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 "conflict of interest" ...
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KSHB: Questionable Contracts
A 41 Action News investigation scrutinized the bidding process for a $32 million energy project with Kansas City Public Schools. The investigation revealed that a businessman who acted an unpaid adviser early in the process eventually founded his own company and won the lucrative contract. The reporting lead to a resignation by a high-ranking district leader and a canceled contract. The ongoing investigation later examined other contracts and discovered a district facilities manager had helped award millions of dollars of work to a company with whom he had a personal relationship. That part of the investigation showed the district did not have a conflict of interest policy in place for district employees.
Tags: broadcast; public schools; personal relationship; corruption; bidding process
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Local officials are likely to profit from fracking in Southern Tier
Local government officials have been lobbying the state to the controversial oil and gas extraction process known as fracking. But when they spoke at public hearings and pushed in other forums, were they just representing their communities, or did they have more at stake? In a four-month investigation, SUNY New Paltz students reviewed thousands of public records in two states. The investigation found more than 30 locally elected officials who have been outspoken proponents for fracking. Public records and additional examinations identified about 20 percent of those with more than political philosophy at stake — the chance to gain personally and financially. To open government advocates such as Common Cause, these instances raise concerns about transparency and conflicts of interest among locally elected officials. About six months after publication, and after further moves by local officials to press the state to approve fracking, the state attorney general has launched inquiries into whether local officials have violated conflicts of interest.
Tags: Oil; gas; oil and gas extraction; fracking
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Follow the Money
The year-long series of investigations tracked the federal money trail of tax dollars, charity dollars, and corporate/government conflicts of interest. One investigation exposed how many federal officials took all expense paid luxurious vacations funded by taxpayer money to the failed climate summit in Copenhagen.
Tags: tax dollars; money trail; federal officials; taxpayer money; Haiti; Copenhagen
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Investor's Club
The story shows that the University of California had invested $2 billion into private equity funds and companies with policy making Regents that held substantial conflicts of interest. The Regents include California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his personal investment adviser, and the husband of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Tags: Regents; conflict of interest; University of California; investment; Arnold Schwarzenegger
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Investor's Club
The eight-month investigation found that the University of California invested $2 billion in private equity funds and companies in which several Regents held significant financial interests. The Regents include Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, his personal investment adviser, Paul Wachter, and Richard C. Blum, a Wall Street professional married to Senate Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
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Divided Loyalties
The stories look at the conflicts of interest that arise when private colleges do business with trustee-affiliated companies.
Tags: trustee-affiliated companies; conflicts of interest; contracts; hedge funds; universities
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God of Radio
The investigation finds that Carl Russ, the top radio expert in Wisconsin and driving force behind the statewide emergency radio system, has been profiting from the project. The state had been buying a quarter of a million dollars' worth of radio frequencies from his privately owned company -- presenting a conflict of interest for Guse.
Tags: radio; emergency radio system; Wisconsin; WisCom; Badger Spectrum Limited
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The Perfect Pension Fund
Florida's public pension system is not as perfect as it seems. The investigation finds a pattern of misleading statements and oversight failures by the agency that manages the pension funds, State Board of Administration. It also shows that the three elected officials who oversaw the agency, including Florida's former governor, ignored personal conflicts of interest and misled the public on the poor condition of the pension fund.
Tags: pension; public pension; conflict of interest; oversight; State Board of Administration
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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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Side Effects
The author examines the conflicts of interest within the medical community and the influence of pharmaceutical companies on doctors and researchers. The series shows the dangerous consequences that come when drug companies pay doctors and researchers to endorse their products. An inquiry by a U.S. Senate committee, as well as policy reform at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health were results of this investigation.
Tags: pharmaceutical companies; drug companies; medicine; conflict of interest; doctors