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 "judicial districts" ...
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Secret Files
The Courant detailed the extent and nature of an unusual practice whereby state judges selectively sealed cases, some so completely that their very existence was not publicly acknowledged. That disclosure, and the revelations that the practice often favored fellow judges, celebrities, and wealthy CEO's, stoked considerable public outrage. Six months later, judges abolished it.
Tags: state judges; dockets; Connecticut Practice Book; Connecticut Law Tribune; sealed cases; sealed files; lawsuit; divorce-court cases; Texaco; Nine West; Arthur Anderson; MasterCard; Primerica Corp.; General Electric; University of Connecticut; Level 1 sealing; Level 2 sealing; judicial branch; Superior Court Judges; U.S. Supreme Court; Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford; Connecticut State Supreme Court; U.S. District Court in Hartford; sexual abuse; lawsuits public interest cases; secret court files; state-court proceedings
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Some donors get new posts
The investigation found that people who contributed to Gov. Jeb Bush's campaign and major donors to the Republican Party of Florida were far more likely to get plum appointments to the state's powerful boards and commissions during the Bush tenure than those who contributed t the Florida Democratic Party of Bush's opponents.
Tags: Governor Jeb Bush; Republican Party of Florida; Florida Democratic Party; appointees; elected officials; Commission on Ethics; Division of Elections; Common Cause of Florida; Florida Prepaid College Board; Judicial Qualifications Commission; Land Acquisition and Facilities Advisory Board; Miami-Dade County School Board District; Governor's Mansion Foundation; Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Prison Rehabilitative Industries; Diversified Enterprises Board
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Grass-roots justice
A profile of Roxbury District Court Judge Gregory L. Philips frames this story about the turn-around of a judicial court. When Philips was appointed, Roxbury District Court was operating with a tarnished image. Philips moved to fix that image, and make one of the most smooth-running courts in the state.
Tags: Justice; Judges; Municipal courts; Gregory Philips
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Courting Big Money
The Buffalo News explains "how judicial elections, specifically State Supreme Court, are financed in New York state." The newspaper found that "judges and judicial candidates in the eighth judicial district in Western New York were forced to take part in an election system that turned them into fundraisers for the major political parties. Even those candidates who were cross-endorsed by the major parties, who had no election opponents, raised money that was then donated to various candidates for office. This occured despite a ban on judges making direct political donations. A loophole allowing judges to buy tickets to political events was used, with tickets costing as much as $1,000. And most of the money was raised from attorneys, who one day might appear before these very judges."
Tags: New York State Supreme Court; judges; judicial districts; loophole; campaign finance; attorneys; major parties; Democrats; Republicans; courts
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Stories on U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald
"For years, U.S. District Judge Alan McDonald and his courtroom deputy in Yakima exchanged disparaging notes about people appearing in court -- a possible violation of conduct rules for federal judges." Copies of the notes were obtained by the Spokesman Review, and launched a nine-month judicial misconduct investigation and a reprimand by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Tags: judicial misconduct; district court; ethics; Washington State Bar Association; legal journalism; racial bias; ethnic slurs; religious bias
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Survey: Some judges talked a lot, spent a lot on public cell phones
Baughman and Angelette reviewed the cell phone bills for Baton Rouge City Court and 19th Judicial District Court judges and found that the judges used the cell phones very frequently, on the taxpayers dime.
Tags: judges; Baton Rouge; taxes
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Hallinan's Record Worst in State AND SF's DA Has Weak Record in Cases of Domestic Violence
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "San Francisco District Attorney Terence Hallinan ranks dead last among California's 58 county prosecutors, winning convictions in less than a third of the criminal cases lodged with his office last year ... The district attorney's conviction rate is even worse in cases alleging violent crimes, according to a computer analysis of records filed with the state Department of Justice..."
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Clout Outweighs Resumes in Judicial Primaries
Chicago Lawyer investigates how legal ability, professional credentials and ethics play little if any role in Cook County's judicial election system. Loyal precinct captains almost always beat better-qualified lawyers. Attorneys change their names for ethnic ballot appeal, move into more winnable judicial districts, enter races as straw horses to syphon votes from other candidates of the same ethnicity or gender, or pull out of a race one year in exchange for party backing the next. (March 1, 1996)
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No title (id: 13437)
Texas Lawyer investigates Larry W. Baraka, a Texas judge who spent 85.4 percent more money on court-appointed lawyers in the last year than did his fellow county judges. While Baraka argues that his county also heard 25 percent more dispositions than courts in other counties, Baraka's district court seat plans to apprehend the judge on spending issues during next year's campaigns. (Nov. 6, 1996)
Tags: Vincent The Most Generous Judge in Dallas Judicial system Criminal law 2 pgs.
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Crime Pays Big Time!
The investigation reveals how the U.S. spends untold millions of dollars on some of the worst criminals known to man. Tax-payer money helps serial murderers live in comfort and plot further crimes. The author of the article has the inside-track from his own shady background as a criminal and government stool pigeon. (February 1996)
Tags: Taylor Crime pays big time! Judicial system Criminal justice Lawyers U.S. district attorney Drugs Courts Janet Reno Narrative; 7pgs