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 "older" ...
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Brian Ross Investigates: Tires-Cracking the Code
This report investigates the little-known hazard of the road - aged tires that have exceeded their shelf life. Most motorists only look at the depth of a tire's tread to determine if it is safe enough to use. However, our investigation revealed that as tires get older, even if they've never been driven a mile, they can dry out, and after six years of age, can become dangerous. Experts say aged tires have led to numerous fatalities, yet motorists have been kept in the dark about the issue.
Tags: tires; public safety; car care; automobile; tire industry; tread separation
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Perils of the New Pesticides
An analysis of EPA data by the Center of Public Integrity shows that the number of reported human health problems, including severe reactions, attributed to pyrethrins and pyrethroids increased by about 300 percent over the past decade. These pesticides are marketed as the safe alternative to older pesticides, but researchers, epidemiologists, and doctors are starting to question the safety of these products. The investigation also found that the EPA received 25,000 reports of pet pesticide reactions of every sort -- fatal, major, moderate and minor -- to over-the-counter pyrethroid spot on products.
Tags: Environmental Protection Agency; pesticide; environmental health and safety; pyrethrins; pyrethroids; human reaction to pesticide; pet reaction to pesticide
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Golden Opportunities
The series "examined how businesses and investors are reaping enormous profits by exploiting the soaring number of older Americans."
Tags: elderly; policyholders; grievances; lawsuits; nursing homes; telemarketing fraud; financial advisors
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State of Decay: West Virginia's Oral Health Crisis
West Virgina has the highest percentage of "older adults who have had all their natural teeth removed. The state's Medicaid program will pay for pulling teeth, but not saving them." Also "dentists were billing the state more for pulling low-income children's teeth than for cleaning them."
Tags: dentist; teeth; oral hygiene; dental work; Medicaid; lip cancer;
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Gas Line Explosions
Older soft copper gas lines have been linked to a series of home explosions. Regulators mandate such lines be replaced, but a KTVI investigation found that tens of thousands remain under homes. The homeowners never suspect, because the corrosion and gas leaks usually begin the yard, allowing the scent to be filtered out of the natural gas "as it travels through the soil into the home."
Tags: Gas leaks; homes; dangerous gas lines; at-risk homes; soft copper gas lines
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Polygamy in Arizona
These stories are the latest in the investigation Dougherty began in 2002, which uncovered widespread sexual abuse within a religious society that coerces underage girls into polygamous unions with much older men. In these stories, Dougherty discovered that the sect was in the process of relocating to Eldorado, TX. He also found that the community is afflicted by a rare genetic disorder as a result of its history of inbreeding. Finally, the stories discuss the relationship between the state and the community, especially in the state-funded school district which employs a lot of community people.
Tags: Colorado City; Mormons; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; sexual abuse; child abuse; cults; state government; local government; polygamy; sect
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Home Costs Go North; The More Affordable Suburbs; Seeing a Hopeful Change
Hopkins used a database of average home prices in the Baltimore area, grouped by zip code, to show the increase in home-sale prices from 1999-2004. Part one of the series shows that Baltimore is slowly becoming a Washington suburb, and the changing demographic is pushing locals to move further away. Part two focuses on some of the older suburban communities in the area. Part three examines the real estate market to see who is benefiting from the changes.
Tags: real estate; property tax; Washington D.C; demographic; population; census; Computer-Assisted Reporting; data analysis; homeowners; mortgage brokers
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Police Recycle Guns
This story reports that police departments sell their older weapons for new ones and that some of these discarded weapons land up with criminals. As these reporters found out more than 100 New Jersey guns were linked to crimes between 1985 and 2000. Gun dealers often gave the police department a cheap deal especially for older weapons having high-capacity magazines.
Tags: guns; shooting crimes; New Jersey Police Department; New Jersey gun laws; sale of police weapons
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Wiped Out
BUSINESSWEEK tells the tale of how roughly 90 Proctor & Gamble workers were lured into quitting their jobs by the siren's call of a local stockbroker who promised them untold riches. Bill Gibbs, the stockbroker, convinced older workers to quit their jobs so he could gain control of their company-funded retirement accounts. As Gibbs' original investments began to falter, he sank his clients' portfolios heavily into tech and Internet stocks just as those sectors were peaking and about to begin devastating declines. Within a year, most of these workers saw their life savings wiped out.
Tags: A.G. Edwards; Procter & Gamble Co.; oil; health benefits; stockbroker; investing; life insurance; retirees; tech stocks; Internet stocks; portfolio; J.D. Power and Associates Inc.; First Union Brokerage; high yields; Dow Jones Industrial Average; Dow Dividend Strategy; Individual Retirement Account; Chevron; General Electric; General Motors; International Paper; 3M; high risk stocks; bankruptcy
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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