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 "marshes" ...
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Losing Louisiana
The Times-Picayune found that over the next 100 years the natural sinking of soft marsh soils could result in making New Orleans an island. Hundreds of miles of Louisiana coastline would be wiped out and sea-level will rise over time as the soil falls.
Tags: flooding; marshes; delta; Mississippi River; Hurricane Katrina; wetland; sediment;
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E-Z Pass Problems
Maryland's E-Z Pass system that "signals a computer as the motorists goes through a toll plaza to automatically subtract the cost of the toll from their E-ZPass holder account" has problems. WBAL found that batteries were wearing out but the state didn't send out notices and were denying fine appeals.
Tags: transportation; toll roads; state government; products;
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Dangerous Dams
There are several "high hazard" dams in Maryland which the state Department of the Environment considers unsafe and a threat to public safety. Some of these dams are in imminent danger of failing. A "high hazard" dam indicates that a collapse would cause loss of life and damage to residential, industrial or agricultural areas, public utilities and infrastructure. The story detailed lax enforcement of rules and regulations when a dam owner is told by state inspectors to fix problems.
Tags: Dams; safety; breach; unsafe; high hazard
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Questionable Crime Reporting
"Perhaps no city in the country in recent years has made more claims about violent crime reduction than Baltimore...Our investigation examined incidents that were unreported by police; revealed allegations that City Hall had stopped previous crime audits; and analyzed independent hospital data as a means of comparison to claims of reduction in gun-related crime."
Tags: crime; Baltimore; violent crime; homicide; hospital; crime reduction; reporting; police
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Lost Home
A Baltimore area homeowner who felt trapped was about to lose her home when a foreclosure "rescue" company promised to help her. The company offered a deal the homeowner accepted: She thought she was getting a home equity loan but soon learned she had actually sold her home without knowing it.This deal should not have happened because it was prohibited by state law.
Tags: fraud; loans; real estate; homeowner; Baltimore
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"Fairbanks Capital Investigation"
This story investigates the business practices of Fairbanks Capital Corporation, and the mishandling of the mortgages of more than 500,000 homeowners. The company is accused of charging homeowners excessive late fees, holding and posting payments late, and harrassing customers. The story also uncovered that the current CEO of Fairbanks, Thomas Basmajian, was previously convicted of tax fraud, along with a number of other businessmen.
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Building Homes: Building Problems
This set of 14 stories examines recent construction in over 400 central Florida homes. The findings reveal that many of these houses have major flaws in their construction. As WESH-TV reports, these problems are due to subcontractors who hire untrained labor and illegal immigrants.
Tags: Housing; flaws in construction; housing subcontractors; illegal immigrants; tapes; transcript
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Shell game
An exhaustive investigation into the Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion Project, a state-backed project that destroyed oyster crops by dumping fresh water in commercial oyster marshes, and the lawsuit that followed. Most oyster marshes make only $25,000 in the very best of years. However, after the marshes were destroyed by the Project, a jury decided that $1.3 billion should be awarded as compensation for about 160 farmers who lost their marshes.
Tags: Caernarvon Freshwater Diversion Project; oyster leases; lawsuit; state government
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Rescuing the River
A Journal News investigative series reports on the Environmental Protection Agency's $460-million plan "to perform the largest environmental dredging project in the nation's history on a 40-mile section of the Upper Hudson River." The river was contaminated with PCBs, deadly chemicals that have been dumped in the water by General Electric for decades. The toxins destroyed fishing and tainted a Mohawk reservation. The stories question the cost and effectiveness of the dredging plan, which "might not remove PCBs from the river but it would destroy marshes...." The investigation documents the GE high-dollar lobbying and advertising efforts in favor of the argument that "the river will clean itself."
Tags: environment; FOI requests; rivers; Congress; legislature; Sen. Hillary Clinton; hazardous waste; Hudson River Superfund; National Academy of Sciences; lobbyists; public health; contamination; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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Stacking the Deck
Money Magazine documented in detail in all 50 states the ways that the $3.1 trillion insurance industry dominates the regulatory system that is supposed to police it. Among the major findings: that at least 15% of legislators on insurance committees in sate legislatures nationwide work for or are otherwise affiliated with the industry; that state insurance commissioners often serve the industry, sometimes as lobbyists, before assuming office and then go on to high-paying industry jobs after leaving office; and that the industry further subverts the regulatory process by showering state and federal legislators with millions of dollars in campaign contributions and lobbying money. As a result of the industry's influence over regulators, the article contends that consumers pay an estimated $65 billion a year more for insurance coverage than they otherwise would. (August, 1996)
Tags: Updegrave Caplin Katzeff Marsh et al CAR Stacking the deck Contest entry 15 pgs.