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 "constitution" ...
-
A Damaged District
For more than a year, Zahira Torres overcame obstacle after obstacle to document one of the worst school cheating scandals in the nation's history. Where other cheating scandals involved altering accountability tests, the El Paso Independent School District gamed the state and federal accountability systems by targeting Mexican immigrant students. In a number of cases, district officials refused to enroll students or pushed out students already enrolled -- denying countless students their constitutional right to an education. In other cases, they arbitrarily reclassified grade levels or altered transcripts, all in an attempt to keep students out of the testing pool. Torres' reporting sparked numerous results. The superintendent who masterminded the scheme went to federal prison. The state education agency removed the school board. And when Torres' reporting documented that the state was aware of details of the cheating in 2010 and cleared the district anyway, the new education commissioner ordered an independent investigation of how the agency missed the cheating.
Tags: schools; scandals; education; school board
-
Cheating Our Children
After using a sophisticated data analysis to expose anomalous gains on standardized tests in Atlanta Public Schools -- anomolies that were shown in 2011 to signal chearing at 44 schools -- the Atlanta Journal-Constitution set out in late 2011 to apply its analysis to school test scores nationwide.
Tags: cheating; standardized tests; schools; teachers
-
Scandals In Atlanta Public Schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution analyzed of the 2008 standardized test scores in the Atlanta Public School System and laid the foundation for coverage of what is considered the largest case of academic fraud in the nation's history.
Tags: No Child Left Behind; Atlanta Public Schools; Cheating; Test Fraud; Academic Fraud
-
Land Flips Sting Taxpayers
The Gwinett County school district is not only Georgia's largest, but arguably its most highly regarded after winning a prestigious award as the nation's top urban district. However, while the district celebrated its national acclaim, the Journal-Constitution began scrutinizing its unusually secretive land-purchasing program. After analyzing all the district's land purchases over the past 12 years, the Journal-Constitution focused on 11 mullti-million dollar transactions, many of them involving prominent and politically connected real estate developers.
Tags: Gwinett County; Georgia; School District; Land Purchasing; Sweetheart Deals
-
Age of Treason
Sharrock "presents an extensively reported portrait of the Oath Keepers, a self-styled patriot group that has established itself as a hub in the sprawling anti-Obama movement...the group recruits soldiers and law enforcement officers, asking them to reaffirm their oath to hold up the Constitution, but with a twist: they also vow to disobey any "illegal" or "unconstitutional" orders. While the Oath Keepers' official message is nonviolent, Sharrock uncovers how the group attracts conspiracy-minded members who are stockpiling weapons and advocating armed resistance against a government crackdown that they fear is imminent."
Tags: treason; anti-government conspiracy; gun laws; right to bear arms; martial law; Obama; Oath Keepers
-
A Matter of Life or Death
Examining "how crimes eligible for the death penalty were prosecuted in Georgia over a 10-year period," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that sentence varied by circuit court.
Tags: Georgia; murder; death penalty; attorneys; armed-robbery murder; death sentence; life sentence; Furman v. Georgia; FOIA
-
Signing Statements
Among the presidential powers the Bush-Cheney Administration has worked to expand are "to act in defiance of laws passed by Congress, to shield itself from outside oversight and to impose greater political control over the permanent government." The Globe exposed the role of "a previously obscure device called a "presidential signing statement." President Bush "has employed this mechanism to claim the right to ignore more than 800 laws, asserting that he can set aside any bill provision conflicting with his interpretation of the powers given to him by the Constitution." This power has been used in place of the more limited presidential veto, and "he has used it more often than all previous presidents combined." This has been a push from Vice President Cheney's office, as his history of asserting nearly unlimited presidential power is also examined.
Tags: Signing statements; Bush Administration; presidential veto; Vice President Dick Cheney; presidential powers
-
Writs Gone Wrong
The Austin American-Statesman investigates as writs of habeas corpus are found to have errors when submitted to the court. These writs are essential in death row appeals because they "help ensure that the right person will be executed and that verdicts are obtained in accordance with the U.S. and state constitutions." But the newspaper found that "court appointed lawyers routinely submit shockingly botched writs applications. Some are incomplete, incomprehensible or improperly argued. Others are duplicated, poorly, from previous appeals." Yet, these lawyers are not held accountable for these mistakes.
Tags: Writ of Habeas Corpus; death row appeals; court-appointed lawyers; lazy lawyers; overworked lawyers; case load
-
Outsourcing Justice? That's Obscene
"The Bush administration has contracted with a Christian right organization, Morality in Media, to receive citizens' complaints about online obscenity. Since the early 1960s, Morality in Media has opposed pornography of all types, including constitutionally protected material. The Justice Department, duty-bound to uphold the Constitution, is thus allying itself with an organization that holds much of today's First Amendment law in contempt."
Tags: justice; freedom of speech; obscenity; religion; separation of church and state; internet
-
Sex Appealed: Was the U.S. Supreme Court Fooled?
The author proposes that the U.S. Supreme Court was fooled into basing it's decision in Lawrence v. Texas on Right to Privacy grounds. But, Law says, those grounds actually did not exist because the arrests were invited. This discrepancy is important, because the Lawrence case set a precedent for privacy cases regarding same sex marriage, adoption, employee benefits, etc.
Tags: court; judge; sodomy; homosexuality; same sex marriage; constitution; constitutional challenge; police; privacy; legal precedent