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 "icons" ...
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing
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Fabricated and Flawed Integrity Tests Threaten Public Safety and an Iconic $6.3 Billion Bridge
The investigation found that a technician who tested the structural integrity of the other new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge fudnation had fabricated results on othe structures and committed numberous testing errors, callling to question the stability of California's costliest and most important public works project ever, among other freeway structures statewide.
Tags: bridges; San-Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge; freeway structures
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Pauper Parks
This investigation showed how, even though the Bush administration claims an increase in national park funding, many parks are actually seeing budget cuts. The reason for this discrepancy is that, while most of the parks are receiving less money, about one quarter of all national parks are receiving extra funds to protect against terrorist attacks. Those parks are "national icon" parks like the Statue of Liberty and the Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
Tags: national parks; nature; icons; terrorism; homeland security; conservation
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Death of a Salesman
McLean reports how Allstate, "America's insurance icon is battling to save its decades-old turf. To win, the company is taking on the risk of its life."
Tags: insurance; web; online; Wall Street; Merrill Lynch; Allstate; State Farm
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Empire: A Tale of Obsession, Betrayal and the Battle for an American Icon
Pacelle's book "traces the decade-long battle for control of the Empire State Building, in which real estate tycoons from the United States and Japan accused one another of various forms of deceit and criminality." The author reveals how Hideki Yokoi, a controversial Japanese tycoon, managed to buy the building without disclosing his identity to the seller, Prudential Insurance Co. The book follows the labyrinth of accusations, lawsuits and jailings stemming from the ownership battles, and reports on the involvement of "such well-known New York real estate people as Donald Trump and Leona Helmsley."
Tags: BOOK; business; corporations; Manhattan
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Survivor
The Dallas Business Journal investigates the life of real-estate mogul Gene Phillips, a Dallas icon of the S&L crisis. He was indicted June 7, 2000 and accused of "arranging a preferred stock issue in an attempt to defraud New York-based pension funds as part of a broader scheme that involved members or associates of five organized crime families."
Tags: Dallas Business Journal; S&L; organized crime; Texas; real estate; Gene Phillips; pension funds; New Yokr
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A Death in Garfield
Doug Most investigates the bizarre circumstances surrounding the death of Ed "Huff" Kotwica, a high school football and basketball coach at Garfield High School in Garfield, N.J. Kotwica, who once coached New York Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet, was a town icon, respected by nearly everyone in the community. However, area law enforcement agencies got wind of a rumor that he had criminal sexual contact with two female players on the girls' basketball team. Following a quick investigation, he was arrested by Garfield police and spent a night in jail. Upon his release the next morning, Kotwica went home and waited for his wife to bring him some breakfast. In the meantime, he went walking on the railroad tracks in town and was hit by an oncoming train. Local authorities have ruled his death a suicide, saying that he was so upset about being caught -- or labeled -- as a criminal that he killed himself. However, many locals are saying there is no way that Kotwica would kill himself or have inappropriate contact with his female players. They claim that Kotwica, who had diabetes, went into hypoglycemic shock while he was walking along the tracks and fell into the oncoming train. While he was in jail, Kotwica did not receive his diabetes medicine or any food to eat.
Tags: Ed Kotwica; Wayne Chrebet; Garfield; New Jersey; death; criminal sexual contact
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Bob's Boys
Icon reports how one day Bob Maupin got sick of smugglers and immigrants invading his Texas backyard and decided to stop them. But a neighborhood watch that uses army surplus is an international incident. They've always had uninvited guests, but no more than a handful until October 1994, when President Clinton launched Operation Gatekeeper, a $50 million campaign to seal the San Diego - Tijuana border that doubled the station's number of Border Patrol staff. The INS knew that would steer traffic to the east. Illegal entries in the San Diego area have been sliced nearly in half since Gatekeeper began, but six months after its launch, apprehensions in Bob's neighborhood shot up 809 percent and inflated from 2,300 seizures in 1994 to 78,000 in 1996. "It's a war zone, nothing less." But the Border Patrol is scared that law enforcement is giving vigilantes a green light.
Tags: Immigrants; INS; vigilantes; neighborhood watch
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Classic Killer: Ford Mustang
CBS News reveals the story of a long hidden danger in an American icon, the 1964 to 1970 model Ford Mustang. About 1.5 million of these remain on the road today. The investigation finds a flaw in the design that has led to many deaths and injuries. Ford has been sued more than 70 times after rear end collisions where occupants were sprayed with burning gasoline.
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Justicia
Two traveling salemen drove into the normally quiet Mexican town of Huejutla to sell some stamps. The following day, they were dead, lynched by a mob of more than 1,000 people. Icon Thoughtstyle Magazine looks at the circumstances surrounding the murders.
Tags: Hidalgo Poverty