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 "government spending abuse" ...
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Credit Card Crackdown
The investigation zeroed in on the use of government credit cards and discovered rampant abuse, poor oversight and little regard for ultimately paying the bills, the taxpayers.
Tags: government spending; oversight; taypayer
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Swiped
WVUE combed through tens of thousands of pages of public documents to examine how public officials were spending and misspending their viewers' money. It is thought that this investigation will save the city of New Orleans millions of dollars.
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Mining For Dollars
The Arizona state mine inspector Doug MArtin had been indicted on charges of theft, fraud, and procurement code fraud. This report unveils the inspector's abuse of state tax dollars for his own personal well being, and that the inspector isn't even doing the job he was hired to do.
Tags: mining; tax fraud; government spending; theft; procurement code fraud; Doug Martin; inspector
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Allegheny County Row Officers
An archaic local government system, unchallenged for more than 200 years, opens the floodgates to rampant abuse by some top elected officials, who were found to spend more time at their law practices than on the job.
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1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape
The 1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape is a compilation of 5 investigative stories. 1.) "No Place Like Home," Prime Time Live, ABC News. Hidden cameras captured problems with in-home care including poor supervision, verbal and physical abuse, caretakers watching over far too many children and, ultimately, state inspectors who failed to act. See # 12920. 2.) "The Worst Nightmare," 60 Minutes, CBS News. Real evidence that Russian organized crime in conjunction with at least one senior official of the Yelstin government, had moved into the potentially lucrative area of nuclear smuggling. See # 12836. 3.) "Marks Travels" KCTV, Kansas City, MO. A highly paid school superintendent, who supposedly had a chronic back problem, took a lenghty medical leave. He was caught lugging furniture into his new home in Florida and questioned about his district spending habits. See # 12830. 4.) "Last Rights," WSMV, Nashville. For the last two decades, the University of Tennessee has been using dead bodies in experiments on human decay, without the knowledge of family members. The practice was suspended immediately after the report. See # 12756. 5.) "Guardian's Grasp." WXYZ, Detroit. A guardianship company exploited the elderly it was supposed to protect. Among other things, it sold a client's home for $500 to the mother of an employee, frauded Medicare and overcharged on accounting fees. See # 12805.
Tags: TAPE; daycare; in-home care; ire.
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1998 IRE TV Award Winners and Finalists Tape.
The 1998 TV Award Winners and Finalists Tape is a compilation of 12 investigative stories. 1.) "Tomb of the Unknowns," CBS News. A 13-part series that forced the government to face the truth about how it defaced one of the nation's most sacred shrines and denied a grieving mother the truth about her son. See #15332. 2.) "The Deadly Trade in Fake Medicine," CBS News, 60 Minutes. Substandard medicine marketed by a secret network of manufacturers, peddlers make fortunes and regulators have failed to stop this deadly trade. See #15241. 3.) "Abuse of Power." ABC News 20/20. The U.S. military's power to strike back at personnel who are critical. Whistleblowers who expose misconduct, waste, fraud and abuse are told they are mentally ill. See #15282. 4.) "Shell Game." NBC News Dateline. A hidden camera investigation inside a plant that processes 2 million eggs a day, reveals eggs up to a month old, are mixed in with fresh eggs, rewashed, repacked and sold like new. See #15236. 5.) "Doublecross." ABC Primetime. This investigation reveals how the United States government turned a drug smuggler into a top informant and then allowed him to distribute cocaine into the United States. See #15251. 6.) "Fake Doctors, Real Dangers." CBS-2 News, Los Angeles. This series uncovers fake doctors all over Southern California running illegal clinics. See #15259. 7.) "Impact: Forced Sterilization." WXYZ investigates into the sterilization of thousands of men, women and children by the state government in Michigan. See #15373. 8.) "Oath of Silence." WMAQ. This four-month investigation exposes secret malpractice settlements that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. See #15373. 9.) "Troubled Transit." WTXF, Philadelphia. This three-month investigation of the Septa Public Transit in Philadelphia reveals some of the transit workers are not doing the jobs the taxpayers are paying them to do. See #15221. 10.) "Olympic Bribery Scandal." KTVX. Salt Lake Olympic Organizers have been spending thousands of dollars to pay the college tuition of international Olympic associate's relatives. See # 15201. 11.) "Stadium Investigation." WCPO, Cincinnati. Hamilton County in Cincinnati have spent more than a billion dollars to build and finance a new stadium, promising more business for minorities and women. A five-month investigation uncovers many broken promises. 12.) "Mismanagement 101." KWTV, Oklahoma City. Millions of dollars in overspending, fraud, waste and allegations of cover-up. Example; 50 construction employees were diverted from air conditioning the elementary school to building an all automatic, high-tech bathroom located just outside the superintendent's office. See # 15303.
Tags: TAPE; Vietnam; Freedom of Information Act; FOI; Computer Assisted Reporting; CAR; IRE; no transcripts.
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"From the Top, A City that Doesn't Work...
The packet of stories represents part of a year-long focus on misuse of tax funds by city officials and general malfeasance across the government of the District of Columbia. Powell's series shows how government corruption and incompetence cost Washington hundreds of millions of dollars a year. This series shows failure to spend approved federal grants, poorly written contracts and city work crews wasting time and doing private work on city time. Thompson and Woodlee focused on smaller numbers, but more audacious abuses by specific officials. The mayor paying police excessive overtime to move his luggage and a Corrections Department supervisor collecting overtime herself and authorizing overtime for city workers repairing her house.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 13716)
The story found that the search for MIAs in Vietnam - the dominant factor in relations between Washington and Hanoi - is plagued by lax oversight on the Part of the U.S. Department of Defense and abuse by the Vietnamese government. It uncovered U.S. government vehicles imported for MIA work, repaired and maintained at U.S. expense, being rented out to tourists by a Vietnamese government-owned business. It found that only a trickle of the wages the U.S. government designates for Vietnamese workers for their unskilled labor during digs actually reaches the workers. It uncovered exorbitant fees paid by the U.S. government for minimal use of Vietnamese helicopters for the digs as well as incomplete accounting for other dig-related services supposedly provided by the Vietnamese government. During the past four years, the U.S. government has spent $33.6 million on the MIA program. While the Mercury News was not able to track down all four years of spending, it was able to establish that in 1996, more than one-third of the $11.2 million spent of the program could not be accounted for and that abuse of the program is widespread. (April 28, 1996)
Tags: Huckshorn Larimer MIA money missing in action Contest entry Military 19 pgs.
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Flying High
KCAL-TV exposed the wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars in the use and abuse of government owned helicopters and aircraft by Los Angeles City and County politicians and governmental agencies. KCAL found out just how outdated and disorganized the accounting and record keeping was when it came to determining who was flying in helicopters, for what reasonn and what checks and balances were in place to ensure only proper usage. The investigation found little if any cost controls or monitoring of how the helicopters were used and for whom and what purpose, including a $3,400 flight to Phoenix for 3 DWP officials -- The use of LAPD helicopters to fly a shuttle service for a chili cook-off and the continued use by LA County Supervisor Mike Antonivich of LA County Fire's $1,400 an hour water-dropping helicopter for personal transportation. (May 8, 9 & 10, 1996)
Tags: Goldstein; Longabardi; Hughes; Flying high; Contest entry; TAPE
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No title (id: 12743)
The Birmingham News breaks down how the federal government in Alabama spent $21.2 billion the previous year and what budget cuts would do, including results of reader call-ins on their experience with fraud and abuse and inviting readers to try a special computer program to try their hand at balancing the budget. (Feb. 19, March 5, 19, April 23, May 7, 21, June 25, July 9, 30, Sept. 17, 1995)