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 "private sector" ...
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Dunning the dead in Brooklyn
The Daily News reports on corruption in the Brooklyn Surrogate's Court. Specifically, according to the contest entry summary, judge "Michael Feinberg approved millions of dollars in undocumented and exorbitant legal fees to a private sector lawyer and longtime friend who had earlier got appointed to handle the estate of dead, interstate Brooklynites."
Tags: real estate; conflicts of interest; campaign finance reports; tax records; Kings County Democratic Party; FOI
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The City of Dallas' sick time policy
Analyzing a database of Dallas personnel records, KDFW-Dallas/Fort Worth found city workers burning weeks of sick time just before retirement. Retiring workers took off 3½ times more sick time than the average worker. Retiring firefighters burn the most sick time, and get paid for more sick hours than other city workers, the investigation found. Adrian concludes that the City of Dallas is about to spend more than twice the national average sick time cost found in a survey of more than 300 companies.
Tags: absenteeism; employment; labor; personnel; public sector; private sector
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With strings attached
Governing examines how private foundations are using their grant money to buy public policy. The story reveals that foundations pump billions of dollars into local and state government every year, and points to specific examples when donors have attempted to reshape governmental programs and initiatives. The article looks at how the cash flow from foundations to government has been increasing since 1975. "Foundations are positioned to influence the public sector in a whole new way," but they " rarely have the standing and legitimacy to act as a driving force for reform within government," the magazine reports.
Tags: legislature; foundations; laws; philanthropies; charities; Ford; Rockefeller; Robert Wood Johnson; Pew; Enterprise Foundation; Edna McConnell Clark Foundation; Annie E. Casey Foundation; Council on Foundations; poverty; racism; housing
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Dumping The Public Hospital
Governing reports on a small town in Tennessee faced with the difficult choice of whether to privatize its local hospital. Running a public hospital is not like other public services, insofar as it must also compete in a competitive market; with all the regulations and restrictions government entities face, many business processes run slower than they would in the private sector. "Selling a hospital facility to a private company can eliminate governance burdens, but it also breaks all ties to public-sector accountability," Governing reports.
Tags: privatization; hospitals
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The Lonely Leap
Governing reports on the privitization of child welfare in Kansas. Kansas's attempt to fix its child welfare system by opening it up to the private sector is hard to judge against its old system, especially since the child welfare systems's budget has risen enormously since the change. But whlie it's still adjusting to the transition, there is much praise for the new system.
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Faith, Hope and Charity
President Bush's controversial backing of non-secular social services through his newly-created White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives roused objections from many political camps. In Texas, the former governor pushed for a way to divert more federal funds to religious (or "faith-based") groups that provided social services. But the effort was hardly widespread: Only $8.4 million went to religious groups, compared to the $1 billion spent on social services in Texas in 2001. The debate surrounding charitable choice may well be one of semantics and political emphasis rather than true action as laws already exist that permit faith-based groups to be eligible for federal funds for social service work.
Tags: charity; religion; social services; faith; 501c 3; nonprofit; private sector; churches; separation of church and state; Salvation Army; Catholic Charities; welfare; effectiveness; social work and psychology replaced with faith; volunteerism; federal funds
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The Mouse that Roared
"Based on a year-long investigation, the Business Journal uncovered a pattern of questionable activities related to the joint operations of the FBI and the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NCIB) -- a private-sector investigative group funded by the insurance industry. The close ties between the FBI and the NCIB, which were exposed through the newspaper's reporting, raise serious questions concerning how this nation should proceed in the future with respect to cooperation between federal law enforcement and special-interest groups such as the insurance industry.
Tags: insurance; privacy; Sudden Impact; joint interrogation of suspects; access to medical records; racial profiling; lobbying; conflict of interest; misconduct
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The Body Hunters
"A Washington Post investigation into corporate drug experiments in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America reveals a booming, poorly regulated testing system that is dominated by private interests and that far too often betrays its promises to patients and consumers."
Tags: FOI; pharmaceutical companies; medical research; FDA (Food and Drug Administration); WHO epidemic data; developing nations' medical trials; ethics; NIH grant files; Office of Human Research Portections; new drug development; HIV tests; Trovan; Doctors Without Borders; private sector experiments; meningitis; database mapping project
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The Price Isn't Right
An investigation by American Prospect reveals that the drug industry's profits are "rooted in government-funded research," not research funded by the private sector as so many industry executives claim.
Tags: drug industry; profits; government
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No title (id: 10596)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune looks at a private companies that are bringing new ideas on how to run schools in Baltimore and Chelsea, Massachusetts. The series notes that the public is losing faith in the public school system and is turning to non-traditional approaches and the private sector for help, Nov. 28 - 29, 1993.
Tags: MN Hotakainen Berg Education Alternatives Private Urban Schools