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 "moving violations" ...
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Local officials are likely to profit from fracking in Southern Tier
Local government officials have been lobbying the state to the controversial oil and gas extraction process known as fracking. But when they spoke at public hearings and pushed in other forums, were they just representing their communities, or did they have more at stake? In a four-month investigation, SUNY New Paltz students reviewed thousands of public records in two states. The investigation found more than 30 locally elected officials who have been outspoken proponents for fracking. Public records and additional examinations identified about 20 percent of those with more than political philosophy at stake — the chance to gain personally and financially. To open government advocates such as Common Cause, these instances raise concerns about transparency and conflicts of interest among locally elected officials. About six months after publication, and after further moves by local officials to press the state to approve fracking, the state attorney general has launched inquiries into whether local officials have violated conflicts of interest.
Tags: Oil; gas; oil and gas extraction; fracking
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A Defective System
In the Kansas City Municipal Court, drivers who had committed offenses including "DUI, fleeing police, racing on city streets and speeding" were allowed to plea-bargain their offenses down to the much more minor "defective-equipment" violation. In some cases, drivers were obtaining up to five of these plea bargain deals in a year. The more serious offenses never showed up on drivers' records, and while these individuals avoided the hike in insurance rates that would have come with their violations, insurance company spokesmen informed the K.C. Star that everyone's rates were thus "being increased slightly to cover this uninsured risk created by the plea bargains."
Tags: DUI; moving violations; plea bargains; Kansas City Municipal Court; "defective-equipment" citation"; insurance rates; insurance rate hikes
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Fire Hazard: Bush Leaves Nuclear Plants at Risk
Cusac's investigation looks into fire safety protections at several U.S. nuclear plants, as well as the Bush administration's decision to make fire safety a lax issue. The article points out the fact that this decrease in fire protection comes at the point when Al Qaeda's interests are in targeting unidentified nuclear power plants. From the IRE questionnaire: "This article discovered that the reason the Bush Administration was making such a move was because many plants were already in violation of the law and because the nuclear industry threatened widespread rebellion if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tried to enforce the law."
Tags: fire safety protections; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Shearon Harris; Progress Energy
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A Pattern of Suspicion
This fourteen month investigation into racial profiling began with the 2001 death of Timothy Thomas, an African - American teenager in Cincinnati. Thomas had fourteen police warrants before he was killed, all of which stemmed from unpaid traffic tickets for non-moving violations. These sorts of violations are often used as a pretext for seeing if suspicious motorists have drugs or guns. In nearly every city Dateline looked at, blacks were stopped or ticketed for non-moving violations at least twice as often as whites.
Tags: racism; profiling; traffic tickets; police corruption
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Male Drivers Outpace Women - In Tickets and Fatal Accidents
This computer analysis shows that men are issued more tickets for moving violations than women. This article explains the data and then offers possible reasons for the gender gap.
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Building Homes: Building Problems-Follow the Inspectors
This story exposed a government inspection system that has no standards. The state building code, and the often overworked local inspectors who enforce it, offers little to no assurance that a buyer will move into a home that even meets minimum building standards. They found that in one county, in more than 400 instances, inspectors conducted 25 inspections a day or more. That is at least twice what is considered by experts to be a reasonable daily workload. On many occasions inspectors did 40-50 inspections in one day. And they missed violations.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; building code; inspections; home inspections; framing inspection; Orlando county; orang county; Osecola county; lake county; inspection quality; inspector work schedule; housing inspector records
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The Speeder's Secret
The Kansas state municipal court system allows drivers who have been ticketed for moving violations and reduce them to parking tickets. As this report reveals, this sanction is used by many drivers and as a result many unsafe drivers still have a licence. A part of the story also talks about a computer system that allows various counties to share moving violations which is not being used or updated by the state officials.
Tags: transportation; traffic tickets; parking tickets; Kansas State municipal court system; court system; moving violations
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Following the money? Banks vacate city's heart, grow in higher-income areas
Federal statistics for Fairfield, California show banks have abandoned older, low-income housing neighborhoods in an apparent violation of the Community Reinvestment Act, and moved to where new upscale housing developments were going up. The banks were catering to the middle and upper classes, and ignoring low-income neighborhoods. Controversial check cashing stores that charge alarmingly high interest rates have swept into these low income neighborhoods where the banks disappeared.
Tags: Community Reinvestment Act; check cashing; high interest rates; check cashing stores; payday lenders; FDIC records; Washington Mutual; National Community Reinvestment Coalition; Consumers Union
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If These Walls Could Talk
Those living or looking to live rental housing in L.A. depend on the Health Department for inspections. The investigation exposed that the L.A. County Health Department has a secret system of grading rental housing inspections, but doesn't make these records available to the public. So renters are unaware of these conditions before they move in. Additionally, the investigation exposes further problems with L.A.'s housing inspection program. There are repeat health code violators, and action is rarely taken against them.
Tags: Los Angeles County Health Department; Rental Housing; Landlords; Housing Inspections; TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Health Code
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"Background check"
The story explains ways to check the background of financial advisers. The author recommends to check out the disciplinary and employment history of brokers. Simon says: "[...] Investors should generally avoid a broker whose record shows a pattern of misconduct or violations of securities laws. [...] frequent job hopping can be a sign of trouble, particularly if the broker seems to move to a new firm every year."
Tags: Securities and Exchange Commission; Consumer Federation of America; Central Registration Depository System; Association of Securities Dealers