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 "runaway" ...
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Runaway Toyotas
Toyota has recently been in the news following “hundreds of owners having their vehicles suddenly accelerating out of control”. The investigation revealed “over two thousand cases of runaway Toyotas and Lexus cars, including reports of 200 accidents and 16 deaths”. Toyota blamed many of these accidents on the floor mat becoming stuck under the gas pedal and this was the cause of the acceleration.
Tags: automobiles; electronic computer system; safety; highway; drivers; manufacturers; transportation
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Digging Up Millions for Tiny Airstrip
“The federal government intends to spend $11 million to build an airstrip in a rural area”. In the rural area, the demand for an airstrip is slim to none and pressures a local airport to shut down, which is barely used and supported by tax money. So building a new airstrip is unneeded and a waste of tax money. Additionally, this article is an example of “a runaway federal program fueled by fees and surcharge paid by airline passengers”.
Tags: transportation; air travel; taxpayers; aviation; tax dollars; Oswego County; Hastings New York; finances
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The Stolen Child
This is a story of the disappearance of Misty Copsey; currently it remains a cold-case left unsolved. A fall afternoon in 1992, the day Misty never came home from the county fair. This series sheds “new light on an investigation plagued by police blunders”. It also “uncovered the malignant impact of an intrusive bystander’s obsession and exposed the foibles of small-town cops whose missteps and misstatements went unchallenged for two decades”.
Tags: police; law enforcement; kidnapped; Diane Smith; Puyallup; police department; runaway; vanish; abduction; evidence; investigation
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"Running in the Shadows"
Ian Urbina investigates the issue of homeless youth. Since the economy has worsened, more teens are abandoning their often troubled homes to live on the street. Urbina also looks at how many homeless teens are forced to turn to prostitution as a means of survival.
Tags: homeless; youth; prostitution; group homes; teenage prostitution; runaways; sex trafficking
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Big Gov: Runaway Spending Under Bush
President George W. Bush's spending for defense and homeland security opened up a funding funnel that poured billions into a poorly managed and badly supervised contracting system.
Tags: George Bush; Department of Homeland Security; Department of Defense; federal government; money; contracts; budget; bureaucracy; economy; Pentagon
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Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
This fourteen-part investigative series revealed how a prostitution and human trafficking ring could flourish in rural Iowa towns. The series also details the story of one 13-year-old runaway Minnesota girl was entrapped in the ring and was forced into prostitution. A ring operator, who was being beaten by her live-in boyfriend, helped rescue the girl from prostitution and helped her make her way to safety. Law enforcement officials first missed opportunities to help this girl and break the ring. But they finally solved who was behind the ring and assisted in a dozen human trafficking convictions.
Tags: human trafficking; sex abuse; prostitution; kidnapping; court hearings; Iowa; sex workers
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I Didn't Do That Murder; New Light On Old Case
Based on questions reporter Christine Young raised in her reporting of a 1987 murder conviction, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, in a rare decision, is re-investigating the murder case of Michaelanne Hall, a prostitute brutally murdered in 1989. The man convicted for the crime, Lebrew Jones, was a mentally retarded security guard and his conviction rested on a nonsensical statement he gave to police. Now 51, Jones is awaiting DNA test results from the fingernail clippings of the murder victim. Also, a potentially viable suspect has emerged as a result of Young's work.
Tags: wrongful conviction; Manhattan medical examiner's office; prostitution; runaways; murder; DNA testing; Innocence Project; developmentally disabled
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Against Their Will, Human Trafficking
Focusing on human trafficking among American teenagers. These teens are "seduced or kidnapped into a life of forced prostitution." Trafficking not only happened in the lower socio-economic or immigrant communities. CBS also examines "sex slavery in wealthy white communities." Finally They look at solutions.
Tags: human trafficking; sex slaves; sex slavery; Department of Health and Human Services; prostitution; kidnapping; runaways; Abolitionist church movement; NGO
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Runaway Priests: Hiding in Plain Sight
For more than a year, reporters at the Dallas Morning News have been on a global trek in an attempt to track down a number of Catholic priests accused of sexally abusing or molesting children. This investigation looks at how priests accused of sexual assault often flee the country to take up new parishes, sometimes even with the help of Catholic church officials. In most cases, these priests are once again exposed to prolonged contact with young children, despite their criminal history. As a result of this series, the Samoan government deported one priest who arrived there after facing criminal charges in Australia, where he was later arrested.
Tags: U.S. Catholic Church; clergy; sex abuse; molestation
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Deadly Decisions
The series of stories were related to the death of civilian Army firefighter Kerry Neis, who was employed at Fort Rucker, Ala. He he was killed on Dec. 4, 2002 by a runaway fire truck during a training exercise. Army officials were aware of past problems with this model of fire truck driving away unmanned and also of a safety kit designed to prevent driveaways from happening. The safety kit was not a mandatory fix until after Neis was killed.