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 "public aid" ...
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Spy Drones Aiding Police
Government surveillance drones have been used, with no public notice, to assist local police departments inside the U.S. find suspects and conduct. A Los Angeles Times/ Tribune Co. Washington Bureau investigation uncovered for the first time over two dozen uses of the Department of Homeland Security drones to help local law enforcement in North Dakota, where two of the department's nine Predator B aircraft are based.
Tags: Government Surveillance; Department of Homeland Security; North Dakota; Drones; Security
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Failure to Aid
Over the last year, I spent a lot of time researching and reporting on stories pertaining to the mental health treatment of people in prison. More specifically, I have successfully fought to gain access to public records in order to tell the story of Tony Lester. Tony was a young man who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. He committed an assault and was sentenced to serve time at the Arizona State Prison in Tucson. Tragically, Tony committed suicide while in prison. Staff in the prison failed to render aid when they discovered him in his cell bleeding. My investigation not only revealed that he was improperly placed in with the general population against a judge's order and a court-ordered psychiatrist order...but he was also mistakenly given razors as part of a hygiene kit.
Tags: prison; paranoid schizophrenia; suicide; mental health
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County Hall: The Perks of Public Office
The series looks at local politicians and their spending habits. These habits were rather lavish for a local government which had to cut spending on certain programs. The stories focus on “everything from how commissioners were using aides as personal chauffeurs to the global travel the commissioners took with no benefit to taxpayers”. Further, advisors of the mayor were receiving “double digit” pay raises, while the budget was crumbling.
Tags: politics; public; officials; Miami-Dade County Hall; corruption; taxes; budget hearings; salary
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The Redevelopment Investigation
This investigation came in several installments throughout the year. The city of San Diego, unlike any other government in California, operates two redevelopment agencies outside of the traditional City Hall structure and with little oversight, running them as separate nonprofit corporations with their own presidents, boards, offices and identities. An investigation into those two public agencies, which have combined annual budgets of nearly $300 million, uncovered a rogue system of forgotten government, which was underscored by a clandestine bonus system. The president of one agency used to pay herself and her aides more than $1 million over 5 years and numerous conflicts of interests between developers and top officials.
Tags: San Diego; city government; corruption; redevelopment agencies; new media; nonprofit corporations
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Kwame Kilpatrick: A Mayor in Crisis
The Free Press's investigation into Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick exposed "public corruption at the highest levels of government in America's 11th largest city. Schaefer and Elrick's reporting revealed that Kilpatrick and his top aide lied under oath during a police whistle-blower trial and sought to cover up those lies by brokering a secret $8.4 million settlement paid for with the taxpayers dollars."
Tags: FOIA; tax corruption; fraud; Philip Meyer Award; 2009 Pulitzer Prize: Local Reporting
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Barack Obama's Family Tree
Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama's heritage has played a key part in his public persona. In his own memoir, "Dreams From My Father," Obama touches on his family history but Sun-Times reporter Scott Fornek went into deeper detail than any other published documentation about the candidate. Without aid from Obama or his staff, Fornek uncovered past dealings that had never been brought to the public's attention.
Tags: President; black; family tree; relative;
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Desert Dealer
"Las Vegas homebuilder Jim Rhodes became the most influential developer in the East Valley when he bought more than 1,000 acres of state trust land, and the right to master plan an additional 6,700 acres. The State Land Department made no attempt to check his background before selling the land and planning rights, which will set the tone for 275 squares miles of trust land in the area. Had they checked, Land Department officials would have found that Rhodes has admitted illegally using his money to aid powerful politicians, and had close ties to corrupt public officials in Nevada. He also has repeatedly and successfully been sued for fraud, self dealing and theft; and has a long history of complaints for shoddy construction."
Tags: land development; bribes; civil cases; East Valley; construction
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"The Pledge"
This story explains changes in Public Health policies of the Bush administration, particularly the approach to preventing sexually transmitted diseases among young people. For 20 years the policy had been to get kids to use condoms; a policy that worked. Since the advent of the Bush administration five years ago, the policy has shifted to "No sex before marriage" and the government has spent almost $1 billion to get the message across. Part of the strategy has been to convince young people that condoms are not safe.
Tags: Public health policy; HIV; AIDS; sex education; sexually transmitted diseases; STD's
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Fostering Failure
This three-month investigation employed hidden cameras, undercover aids, extensive reporting and interviews to expose a network of "special schools" that thousands of foster children are sent to in California every year. Many of these so-called schools are set up in converted motels and run down strip malls. There are seldom any credentialed teachers in the classrooms; few textbooks and the students are basically warehoused without receiving an education. At the same time, theses schools receive $25,000 to $45,000 per year per student from the state. Compare this to the $6,500 that public schools receive for the each kid. Thousands of foster children graduate without ever having written a book report, term paper or even read a book. Many experts the news team consulted believe this is a big reason one out of every four of the homeless in California are former foster children.
Tags: TAPE; foster children; foster kids; special school; homeless; public school; credentialed teachers; school inspection report; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors; curriculum; California; converted motels; run down strip malls; education; inspector
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Paying for Schools
This series of stories takes an in-depth look at how schools are financed in California. The investigation found it to be an incredibly convoluted and inequitable system. The distribution of money from district to district is uneven, and politics often determine who gets the most money. A lot of the money is doled out based on outdated programs with little connection to modern day needs in schools. Much of the money is released to schools with little or no state monitoring of whether the programs are working or even happening, and some actually aren't.
Tags: spending; school programs; Governor Gray Davis; school budget; school funding; Gifted and Talented Education; Bilingual Teacher Training; Gang Risk Intervention; West Contra Costa Unified School District; Dropout Prevention Program; Anti-Defamation League; English Language Acquisition Program; Department of Education; Economic Impact Aid; California Legislature; Senate Rules Committee; public education