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 "refiners" ...
-
Loan Mods
Homeowners whose mortgages were securitized by their banks and sold off were blocked from modifying the loans to avoid delinquent payments. Investors in the mortgage securities market believed they had incentive to keep people from refinancing, but the result exacerbated delinquent payments. A $75 billion federal program to reduce foreclosures by allowing consumers to renegotiate loans with banks was often rejected by banks on the grounds of investor disapproval.
Tags: investors; mortgage; foreclosure; securities; securitization; securitizing; loans; banks; federal; modification; refinance;
-
Truth Be Tolled
An analysis of 23 modern toll road projects in Colorado, Texas and South Carolina "found that most badly missed revenue projections in their opening years, leading one to fail and others to either flee default or refinance at less favorable terms." The expected amount of traffic never materialized, causing the shortfall. Further, some of those responsible for the optimistic projections had a financial interest in seeing the roads completed.
Tags: Toll roads; infrastructure; Denver's Northwest Parkway; revenue shortfall
-
Missile Defense: America's Costly Gamble
Supporters of the Pentagon's planned missile defense system say that eventually it will be able to stop almost any type of missile, in any stage of flight. Cabbage's investigation found that those claims are still a long way from being realized. While some of the basic technology has been developed, the system still needs extensive testing and a lot of refinement. The military's current tests are not challenging enough; they're really just used to make it seem as if the technology is progressing. Partisan politics also have a part in the slow development of the technology and the lack of appropriate testing.
Tags: missile; NASA; U.S. Strategic Command; defense; defense spending
-
Kids at Risk
This investigation finds that substances in the environment can harm the human brain. The story reveals how polychlorinated biphenyls and mercury in many cases have had devastating effect on children's development throughout the country. A major finding is that protection against such chemicals is still underdeveloped, because the Environmental Protection Agency does not require chemical manufacturers to provide data on possible neurological effects.
Tags: PCBs; neurotoxicants; IQ; cancer; birth defects; FDA; vaccines; pollution; oil refining; Monsanto; mercury
-
Guns, Money and Cell Phones
The Industry Standard reports that the demand for an ore called columbite-tantalite -- or coltan -- is helping to fuel the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When refined, coltan becomes tantalum, a highly heat-resistant metal powder that is a key component in everything from mobile phones to computer chips and VCR's. As the demand for these products has increased, "a new, more sinister market began flourishing in the ...Congo. There, warring groups - many funded and supplied by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda - are exploiting coltan mining to help finance a bloody civil war now in its third year." Although selling coltan is not illegal, a United Nations report in April suggested that thousands of tons of coltan had been smuggled from the Congo into Rwanda and Uganda, and may have eventually made it to the U.S. companies that use the material. For their part, these companies have no way of knowing whether the tantalum they use is helping to finance the civil war. Another side effect of the coltan trade: mining activity is especially big in the mountainous northeastern region of the Congo, where endangered gorillas live.
Tags: Democratic Republic of Congo; cellular phones; Nokia; Sony; Intel; AVX; Cabot; H.C. Starck; Kemet; Columbite-tantalite; coltan; civil war; Uganda; Rwanda; tantalum capacitors; Sogem; mountain gorillas
-
The Right to Answers
The Riverfront Times reports on the contaminants found in Weldon Springs. Uranium deposits left from the 1940's have been linked to sicknesses in the area and an increasing number of infant deaths. The damage to this area started in 1941, when chemists were trying to find ways to refine uranium. "The radioactive waste eventually wound up at the Weldon Springs site." The Department of Energy has made efforts to clean up the area over the last twenty years, but they say it is impossible to pump the ground water and remove the toxins. "Instead they plan to inject chemicals to neutralize the worst. . . . The air, soil and surface water may not be perfect, but they're a damn sight cleaner than they were in '86." In addition, the article details Father Gerry Kleba and his congregation at Immaculate Conception, as they endure the deaths of more young children and unite to learn more about prevention.
Tags: radioactive waste; uranium; Department of Energy; pollutants; contamination; St. Charles County; Missouri Department of Health; National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
-
Pumped Up: Shock at the Wheel: Wonder Why Gas Prices Suddenly Got So High?
The WSJ reports that "the movement to regulate gasoline more stringently, begun in the mid-1990s, is colliding head-on with a still-strong economy and the arrival of gas-guzzling vehicles that have pushed up demand faster than domestic refining capacity could match...The result: tight supply, not enough extra capacity and prices that the slightest worries can send soaring...Sport-utility vehicles, pickups and minivans make up 43% of the vehicles on the road today, up from 30% in 1990...The problem (of high gas prices) is most severe on the West Coast and in the third of the county where Environmental Protection Agency regulations require the sale of lower-emission gasoline." Additionally, many of the country's biggest oil companies have gotten out of the refining business.
Tags: energy; gasoline; gas prices; sport-utility vehicles; clean air; refining; refinery; refineries; Unocal
-
Block Those Regs!
National Journal looks at the fight of the business community against the "midnight regulations" and executive orders issued at the end of the Clinton Administration." The report describes how "corporate angst over ergonomics sparks an intense lobbying war," as "the ergonomics regulation affects more than 100 million workers who tap on keyboards and perform other routine tasks." The story points to an OSHA estimate that the first-year cost of the new ergonomics regulation would total $4.5 billion. The investigation details the specific demands of different business sectors. It reveals that "top corporate lobbyists aren't shy about voicing hope that the Bush Administration will jettison or modify unwanted regulations," while at the same time the administration is "also weighing concrete steps that could placate business."
Tags: business; politics; Republicans; manufacturers; OSHA; labor unions; legislature; Congress; refiners; oil producers; trucking industry; food-store chains
-
Home loans: Hispanics, blacks suffer
In 1991, California lenders rejected Hispanic and black applicants substantially more often than they did whites and Asians for purchase, refinance and home improvement loans. The Register analyzed 1.2 million loan records from the Federal Reserve Board
Tags: Banks
-
No title (id: 12651)
The Tribune Review finds that in 1993, then-Gov. Robert P. Casey saddled Penn. taxpayers with $1.2 billion worth of debt in order to refinance construction of five new prisons. Many lawmakers were unaware of the refinancing since Casey used Certificates of Participation to bypass legislative approval requirements. (April 16 - 18, 1995)
Tags: Erdley Gazarik Britt CAR Sentenced to debt Contest entry 17 pgs.