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 "mobile homes" ...
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Built to Burn?`
While modular homes are becoming increasingly popular, this investigation shows how they are more likely to burn faster than traditional houses. The modular home industry, as the investigation shows, has been neglecting to undergo required safety inspections.
Tags: modular homes; inspection; fire; mobile home; homeowner; RV
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Nobody's Hero
This is an investigation into the Defense Department agency Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) and its unreliability in helping returned servicemen and women reclaim their jobs upon return from deployment in the Middle East. Since Sept. 11, 2001, more than 560,000 National Guard members and reservists have been deployed to the Middle East, "the largest mobilization of citizen-soldiers since World War II." But thousands of the more than 460,000 who have returned home after completing their service are finding that employers are reluctant to allow them to return to work. The reservists can seek help from federal agencies including the Departments of Labor, Justice, Defense and the Office of Special Counsel, but the "military brass strongly encourages the rank and file" to ask the ESGR for assistance. Yet ESGR is disorganized and does not always give helpful advice.
Tags: Military Reservists; Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve; formed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act; disenfranchised veterans; veterans' issues; nobody's hero
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MS-13: An International Franchise
The series provided a comprehensive and detailed examination of Mara Salvatrucha's (MS-13's) growth, criminal activity, mobility and international coordination. Key findings were that a series of high profile murder investigations arching from Central America to Texas to the Washington DC area were linked to a single LA cell of the gang. Also the series was able to demonstrate how a major U.S. strategy for combating MS-13 - deporting members to their home countries- helped spread the gang across Central America and to new areas in the U.S.
Tags: gangs; Mara Salvatruchas; Central America; murder; MS-13; international crime; deportation
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No Bargain Basement
This investigation exposed the shoddy practices of Vista Home Management, a mobile/modular homebuilder that catered to lower income buyers. The company used cheap contractors and then waited years to fix the problems that inevitably followed the thrifty construction.
Tags: contractors; construction; property; home owners
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Sky-Vue Mobile Park Investigation
This investigation looks at the Sky-Vue Mobile park and how its residents complained to city officials about the conditions of the residence. In most cases, these complaints were never followed up and resident continued to live in "the ghetto of all ghettos." The investigation also revealed that the park had been operating without a business license for several months and failed to make necessary safety improvements.
Tags: property rights; Las Vegas Neighborhood Services and Fire Department; mobile home communities
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A Formula For Disaster
This investigation was born out of various follow-ups to stories about the four hurricanes that hit Florida in 2004. The reporters, concerned about how the high number of mobile homes in Tampa Bay held up the hurricanes, decided to investigate how dangerous they really are. The reporters found that most of the homes were built prior to the established safety standards after Hurricane Andrew. The high number of unsafe mobile homes in the Tampa Bay area means the region could face catastrophic damage when hurricanes strike again.
Tags: natural disaster; tropical storm; housing; trailers; mobile homes
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Wireless firms try to cope with success; Cell-phone users haunted by 'dead zones'
The Philadelphia Inquirer examines the cause of cell phone "dead spots" -- places where a cell phone user can't get service. Gelles writes that cell phone networks "are strongest in city centers, transportation hubs and major traffic corridors." But customers want to use them at their homes, where the networks are weak.
Tags: cell phones; Philadelphia; dead zones; wireless; mobile; Sprint PCS; Verizon Wireless; Cellular One; AT&T Wireless
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Government by Developer
A Dallas Morning News investigation has found that North Texas developers have won hundreds of millions of dollars in taxing power from voters and elected officials to whom they provided homes, jobs or other benefits.
Tags: government; mobile homes; tax; developer
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Dreams tumbling down; "Manufactured promises" two-part series: The high cost of home & No longer their choice; State will review rules on housing; Troubled homes amid prosperity; Manufactured-housing trade group favors new disclosure laws; Panel urges more regulation of manufactured homes; Panel urges more regulation of manufactured homes; Difficulty follows easy-buy homes; Manufactured home dealers, state reach agreements
An Oregonian investigative series and follow-up stories report on how the rising cost of manufactured homes has forced residents into bankruptcy and moving out. As mobile home parks compete with the site-built housing business, their have become a hardly affordable place to live anymore, the Oregonian reports. Loans for manufactured houses usually carry 3 to 5 points higher interest rates than those for stick-built houses. The stories reveal that the industry targets young families and first-time home buyers, that developers impose additional "park packages" of up to 20,000 to 30,000 per home and that manufactured-home dealers are regulated less than car dealers.
Tags: mobile homes; real estate; trailers; rental parks; poverty; low income; elderly; social issues; bankruptcy; loans; mortgages; foreclosure; Oregon Manufactured Housing Association; homeowners; land development
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Secret Justice
ABA Journal investigates how undisclosed settlements to lawsuits and closed-door proceedings shut out public scrutiny. The article finds that this practice reduces accountability and eliminates precedents. The author points to several examples of sealed court files, some of which involving giant corporations and movie stars. The major example is about a reporter, Kristen Mitchell with the Wilmington, N.C., Morning Star, who was fined for obtaining a sealed file inadvertently handed her by a court clerk. The file contained information on a secret settlement of an environmental lawsuit between Conoco Inc. and residents of a mobile home park. The newspaper, also, was ordered to pay Conoco $500,000, the journal reports.
Tags: media rights; legislation; Merrill Lynch; First Amendment; freedom of the press; judges; lawyers; settlement agreements; Sondra Locke; Clint Eastwood; 3M; jurors; business