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 "corporate abuse" ...
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Denticaid: Medicaid Dental Abuse in Texas
A nearly two-year-long probe of Medicaid dentistry by WFAA’s Byron Harris discovered what authorities now say is a system of corporate fraud, propelled by Wall Street. News 8 found taxpayer money has gone to finance lavish lifestyles of dentists who have billed the government for unnecessary orthodontics and other procedures that, in many instances, harmed children. WFAA also uncovered a network of Medicaid recruiters who, for at least one clinic, lured children into a van with cash and food, had them sign their parents' names on treatment forms, then performed extensive and unnecessary work on their teeth without their parents’ permission. The FBI is currently investigating this and other Medicaid fraud schemes brought to light by WFAA's reporting.
Tags: Medicaid; dental health; fraud; corruption
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Scout's Honor
The goal was to investigate the issue of sexual abuse inside Boy Scout organizations in both Canada and the United States by exploring one particular case that touched both sides of the border. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Los Angeles Times teamed up to investigate the case of Richard Turley while also looking at the scope of the wider problem in both countries and the impact on individuals affected.
Tags: Boy Scouts; Richard Turley; child abuse; sexual abuse
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Demoted to Private: America's Military Housing Disaster
Political patronage, the zeal to privatize and a failure at background checks led to a disaster for taxpayers and military families in Pentagon housing programs in six states. All three branches of the service gave 8,000 military houses and billion-dollar contracts to a company headed by a politically-connected Texan involved in a messy bankruptcy and a Connecticut property management firm that had been previously suspended from HUD housing projects because it diverted millions to its own uses.
Tags: military; housing; privatization; Pentagon; government contracts; corporate abuse; whistle-blower
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Nursing Homes
In Texas three nursing homes were able to continue to operate and expand despite bankruptcies and other financial trouble, due to the aid of bureaucrats and corporations. Also "nurse aides banned for abuse and neglect by the state were then recertified by the same department to work as nurse aides.
Tags: nurse; nursing; homes; corporations; bankruptcy; federal tax liens; fines; Department of Aging and Disability Services;
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School of Shock
This investigation focuses on the Judge Rotenberg Center, the only school in the country to routinely punish students with electric shocks. This investigative story is the first to reveal what day-to-day life is like in the school. The reporters found that the school's methods are not scientifically just, that students as young as eight or nine are routinely shocked for minor transgressions, and that levels of student violence remain high, though most of the violent behavior is directed to the school's staff.
Tags: education; corporal punishment; mental illness; special education; behavioral modification; abuse; shock therapy
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Day Care Under Scrutiny
"This investigation exposed abuse of a taxpayer-funded day care system by a nonprofit corporation that held an exclusive state contract to help poor families find child care in Memphis." The investigation found that the day care had "leased property from its executive director through a dubious arrangement that resulted in a half-million dollars in rent overcharges over five years."
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A State of Neglect
Evidence of substandard care at a chain of rest homes is represented in this story. It is noted that many of the problems stemmed from cutting costs and accepting questionable residents in an effort to achieve a profit in excess of 40 percent. It is also pointed out that the problems were not isolated examples, but rather an indication of the problems that could be found in rest homes throughout North Carolina. The stories show that the state's regulations were terribly outdated for an industry that is changing rapidly and becoming increasingly corporate.
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Toy Story: Part I and II
Dateline "illustrates that at the heart of the hand wringing over child labor, hazardous working conditions and exploited laborers is a serious question of corporate ethics. By targeting the strictest consumer-regulated industry in retail, the toy industry, Dateline makes the point that multinational manufacturers such as Disney and Mattel (whose buyers visit the factories on a regular basis to (ensure) quality control) know that abuses exist. ... Dateline posed as BANDIT TOYS, and went undercover into toy factories and textile mills in Indonesia and China and found a host of violations of (Toy Manufacturers Association)'s code of conduct and more importantly, local law."
Tags: VIDEOCLIP TAPE TRANSCRIPT Labor; child labor; Asia; Mattel retail imports human rights business practices
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Housing Aid Abused
This story focused on abuses of a little-known federal program in which nonprofit corporations working with the homeless pay $1 a year to lease government-repossessed houses. The nonprofits can later buy the houses at specially discounted prices and then resell them to low-income people. (March 31, 1996)
Tags: Garland Housing aid abused Contest entry HUD Housing and urban development 40 pgs.
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No title (id: 13036)
Safety Net, Inc., a nonprofit corporation founded by Ambassador Lil Barrow-Veal, leases homes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with the understanding the houses will be rented to homeless and poor people. Safety Net also bought some HUD houses with the understanding those houses would be sold to low-income people. But the Advocate found that Barrow-Veal was selling these houses to friends and relatives who are not eligible for the program. (March 31, 1996)