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 "physical" ...
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing
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Chimps: Life in the Lab
The series examines in detail the ethics and scientific necessity of medical research using chimpanzees. Focusing on a group of about 200 chimps in a federal facility in New Mexico, the stories showed the long-term mental and physical impact of constant medical experimentation of the chimpanzees, and it was revealed how scientists were moving toward a consensus that chimp experimentation was not scientifically necessary.
Tags: chimps; monkeys; animals; animal testing
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Questions Are Raised on Restraint Training
This examination detailed how school districts across California have relied on dubious techniques developed by an obscure industry to physically restrain unruly students. While few of these restraint maneuvers are grounded in evidence-based research, they are used to subdue students who are emotionally disturbed or mentally disabled -- some of the most difficult and sensitive situations that teachers encounter. The story also found that there is little regulatory oversight of the restraint industry.
Tags: California; students; restraint
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Judge Darrell Russell, Jr.
The reporter uncovered a decision by a Baltimore County judge to marry a man accused of beating his fiance.
Tags: Judge Darrell Russell, Jr.; judge; court; decision; physical abuse
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"Cruel and Unusual: The Culture of Punishment in America"
In this book, author Anne-Marie Cusac reveals how America has become a nation of victims searching for revenge, rather that a "community that cares for its own." The cultural shift has impacted the criminal justice system, causing even "law-abiding" citizens at risk of "suffering retribution in American jails." The book illustrates how cultural trends have "transformed" America into a "society of punishment."
Tags: prison; jail; punishment; inmates; capital punishment; punitive physical pain; corporal punishment; Abu Ghraib; Guantanamo
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Soldiers At Risk: Iraq Water Investigation
With temperatures rising up to “130 degrees or more” a day, why would the military be rationing water to only 2 liters a day per person? The answer is a water shortage. As a result, some soldiers are reporting from “serious physical problems with their kidneys, nerve degeneration, and even serious brain damage”. Further, some of these conditions went on for up to a year.
Tags: Iraq; Wars; medical professionals; officers; Army; Veterans Administration; defenders; troops
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Victims of Silence
The story reviews dating violence in Florida, as well as the beating of Rihanna by boyfriend Chris Brown. This revealed a number of issues, including “lack of prevention programs, the impact this news had, and that dating violence is under the domestic violence law only to ask for injunction and protection orders”. Further, dating violence isn’t considered a crime and many times is underreported after a physical attack.
Tags: abuse; relationships; physical; police reports; law enforcement; beating; Council and National Crime Forum; emotional violence; sexual violence; law
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In the Kennel-Uncovering a Navy's Unit's Culture of Abuse
In obtaining documents from a Navy investigation into the alleged abuse, it revealed a number of counts of abuse and hazing. Also, it uncovered a widespread psychological, sexual, and physical abuse across the Persian Gulf unit. The Navy investigation revealed all this abuse, but the case was later dropped and the unit's chief was promoted.
Tags: Navy; military; abuse; sailors; cruelty; mistreatment; violence; maltreatment; hazing
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Inside Scientology
"The story provides an unprecedented view of life inside the Church of Scientology as told by former church staffers". Their accounts state how management promoted a culture of violence and abuse. Further, if someone ran away from the Church they were interrogated to keep them quiet about the inner troubles. But in late 2009, many parishioners began to speak out about the management's behavior.
Tags: Church; Marty Rathbun; Mike Rinder; David Miscavige; leader; physical violence; religion
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For Their Own Good
This story exposes juveniles, who are to serve trial as adults, are being held in isolation for over 20 hours a day. This process can last months or years while these juveniles wait for trial. The jail provides "less than the required minimum amount of education and physical activity". This story also revealed that judges and county officials weren't aware of the treatment of these juveniles. Though, state juvenile justice advocates were aware of the process, they did nothing to stop it.
Tags: Harris county; juveniles; solitary confinement; adults; judges; Texas; youth; prisons; jail; justice department; kids