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 "infestation" ...
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Puppy Pipeline
The Post tracked a puppy mill pipeline stretching from the Ozarks to South Florida, one that brought thousands of sometimes-sick puppies from mass-operations to local pet stores. At least 2,500 puppies were delivered to Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties from out-of-states breeders in an 11-month period. Roughly one in three of those came from breeders or distributors cited for problems by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees wholesale dog breeding. Citations varied from keeping animals in too-small and rusting cages with exposed nails or wires, to caked feces, to infestations of roaches and other insects that covered the walls and ceilings of kennels. In dozens of cases, kennel owners averted USDA inspection entirely.
Tags: puppy mill; puppies; USDA; dog breeder; breeding; Department of Agriculture; animal mistreatment
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Infested Oatmeal
Boxes of oatmeal had "an excessive amount of meal moths," the bugs were both inside the box and individual packets.
Tags: consumer; oatmeal; food; health; safety; FDA; infestation; contamination;
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Watchdog Report: Digging into City Hall's Money Mess
A two-month investigation found that the city of San Diego did not have records showing how much land it owned or how it was being used. The city did have an inventory of property, but it was in complete disarray. Not only was it missing land, but it also included property the city didn't own. And the city's records didn't always reflect how the land actually was being used. For instance, one parcel labeled as a street was actually a vacant lot. We found that the city also was neglecting some of its most valuable land. It owned a rat-infested house in La Jolla that had been vacant for more than a decade. A lot that a woman had bequeathed to the city to benefit parks and libraries was covered with trash.
Tags: land records; San Diego; La Jolla; abandoned land; vacated land; city land; public land; public property
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State of Neglect
"State of Neglect" is a three day series about the failures of Adult Protective Services, the Texas agency created to protect mentally or physically incapacitated senior citzens. In some instances, the APS left elderly citizens living in rat-infested homes, with little contact with the agency. The Dallas Morning News also discovered that the agency only took advantage of their ability to gain legal "guardianship" of the needy seniors in 33 cases in a total of five years.
Tags: Adult Protective Services; senior citizens; living conditions; Health and Human Services; guardianship
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Hardly a Home; Crime, pests plague tenants; Many tenants want out; 'If nobody cares,' why bother, police wonder; Apartment woes are news to council members
This four-part investigative story focuses on a group of apartment complexes in Colorado Springs owned by Terry Ragan. The complexes, which are primarily occupied by low-income families, were not only found to be extremely dangerous, but were also found to provide unacceptable living conditions to tenants. The article describes problems in the complexes such as lack of heat, water leaks, cockroach infestation, sewage backups, drug dealing, and violence with weapons, among others. Due to yearly police and fire code inspections and court services, Ragan's complexes end up costing taxpayers about $1 million each year.
Tags: FOIA; sub-standard housing; Cedar Creek Apartments; El Vecino Apartments; Mountain Country Estates; Pine Creek Village Apartments; Pinons Apartments; Shannon Glen Apartments; South Pointe Apartments; The Timbers
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NO Place Else To Go
A Times-Dispatch series examines "problems low-income people have in renting decent housing" in Richmond, Virginia, as well as "problems building and safety officials have with forcing landlords to comply with regulations." The investigation reveals that "some ...landlords milk their tenants, who are forced to live in vermin-infested apartments or padlocked room where heat is a dream." The stories detail the contradictions of government inspectors "with one approving an apartment only to have another fail." The investigation also shows how tenants are trapped to suffer in silence: "If they complain, inspectors could evict them, and if evicted, they have no place else to go."
Tags: FOIA; HUD standards; poverty; landlords; tenants; fines; property maintenance; city government; housing vouchers; tax credits; federal loans
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Child of a Lesser God
Texas Monthly reports on the life of a little girl hidden away in a rat-infested, dilapidated house for most of her life. When the authorities took her away from her mother and grandmother, the nine-year old could not walk steadily or speak . She could only make squeaking noises.
Tags: child abuse; children shelter; retarded; child protective services
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Children of a Lesser God
"It was a modern day horror story: a little girl hidden away in rat-infested squalor for most of her life. When the authorities' took her away from her mother and grandmother, the nine-year-old had never been to school or played outside and could only make squeaking noises. Now dedicated social wokers, academics, and foster parents are trying to undo years of unimaginable neglect.
Tags: child abuse; foster care; social work; neglect; Child Protective Services (CPS); Austin's Children's Center; Kristene Blackstone; Rosedale; mainstreaming; mute; speech pathology
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Bad stores taint grocery industry
Using grocery inspection data from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the Free Press found "at least 44 stores statewide have been issued 'insanitary notices' because of conditions of extreme filth or pest infestations."
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Used Mattress Investigation
An Extra investigation of a New York retailer revealed that they "were buying used, urine-stained, semen-stained, and vermin-infested mattresses from indigents. These organized criminals were rewrapping the old mattresses, sewing new labels on them and selling them as new mattresses in New York retail stores." Extra found victims of skin rashes caused by covered used mattresses.
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT Mattress USA fraud business product safety false advertising