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 transportation" ...
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"The Transportation Lobby"
The team at The Center for Public Integrity launch a database of transportation lobbyists and integrated that with an interactive map. Search by public/private sector, lobbying firm, or project.
Tags: transportation; bill; lobby; lobbyiests
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"The Transportation Lobby"
After discovering that there are more than 1,800 transportation interest groups the team at The Center for Public Integrity "compiled a database of transportation lobbyists and integrated that with an interactive map." Search by location, public/private sector, lobbying firm, or project.
Tags: transportation; lobbyists; interest groups; road lobby
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Rough Road for Bus Safety
Houston's public transit agency, Metro, has poor safety records according to an investigation by the Houston Chronicle. The investigation determined there were more than 1000 bus-involved crashes in a one-year period and hundreds of traffic violations. Metro officials were unaware of many of these violations.
Tags: bus safety; transportation; driving; traffic; Metro
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Public Works, Hidden Violations
Several construction companies were given "tens of millions in federal stimulus contracts," even though they violated several laws and regulations. Also, a few had been "convicted of defrauding taxpayers on previous projects" and others had previously paid fines for violating regulations. These should have been revealed when filling out the forms to be approved for the stimulus contracts.
Tags: transportation; workplace; safety; pollution; environment; FOIA; Highway Division; officials; federal government; federal funds
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Bus-ted
The story reveals a number of things about a school district’s bus system. Some of the things revealed are school buses breaking traffic laws, and extensive records of the bus drivers, including traffic violations and speeding tickets. Once the findings were revealed, the school district wasn’t sure who hired them and the school district allowed them to be bus drivers as long as the insurance companies approved them.
Tags: Cedar Rapids Public School District; school administration; education; transportation; children; kids; Denny Schreckengast; Matt Dunbar
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Access Denied
When reviewing how well the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) was fulfilling the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), it failed to fulfill in many cases. Many stations are designated as fully accessible, but in reality lack many of the general necessities. These include, “broken doors, turnstiles and elevators, and lacking automatic doors, which make it fully accessible”. Furthermore, the CTA declined to discuss these problems, but one employee did answer some questions, which lacked any substantial feedback.
Tags: public transportation; violation; handicap; public transit system; wheelchair; commuters; disabled
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Fatal Flights
The nation's medevac programs are dominated by private companies with stiff competition and widespread safety failings. The high rate of accidents in the medical helicopter field is due to entrenched complacency. The Post uproots the severe lack of safety in a field the public typically views as heroic.
Tags: medevac; helicopter; hospitals; safety; Washington Post; patient; rescue; Federal Aviation Administration; National Transportation Safety Board; deaths; crash; medical; flight; crew;
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Broken Buses
This series of investigations revealed serious, recurring and widespread safety violations involving hundreds of school buses used to transport nearly 20,000 children to Indianapolis-area schools, and the expanded to show critical safety problems affecting thousands of buses in school districts across Indiana. The investigation exposed problems not only with the school buses, but also identified gaping deficiencies in the Indiana State Police bus inspection program. It triggered immediate and dramatic action, prompted Indiana's largest school districts to call for more stringent oversight and more frequent inspections and provided parents with a hands-on tool to monitor the safety history of their children's school buses.
Tags: buses; public transportation; public safety; safety violations; school buses; investigation
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A Question of Security
The "investigation discovered allegations of overfilling and security gaps at three major facilities in South Florida- the Miami Metrorail system and the Juvenile Assessment Center and a major hospital. All have contacts with Wackenhut, one of the largest security companies in America. The publicly funded contracts involve millions of dollars. Not only did we observe unfilled posts first-hand, but guards, former guards and supervisors went public detailing a pattern of fraud."
Tags: security; fraud; city government; contracts; transportation; health care; hospital; guards; Wakenhut
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EMS Taxi: Health Care Dysfunction on Wheels
An analysis of the public records database found that Cleveland residents were calling 911 to be picked up by Emergency Medical Service ambulances for minor ailments. This is because dispatchers can't say no. The result is that response times are slow and the transportation is a high cost for the city.
Tags: transportation; emergency medical services; Medicaid; Medicare; Metrohealth Medical Center; Cleveland; ambulance; 911; database; health; medicine;