major movie characters are married.
Tags: Hollywood; movies; film industry; entertainment industry; actors; minorities
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"The New Mob" and "The FBI and Its Jersey Fences"
Daily News investigates the trade in stolen cargo in the New York region, and discovers a bigger scoop - that several FBI informants had made themselves rich by stealing cargo for years. The story's main character, Jose Maldonaldo, a cargo thief with a long rap sheet, has stolen more than $20 million in goods while working as an informant for the FBI's New Jersey office. Informants sometimes stole for themselves, and sometimes for the FBI, the investigation reveals. A few business owners talked on the record about "having paid out money to the FBI to broker deals to return their goods."
Tags: Mafia; mob; gangs; law enforcement; prosecution; justice; intelligence; courts
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Fiscal tricks for the fat years
Governing reports on "budget gimmickry" used by state governments to balance their budgets or to increase their expenditures. The story finds that the tricks do not end when the recession ends, but just take a different character. The report looks at why state revenues overall have exceeded projections in the middle of the 90s, and examines some states' practices of "lowballing," or consistently underestimating revenues.
Tags: economy; politics; recession; revenues; economic forecasts; Virginia; South Carolina; North Carolina; Kentucky; Montana; Maryland; Tennessee; Fitch Investors Service; finance; financial control; local government; budget deficits; state funds; taxes; legislature
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Where Would Jesus Dance?
It's almost a modern-day Footloose story; the small town of Olathe, Kan., is considering curfews and other restrictions on the town's nightlife. Some think the town is being unduly influenced by Mid-America Nazarene University's perspective on living, which prohibits drinking, smoking, dancing and even being in a bar. The mayor, city manager and police chief are all involved in the church or the bible college, but say they that town safety is their first priority. The city is trying also to be the first and only city of character. Each month, the mayor announces a new word that is to set the tone of the month (e.g. "attentiveness")
Tags: Bible belt; Jesus; dancing; nightclub; college life; religion and government; morality; bouncers; student handbook; God; Bill Gothard; Institute in Basic Life Principles; IBLP; Christian; fundamentalism; National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics; NAIA; personal conduct; economic impact
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Parental Discretion: China Tries Easing Once-Brutal Approach to Family Planning
Wall Street Journal reports on the use of family planning methods in China. Since 1980 China has 'encouraged' families to one child, "but left the implementation up to local officials-who often abused their power by carrying out directives with brute force." But after the country paid for Ms. Liu to observe family-planning tactics in Thailand in 1996- change has been occurring in China. Ms. Liu and her colleagues have changed family-planning offices where male officials simply sat behind desks to "wide-open service stations that encourage drop-in visitors". They have thrown out "dense, text-heavy pamphlets on family-planning policy" and replaced them with cartoon characters explaining subjects easier to women with little education. In addition, the article reports on the importance of more than one child to Chinese farmers. While there are still heavy fines for having more than one child, farming communities like Yicheng "have been permitted since 1985 to have two children as long as they space them five years apart." The article continues to report on China's new family-planning reforms.
Tags: family planning; birth control; condom; contraceptives; one-child policy; abortion; children