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 "federal regulation" ...
-
For-Profit-College Business Model Breeds Exploitative Marketing Tactics
In the first radio piece: Interviews with former recruiters, faculty, administrators and students of a small group of for-profit colleges in Minnesota paint a picture of schools that are exploiting unsophisticated students for their financial-aid money. Analysis points to a high-enrollment, high-dropout business model that earns the company millions but provides questionable return on taxpayer investment. In the second radio piece: Political differences at the federal level make it unclear how much the government will regulate for-profit colleges. At the Minnesota state level, the leading official for higher-ed says his agency doesn’t have the resources to go after problem colleges – and isn’t sure whether beefing up enforcement would be the best use of higher-education funding.
Tags: Non-profit colleges; financial aid; business models; for-profit colleges
-
Dark Markets
The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of financial markets in 2012 performed a rare and extraordinary service: It exposed evidence of hidden manipulation by corporate executives and professional traders that the markets’ official government watchdogs were utterly unaware of. Reflecting potential widespread harm to millions of ordinary investors, federal prosecutors and securities regulators raced to follow the Journal stories with major investigations. A team of reporters spent six months creating a database examining how more than 20,000 corporate executives traded their own companies’ stocks over the course of eight years. What the team found was disturbing: More than 1,000 executives had generated big profits, or avoided big losses, by trading their company stock in the days ahead of corporate news announcements that led to big moves in the shares. The Journal also exposed a regulatory loophole that had helped the executives take advantage of inside knowledge ahead of other investors. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office and the Securities and Exchange Commission all launched investigations the day the Journal article appeared.
Tags: Financial markets; corporate executives; stocks; Federal Bureau of Investigation
-
As Mine Protections Fail, Black Lung Cases Surge
A joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity mined government databases and analyzed together for the first time ever, coal dust enforcement records and black lung occurrence data. We compiled what appear to be the most comprehensive accounts to date of an unexpected reemergence of black lung, sharp increases among younger miners, rapid progression to the most serious stages, widespread fraudulent coal dust testing by industry, weaknesses and loopholes in federal regulations, and ineffective enforcement by federal regulators. We asked Ken Ward Jr., the veteran coal industry reporter at the Charleston Gazette, to contribute web and print stories about the history of failed government regulation, as well as fraudulent coal dust testing specifically at the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 miners died in an explosion fueled by coal dust in 2010. Our reporting prompted the Labor Department to establish an internal team to review the agency's enforcement of coal dust regulations, according to internal agency e-mails obtained by NPR. Federal regulators stepped up coal dust enforcement, targeting mines with a history of violations. Members of Congress cited the series in calling for tougher regulations, and one group launched a petition drive demanding action.
Tags: mining; miners; black lung disease; coal dust; government
-
The Cruelest Show on Earth
The story documents a decade-long history of injury, illness and fatal accidents in Ringling's famed herd of performing elephants -- and the repeated failure of federal regulators to intervene.
Tags: elephants; Animal Welfare Act; Jim Moran; exotic animals; circuses
-
Aging Nukes
The series examines the condition of aging nuclear power plants in the United States. It's opening installment proclaims: Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them.
Tags: Nuclear Power; United States; Power Industry; Reactors;
-
Investigation of fatal pipeline blast
Before the National Transportation Safety Board issued its findings into the 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, the San Francisco Chronicle had already exposed negligent management by pipeline operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and lax regulation by the state and federal governments that contributed to a disaster.
Tags: NTSB; National Transportation Safety Board; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; pipeline
-
Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough not to be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes -- sterile and nonsterile -- can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.
Tags: alcohol wipes; public safety; bacteria; public health
-
Asleep at the Wheel
Driver fatigue kills more people on the highways than texting, cell phone use and all other distractions combined. Yet the underlying factors of fatigue-related crashes have yet to capture the attention of Congress, the public and federal regulators. The WCNC-TV Investigative Team spent months drilling down into one cause that has received almost no national attention: sleep apnea. An estimated 13 to 20 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea and with increases in obesity which is related to the disorder, that number is climbing. Studies show drivers with sleep apnea are exponentially more likely to crash. And millions of long-haul truckers are more prone to sleep apnea than the average driver of a "four-wheeler".
Tags: broadcast; sleep apnea; drivers; crash
-
Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough to not be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes--sterile and nonsterile--can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.
-
Little Known Colleges Exploit Loopholes to Make Millions Off Foreign Students
The Chronicle found numerous colleges -- most of them unaccredited -- exploit byzantine federal regulations, enrolling almost exclusively foreign students and charging them upward $3,000 for a chance to work legally in the United States. Enabled by lax state regulations, these colleges usher in thousands of foreign students and generate millions of dollars in profit because they have the power, bestowed by the U.S. government, to help students get visas.
Tags: college; foreign; student; visa; unaccredited; college; university