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 "computers" ...
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Driven To Distraction
This seven-month-long investigation revealed serious crashes, injuries and deaths caused by a danger that now exists in virtually every police car in the United States. Dashboard-mounted technology has turned modern patrol cars into offices on wheels. Computers, cameras, GPS devices, radios, smart phones and license plate scanners compete for the officer’s attention while driving, and the consequences of those distractions can be life altering. The series led to significant policy changes at two of the largest police departments in Texas. It sparked action from the world’s largest organization of police leaders. And our reporting also became mandatory safety training viewing for every highway trooper in one state.
Tags: Police; patrol cars; crashes; injuries; deaths; driving safety; highway trooper
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Sneak & Peek Warrants
A Team 4 investigation exposes people breaking into homes, copying computer files, and covering their tracks on the way out. But these weren't criminals. They were federal law enforcement agents using a special kind of warrant known as sneak & peek.
Tags: Warrants
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Murder Mysteries
Scripps Howard developed a computer algorithim that can identify suspicious clusters of homicides of women that have a significant chance of containing serial murders.
Tags: serial killer; murder; victim; demographic; offenders
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Inside and Out
Three years after Illinois broke off its youth prisons from the adult system, WBEZ set off to see what changed and found very little. Libraries without proper books, a locked computer lab, abysmal vocational education, and increasing suicide attempts characterized the youth prisons.
Tags: youth prison; juvenile; prison; jail; treatment
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"The Transportation Lobby"
The team at The Center for Public Integrity launch a database of transportation lobbyists and integrated that with an interactive map. Search by public/private sector, lobbying firm, or project.
Tags: transportation; bill; lobby; lobbyiests
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The Speed Traders
60 Minutes investigates high-frequency trading which is a new form of stock trading executed by computers running on complex statistical formulas.
Tags: computers; stock; trading; high-frequency
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Murder Mysteries
Schripps Howard News Service has conducted the most complete accounting ever made of homicide victims in the United States. Aggressive use of state and local Freedom of Information laws allowed the wire service to assemble a database of 525,742 homicides, including records of 15,322 killings never reported to the FBI. The "Murder Mysteries" project calculated the homicide clearance rate for every police department in the U.S., prompting four departments to promise reforms. Scripps also developed an algorithm that identified 161 suspicious clusters of unsolved homicides involving women of similar age killed through similar means. Authorities in Gary, Ind., and Youngstown, Ohio, Launched new investigations into possible serial murder in their communities as a result of this project.
Tags: Murder; mystery; FBI; homicide; killings; serial killer; police department; investigation; FOI; algorithm; computer-assisted reporting;
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Florida's Insurance Nightmare
Six years after eight hurricanes ripped across Florida, state residents still struggle to recover from the storms' legacy - a wrecked property insurance market. Exorbitant premiums, the highest in the world, have soured the state's struggling economy, killed real estate sales and forced families from their homes. Homeowners were told that unless they paid even more, no insurance company would take their hurricane risk. The Herald-Tribune showed that is a lie. Floridians have been lied to about why there is a crisis, where their money is going, and whether they're even protected against storm losses. Public policy has been corrupted by fiction spun by the insurance industry and its supposed regulators. Billions of dollars desperately needed for the next disaster have been siphoned offshore. And millions of homeowners are left to entrust their financial security on a system rigged to extort profit. To expose the hidden truth of Florida's insurance crisis, St. John cultivated key sources deep within every aspect of the insurance industry and sought massive amounts of financial and policy data from multiple state and national entities. When it became obvious Florida's crisis was manipulated from afar, she traveled to Bermuda and Monte Carlo to discover the hidden players truly in charge.
Tags: home insurance; property insurance; Florida; hurricane; real estate; insurance premiums; homeowners; Bermuda; Monte Carlo; state regulators; anti-trust law; State Farm
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DUI Pilots: Warning Signs Ignored
KIRO-TV found that only a small fraction of the pilots caught for abusing alcohol or drugs were actually being monitored by federal regulators. The reporter discovered with computed assisted reporting how easy it is for these pilots to manipulate the system and avoid detection.
Tags: airplanes; DUI; drunk-driving; regulation; pilots
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Compromised Care
Using confidential documents, computer datasets and gripping interviews, the reporters were able to expose widespread violence and abuse in the Illinois nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals that serve the poor.
Tags: Medicaid; elderly; abuse; psychiatric hospitals; sexual assault