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 "crack" ...
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Cracking the Codes
Cracking the Codes documented how thousands of medical professionals have steadily billed Medicare for more complex and costly health care over the past decade – adding $11 billion or more to their fees – despite little evidence elderly patients required more treatment. The series also uncovered a broad range of costly billing errors and abuses that have plagued Medicare for years – from confusion over how to pick proper payment codes to apparent overcharges in medical offices and hospital emergency rooms. The findings strongly suggest these problems, known as “upcoding,” are worsening amid lax federal oversight and the government-sponsored switch from paper to electronic medical records.
Tags: Medicare; health care; billing; medical offices; hospitals; government; medical records
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Cracking the Codes
The story documents how thousands of medical professionals have steadily billed Medicare for more complex and costly health acre over the psat decade -- adding $11 billion or more to their fees -- despite little evidence elderly patients required more treatment.
Tags: elderly; medicine; healthcare
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Model Workplaces, Imperiled Workers
The Center's series exposed serious problems with an ever-expanding government program that promises results through cooperative regulation but often has failed to protect the nation's working men and women. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Programs, known as VPP, recognize "model workplaces" and offer them an exemption from regular inspections. But in many cases, this government stamp of approval was a hollow trophy, allowing companies to avoid scrutiny and to attract employees. Even after preventable tragedies at these sites, OSHA rarely cracked down.
Tags: OSHA; occupational safety and health administration voluntary protection program; model workplace
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Cracks in the Empire: Inside Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson, the gold standard of corporate America for its single-minded devotion to its customers, is fending off federal, state and consumer allegations that the company harmed and cheated the ill. The Press found that the New Brunswick, NJ-based copmany set its sights in the last decade on making record profits but at a high cosst. Its main OTC pain reliever company was shut down in part for being too dirty. Thousands of hip replacement patients say the device failed inside their bodies, causing them great pain.
Tags: Johnson & Johnson; pain relievers; drugs; pharmaceuticals
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Judge Me
The story summarizes the attempt by Elroy Phillips to prove he's in prison for a crime several legal experts say he did not commit. Phillips was arrested by the West Palm Beach police in 2001 for allegedly selling $50 worth of crack to an undercover cop, Phillips has spent the years since his arrest collecting evidence. Phillip's legal work appears to show that cops fabricated the evidence against him.
Tags: Elroy Phillips; West Palm Beach Police; Judge; Court
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Million-Dollar Wasteland
"This series investigates the federal government's largest housing construction program for the poor. It found that the program has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on stalled or abandoned projects and routinely failed to crack down on derelict developers or local housing agencies that funded them."
Tags: HUD; housing; federal programs; urban housing
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"Study sees parking lots dust as cancer risk"
This investigation reveals a connection between common parking lot sealants and cancer-causing dust found in American homes. Coal tar sealant, meant to "protect pavement and asphalt" from cracking and other types of damage, slowly wears away over time. People can track the substance into their homes, which researchers believe is the reason "high levels of chemicals used in the sealant" shows up in house dust. The effects are potentially damaging, especially for "young children."
Tags: coal; tar; cancer; sealant; dust; U.S. Geological Survey; FOIA; chemicals
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"A Crack in the Swiss Vault"
This investigative story takes an in-depth look into offshore banking, specifically in Switzerland. Bradley Birkenfeld is an American citizen serving extensive prison time for revealing to the U.S. Government that "he and his colleagues" had been secretly helping their "American customers evade hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes" through private banking divisions in Geneva.
Tags: taxes; tax evasion; Geneva; Switzerland; UBS; banking; investments; IRS; Department of Justice
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Cracked
Fetlz's investigation "exposes how junk science has allowed Texas to keep mentally retarded inmates on death row - and execute several of them - despite a 2002 Supreme Court decision, Atkins v. Virginia, that bans such punishment for these defendants.
Tags: capital punishment; criminal justice; mental retardation; death row; execution; Texas; Atkins v. Virginia
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Special Care, Unknown Costs
The series took gave readers a look inside New Jersey's special education system. It's findings show how there is no one held accountable when students in the system fall through the cracks.
Tags: Special Education; bureaucracy; autism; accountability; disabilities