Resource Center

Stories

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 "grants" ...

  • Freed Without the Possibility of Life

    A man, who was wrongly imprisoned, was freed from prison after a DNA test revealed he wasn’t the murderer. Though, he was freed the murder conviction has never been cleared from his record. This makes him unable to get a job and live a normal life. The prosecutor and the court can legally choose to never clear his name because it is not a legal requirement.

    Tags: David Scott; sentence; jail; law enforcement; arrest; Vigo County; Indiana State Police; case; evidence

    By Patrick Fazio; Tony Grant

    WTWO-TV (Terre Haute, Ind.)

    2009

  • Connected

    “Two former judges, already facing charges for accepting kickbacks, are accused of fixing a $3.5 million defamation case against The Citizens’ Voice newspaper at the behest of a convicted mob boss. The stories establish various ties between the judges and the mobster. The state Supreme Court eventually granted the newspaper a new trial.”

    Tags: William D'Elia; Michael T. Conahan; Mark A. Ciavarella; court system; jail; verdict; direct connections; Robert J. Kulick; gambling site; court cases

    By Dave Janoski

    The Citizens

    2009

  • Under the Radar

    Every year the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been given a grant, which then will be distributed to airports. The question is where does this money come from and how is it spent? The answer to the first half is the commercial-airline passengers, who pay the ticket taxes which in turn becomes the grant. The second part of the question is answered by not the improvement of airline travel, but rather the private pilots who fly corporate and recreational planes.

    Tags: Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); Federal fund; grants; airports; planes; airlines; commercial-airline; passengers; ticket taxes; pilots; private airplanes; flights

    By Thomas Frank; Brad Heath

    USA Today (McLean, Va.)

    2009

  • Grants, Graft and Greed at Workforce West Virginia

    Mary Jane Bowling, an employee at the Workforce West Virginia office, secretly distributed federal grant money to her son's company, Comar, Inc. Martin Bowling then used the money to pay for travels to conferences that ultimately helped expand his company. Reporter Eric Eyre later exposed an attempted cover-up of the mishandled money by Mary Jane Bowling and her housemate, Christine Gardner, who ran the West Virginia State University's Economic Development Center in Charleston.

    Tags: MetroValley Magazine; WVSU; Comar; Christine Gardner; Mary Jane Bowling; Martin Bowling; Albert Hendershot; Zi.ma; Mandi Felty

    By Eric Eyre

    Gazette (Charleston, W.Va.)

    2009

  • Clout Goes to College

    University of Illinois officials violated their own admission policy's merit-based criteria by circumventing the process for politically-connected applicants. The violations granted admission to students who wouldn't have been accepted otherwise.

    Tags: University of Illinois; campus; applicants; admissions; governor; legislators; students; clout; political; connections;

    By Jodi S. Cohen; Stacy St. Clair; Tara Malone; Robert Becker; Tracy Van Moorlehem;

    Chicago Tribune

    2009

  • The Fort Hood Shootings

    The investigation showcases the unraveling of the Fort Hood massacre. It chronicles the repeated failure of U.S. intelligence to take substantive action against the assailant, Nidal Hasan, and the bureaucratic decisions that ultimately snowballed into a tragedy.

    Tags: Anwar Awalki; Fort Hood; Brian Ross; military; massacre; shooting; jihad; Nidal Hasan; terror; Al Qaeda; Yemeni; bureaucracy; Texas; army base; psychiatrist;

    By Brian Ross; Joseph Rhee; Matthew Cole; Avni Patel; Vic Walter; Richard Esposito; Mary-Rose Abraham; Anna Schecter; Asa Eslocker; Angela Hill; Bob Woodruff; Pierre Thomas; Jim Hill; Christine Romo; Jason Ryan; Rhonda Schwartz; Brian Deer; Judd Parson; Sandra Tukh; Rehab ElBuri; Justin Grant; Megan Chuchmach; Mark Schone; James Goldston; Jim Murphy; Jon Banner; David Reiter;

    ABC News

    2009

  • "Guns & Open Records"

    After The Commercial Appeal published a list of people living in Tennessee who had a permit to carry a gun, legislative efforts were made in the state to remove that information as public record. The newspaper used the list to reveal the loose regulations of the "permit process."

    Tags: guns; right to carry; permit; gun-carry

    By Marc Perrusquia; Richard Locker; Grant Smith

    Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)

    2009

  • Positive

    "The state of Illinois has increased its HIV spending by tens of millions of dollars-creating two new grant programs designed to combat the epidemic among African Americans. One of the grant programs was mismanaged and much of the funding does not target the highest risk population." Furthermore, the health department and non-profits were either understaffed or waiting for the funds to be received before they could treat anyone.

    Tags: Illinois; AIDS; African Americans; Human Immunodeficiency Virus(HIV); Grant programs

    By Jeff Kelly Lowenstein; Kelly Virella; Kimbriell Kelly; Rui Kaneya

    Chicago Reporter

    2009

  • The Dark Side of Plan Colombia

    Plan Colombia, which is a multibillion-dollar US assistance package aimed at fighting the cocaine trade. This program supports agriculture projects as an alternative to drug-related crops and violence. Though, this investigation found that most of the program’s funds were supporting the drug-trafficking terrorist networks that Plan Colombia was supposed to defeat. The investigation raises the question of whether the US knew or should have known that it was supporting this trafficking and violence with taxpayer-funded assistance.

    Tags: USAID; Grants; Oil Plantations; Drug-trafficking; Alternative development; Violence; Corruption

    By Teo Ballve; Esther Kaplan; Roane Carey; Laird Townsend

    The Nation

    2009

  • "Blown Away"

    The reporter takes a look at how stimulus money is being spent. He focuses mainly on the money delegated for "green energy," specifically, a grant program that lets developers collect a percentage of their "investment costs" in cash.

    Tags: green; energy; stimulus; money; wind; turbine; renewable; investment

    By Russ Choma

    The Investigative Reporting Workshop (American University)

    2009