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 "death threat" ...
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Startribune:The Day Care Threat
Children had been dying in Minnesota child care at an alarming rate and state regulators and industry leaders had overlooked the problem until our reporting laid bare a series of safety failures that led to the spike in deaths. The reporters made dozens of public record requests and analyzed hundreds of cases to uncover wide problems in the state’s in-home daycare system. They almost all the deaths occurred at in-home daycares, which have more lax regulations than centers. The series also uncovered dozens of cases of sexual abuse, gun violence and negligence that harmed children in the state’s in-home daycare system. It revealed how Minnesota has some of the weakest training and supervision rules in the country for these in-home daycares. The reporters also discovered that critical safety records that would help parents identify problem providers were not accessible to the public. The response to the series was swift and sustained. State regulators implemented changes to improve infant safe sleep practices and they are planning legislation this session to shore up some of the safety problems. The series also highlighted how the lack of information about child care deaths is a national problem.
Tags: Child care; safety; daycare system; sexual abuse; gun violence; negligence
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Dying to Testify
This investigation revealed that at least 16 witnesses and associates have been murdered since Colorado created a witness protection program. The state spends only about $40,000 a year to protect all of the witnesses statewide. Many prosecutors and witnesses did not even know about the program.
Tags: crime; witnesses; state government; justice system; death threat; courts
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Costly Verdict: Why One Jury Dealt A Big Blow to Chrysler in Minivan-Latch Case
The Journal reports on the threat of high-profile safety litigation looming over the auto industry. The story focuses on deaths caused by defects in Chrysler minivans, and the subsequent lawsuits.
Tags: fatalities; GM; Ford; federal safety standards; door latches; C/K pickup trucks; liftgates
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Weapons of Mass Destruction
Lewis Simons and Lynn Johnson travel around the world to give weapons of mass destruction a human face. They visit with survivors of Hiroshima, bio-weapon scientists from Russia and government officials in Iran. The piece attempts to quantify and qualify the threat of a biological, chemical or nuclear attack on the United States but the authors conclude it's practically impossible.
Tags: weapons of mass destruction; biological; chemical; nuclear; Russia; United States; terrorism; military; Iran; Iraq; Syria; Pakistan; India; Israel; Egypt; China; North Korea; Soviet Union; Hiroshima; death; anthrax; plague; smallpox; fear; panic; destruction
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Sea Sick
Discover investigates why "killer whales that live near Seattle are dying too soon and too often." The report reveals that "there are three proposed culprits" causing the spate of premature deaths - "boat traffic,... reductions in certain preferred prey species ... [and] pollution." The story sheds light on a scientific finding that some whales are "carrying staggering concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), long lived industrial compounds that accumulate in fat and have been linked to cancer..." The author suggests that listing the killer whales under the Endangered Species Act can reduce some of the human-induce threats, but not the pollution.
Tags: biologists; orcas; Pacific Northwest; fish; health; contamination; marine mammals
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This Man Murdered My Father
On-Magazine.com examines "how thousands of prisoners, some on the death row, ... are using the world to find companionship in the outside world." The freelance author profiles prisoners who have found online pen pals, or have used the Internet threats and scam. The story details the legal battle over the prisoners' Web presence.
Tags: prisons; personal ads; crime; death row; Web; inmates; pen pals; New York; online; fraud
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The Faculty
Bizarre and bitter academia at Indiana University's Near Eastern department!! A recent dispute about tenure for an assistant professor include a hunger strike (by his wife) and accusations of death threats. The dept. was in trouble long before this incident, losing 5 scholars in 5 years, 3 chairs in 3 years, and only 4 scholars still onboard.
Tags: tenure; University; professor; academic corruption
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Death Beds
The News Tribune investigates the threat bed siderails pose to patients in nursing homes. They found a history of regulators ignoring design problems, and bureaucratic inattention that has led to many deaths.
Tags: Strangulation; Elderly
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No title (id: 13845)
On May 21, 1991, a popular University of Chicago Divinity School professor named Ioan Culianu was murdered execution-style on campus. The crime stunned the school, terrified students, and mystified the FBI. The crime remains unsolved. The book pieces together the evidence to show that the murder was in fact what Culianu's friends suspected all along: the first political assassination of a professor on American soil. A Romanian emigre and expert in myth and Renaissance magic, Culianu in 1990 began writing and broadcasting his outspoken opposition to his home county's post communist government, resulting in death threats which he reported to friends and colleagues. The books sifts through police, court and published records, drawing on hundreds of interviews, to tell a story of a writer who, by manipulating words, accidentally manipulated the world. (November, 1996)
Tags: Anton Contest entry Published by University of Northwestern Press BOOK Various Newspaper articles Eros; Magic and the Murder of Professor Culianu 39 pgs.
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Dead in the Water
City Paper investigates the possible murder of Sean Hinton, a Baltimore City police trainee found floating off Manhattan with his wrists tied together. Based on dubious evidence, the New York medical examiner ruled Hinton's death a suicide thereby cutting short a homicide investigation that might have linked Hinton's death to his threats of disclosing police corruption.
Tags: Dead in the Water; Contest entry; Murder; Drugs; homicide; police corruption