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 "inefficiency" ...
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Katrina Investigations
This series of investigations on the local and federal governments' response to Hurricane Katrina revealed numerous mistakes and inefficiencies at multiple levels. The investigation showed mismanagement of the levees, unused buses that could have been used for evacuation, botched supply shipments, corrupt contracting and port police's failure to rescue survivors.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; New Orleans; hurricane; levee; FEMA; Mike Brown; police; disaster assistance.
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The Georgian Air Navigation
Rustavi2's investigation of the Georgian Air Navigation revealed the organization's inefficient management tactics. Lack of knowledge and experience in managing the navigation system would risk passengers' lives.
Tags: Air Traffic Control; deputy executive director Valeri Voloshin; European Civil Aviation Conference; Giorgi Karbelashvili; Georgian Air Navigation
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Tracking Sex Offenders
Using mapping techniques, reporters from a station in Moline,Ill plot sex offenders who were living within 500 feet of day care centers. This revealed the inefficiency of the law that prohibits sex offenders from living 500 feet from day care centers.
Tags: mapping techniques; sex offenders; day care centers; sex offenders living near day care centers; Illinois law
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380 more officers
Enough overtime pay and compensatory time occurred in the Milwaukee Police Department to hire 380 more officers. This was due in part to "court system inefficiencies and contract clauses."
Tags: police; salary; wage; overtime; court system; staff; vacancies; officer shortages;
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Slow Justice
In Forrest County, the county's justice system had all but ceased to function. The Hattiesburg American began research on the crumbling justice system in 2002. Reporters spent four months entering court records into computers from dusty ledger books and found that: the county's district attorney was "too busy" to look into instances pointed out by the newspaper where prisoners had been released in violation of the law, the district attorney's office lost case files and that a lack of working computers hindered anyone from knowing what a case's status was. In all, more than 70 articles were published on the topic throughout the year.
Tags: Justice; Inefficiency; slow; illegal
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Showing Its Age: Fed's Huge Empire Set Up Years Ago, Is Costly and Inefficient
The Journal reports that the federal Reserve Bank has too many banks, some in wrong places, and is facing losses in check-clearing. The story finds that "rapid changes in technology, consolidation in banking and rising competition in some of their basic services threaten to make Fed banks costly relics. Except for the New York Fed, the system's link to world markets, many Fed functions could be centralized at far less cost and some fed banks could be closed, federal auditors say."
Tags: banking; competition; credit cards; bad debts; write-offs; loans; business; financial services
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Jacking Around
Pitch Weekly reports on "the shenanigans of a small town police chief and his officers in Lone Jack, Mo., forty miles southeast of Kansas City." The story reveals that Chief Jeffrey Jewell was harassing his female staff and female juvenile offenders, while inefficiently handling most investigations. Another finding is that a police officer in Jewell's department had allegedly joined forces with local burglars to cover a theft ring.
Tags: police; courts; corruption; sexual harassment; crime; juvenile justice
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Murderers' Row
Westword examines Colorado death-penalty system and finds it works inefficiently. The story features the most eye-catching murder cases in recent years, and follows the judicial process for each them. Residents of death row had their execution dates come and gone a number of times, the newspaper reveals. At the same time victims' relatives, present at endless debates of lawyers and judges, were impatient to receive justice and disappointed to find out that "killings could be rated and ranked." The article provides some on the history of death penalty in Colorado since 1900.
Tags: jurors; courts; judges; murders; hanging; killings; violence; rape; capital punishment; felony
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Jobs that go bump
Governing exposes chaos and inefficiency in the work of government agencies, resulting from bumping - "the process whereby a more senior public employee whose position is cut can use his tenure to claim another job held by a less senior person." The story reveals that often after several senior positions have been cut, dozens and even hundreds of workers might have to change places, ending up "in a similar job, a job they haven't done for years, or a job they have never done in their lives." The reporter looks at better working alternatives to bumping, which have been used by some local governments throughout the country.
Tags: Massachusetts Employment and Training Division; personnel; politics; unions; public employees; collective bargaining; Prince George's County
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Kentucky's Homegrown Rebellion
A Rolling Stone investigation reveals that in the isolated verdant mountains of eastern Kentucky "marijuana drives the local economy and influences every aspect of life." The story finds that the development of the growing-of-pot business is connected to the relatively high unemployment rate and low income in this region. The article points out that even though the federal government has declared war on marijuana business, Washington's $6-million eradication program works inefficiently and wastes taxpayers' dollars. The report details the peculiarities of marijuana farming. It also reveals that pot chips in Kentucky often corrupts local officials.
Tags: corruption; police; law enforcement; farming; poverty; unemployment; low income; tobacco; law