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 "open records request" ...
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Project Access
The reporters, with the help of 18 journalism students, set out to find out how public were public records. The students were sent out to request data from a range of public departments and rate their experience, the idea being that they were more representative of the general public rather than experienced journalists would be.
Tags: FOIA; public records; local government; open records; Sunshine laws
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Uncovering "Coingate"
After breaking a story of Ohio's $50 million investment in rare coins and the mired issues attached to this, in April, the (Toledo) Blade decided to dig deeper, filing public records requests with the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation to inspect the coin transaction and business records of the state's rare-coin investment. This brought a refusal from the coin fund's manager, saying the fund was exempt from the state's Open Record Laws. Once the Supreme Court of Ohio ordered the release of the records, it was discovered that $13 million dollars of the state's investment was missing.
Tags: coingate; FOIA; corruption; pension fund; Ohio Supreme Court; rare coins; Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation
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COTA: A Ticket to Ride
WBNS-TV conducted a one year investigation and a series of open records requets to look into allegations of corruption by Ron Barnes, president of Central Ohio's Transit Authority (COTA). Through their investigation, they uncovered a series of e-mails between Barnes and former transit authority board member Ernie Sullivan, who negotiated a high-priced consultants job for himself in clear violation of Ohio's Ehtics Law. The Ethics Commission found violations of the state ethics law, ordered the resignation of former transit authority board member and current consultant Ernie Sullivan. The Commission also ordered Sullivan and COTA president Ron Barnes to refund taxpayers $18,000.
Tags: Central Ohio's Transit Authority; Ohio Ethics Commission; Ron Barnes; Ernie Sullivan; open records act
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Slow to Act
How long does it take Washington state to shut down the day care centers who've time and again violated state standards? KING-TV asked this same question and battled three months for access to records. They found that of 60 day care centers shut down in Western Washington in the last three years, one-third of them were allowed to stay open far too long.
Tags: day care centers; Washington Department of Health and Social Services; day care licenses
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Cries for Help
WTHR followed up their 2003 series, "Failure to Protect," on children in foster care with this series. Using Indiana's newly revised open records law, WTHR requested all reports of childrens' death while under the care of Family & Social Services from the past two years. They found many missing records, challenged the agency in court and won. The transcript file includes some summaries of child death data and some FOIA documents.
Tags: Foster care; Family and social services; child abuse; child care; FOIA
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Judge Unseals Malpractice Statements
These reporters began their intensive coverage of medical malpractice lawsuits in 2003, with the series "Prescription for Peril." Most of the reporting was done through interviews and digging up documents hidden away in old county court houses. In 2004, the reporters decided to take their investigation one step further by filing open records requests for all public records regarding medical malpractice payments. These stories chronicle the fight over the records and then analyze the data to show that medical malpractice payments have, in fact, been dropping.
Tags: medical malpractice; doctor; torte reform; frivolous lawsuits
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Access Denied
Reporters set out to see how accessible local government in the viewing area is to citizens. A local taxpayer was hired to ask more than 30 government agencies, school districts and police departments for records. These requests included financial records, documentation of reimbursements and emails from top public officials, all of which should have been open to the public. But government officials denied access and used intimidation and harassment to discourage further attempts.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Public Records Law; Taxpayers; Rights; Government; School District; Police Agencies; Valley Government; Public Records
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Solie's prior DWI conviction in Vermont
After the president of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly was convicted of driving under the influence as a first-time offender, the Sun Star uncovered that Rick Solie had indeed been previously convicted of DWI in another state, something both the prosecutor and judge in the case had been unaware of. When open records requests were denied, the paper also filed a lawsuit to gain access to Solie's arrest records.
Tags: DWI; DUI; drunk; drunken; driving; official; prosecution; lawsuit; offender; arrest; law; legal; public records; FOIA
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Working Overtime in Parma
An investigation by the Plain Dealer found that "dozens of Parma police officers have shirked their duties and bent the rules in pursuit of more money, aggravating the city's budget crisis." What's more, "the department commanders say they are powerless to stop them." Using open records requests to obtain a mass of data including police payroll, criminal citation and ticket data -- along with payroll sheets, duty records, personnel files and union requests, the Plain Dealer uncovered that crooked cops in Parma were not only retaliating against city attempts to reform the system with "an orchestrated and financial crippling work slow down," but they were also gaming the taxpayers for much more money than they were entitled to -- for instance swapping sick time for overtime to earn double the pay for a normal shift. The series spawned a rash of resignations and investigations in Parma.
Tags: parma; ohio; police; cops; corruption; overtime; pay; union; police department; database; criminal; payroll; slowdown; workforce; abuse; FOIA; open records; public records; CAR
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Access Maryland 2003: The Access Project
This year-long project tested state agencies' compliance with Maryland's freedom of information act. The result was an extensive series of articles that looked at different aspects of the state's open records laws and reported what agencies were complying and to what extent they were complying. The project showed that people only had about "a 60 percent chance of getting what they are legally entitled to, and often they will face improper questioning about who they are, why they want the record and who they work for." Electronic records proved even harder to get; for example, in one series of requests, the project revealed that "none of the state agencies tested...would provide public records in electronic format, and none would give out public information included in a database." The series took a hard look at such problems and what the public can do about it. As a result of the audit, the Maryland attorney general promised "a new training initiative for state employees."
Tags: open records; public records; access; public; documents; electronic records; database; technology; fees; government; agencies