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 "shortage" ...
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Trash-to-Energy Proposal Trashed
A company named Green Power "proposed turning Cheyenne's trash to diesel through the process of catalytic depolymerization." The Austrian gentleman who owned the company, Michael Spitzauer, intended to "cure the shortage of diesel and America's dependence on foreign oil within a matter of years." But a background check revealed a criminal record in Austria, and a jail sentence for fraud. In addition, an expert noted that it is not possible for "a low-energy material such as trash to be turned into a high-energy product such as diesel fuel."
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Power Brokers
A transition to a competitive energy market was supposed to lower energy prices for residents of the Balkan nations. Instead, "many people across the Balkans are facing energy shortages AND higher energy bills." Much of the infrastructure remains outdated, "and some state-run energy companies have been plagued by waste and corruption." Meanwhile, private energy companies are benefiting greatly from deals with government energy companies.
Tags: Energy; Bosnia-Herzegovina; energy prices
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In Short Supply
An investigation in the Express-News looks into the fact that "Texas is headed toward a crisis when it comes to meeting its future water needs." As the population continues to grow, the water supplies have not kept pace, and state officials says Texas will have "18 percent less water and twice the number of people by 2060 if it continues on its current course."
Tags: Texas Panhandle; water shortage; drought; water crisis; water supply; population outpacing resources
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Left Behind, The Failure of East St. Louis Schools
KMOV-TV looks into the state of the public schools in the East St. Louis area, finding that they are not providing an education that meets state and federal standards. Among the issues are: a shortage of special-education teachers, a lack of at-home teachers, the fact East St. Louis is one of five public school districts (of 900 total in the state) that are on state academic probation, friends and relatives being hired for security, secretarial and custodial jobs and a high number of managers without teacher certifications, administrators taking expensive trips for seminars on taxpayer dollars.
Tags: District 189; East St. Louis; Missouri public schools; state academic probation; nepotism; misuse of taxpayer funds
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A 911 Emergency
A WISH-TV (Indianapolis, IN) investigation exposed a public safety crisis resulting from a shortage of 911 operators. Inadequate staffing led to emergency calls being placed "on hold." Delays in answering led to delays in responding to emergencies. In addition, use of cell phones and computer-based phones adds to the response time as they do not provide dispatchers with the caller's location. Without this information, dispatchers are unable to determine where to send help. Reporters also looked at the historical problem of agencies not being able to "talk" to each other directly.
Tags: emergency dispatch systems; emergency dispatch response times; cell phone; 911; emergency dispatcher burnout; public-safety communications; Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials, APCO; enhanced wireless 911; Voice over Internet Protocol; VoIP; TTY; public safety answering point; PSAP; telecommunications; multiple line telephone system; MLTS; PBX-MLTS; National Association of State 911 Administrators; NASNA; Metropolitan Emergency Communication Agency; MECA; failsoft; Motorola
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LNG: County Caught in the Crossfire
In California there are two warring views toward liquid natural gas (LNG. One is that California faces an imminent energy shortage if LNG isn't used. The other is that LNG is a fireball waiting to happen. Neither are completely correct. While domestic supply is lagging, it is a small gap that has led to highly profitable companies who import LNG. However, there are some real concerns about the locations of LNG import facilities.
Tags: natural gas; liquid natural gas; offshore
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The Pineros Men of the Pines
This series of stories uncovered the extensive mistreatment and abuse of Latino workers who plant and thin federal and private forests. Like immigrant farm workers before them, the pineros had largely toiled in obscurity with scant recognition of their existence. This entry is the online version of a newspaper series, story # 22280.
Tags: pine workers; labor shortages; federal guest worker program; labor; U.S. Forest Service; Healthy Forests Initiative; forestry; CAR; FOIA
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Brother's Keeper - West Virginia's Mental Health Crisis
The author exposed the bungling and fraud that led Federal officials to slash funding for West Virginia's mentally ill by more than one-third in 2001. He also revealed the consequences: twice as many people committed to state hospitals in a four year period, more suicides and a flood of mentally ill people in emergency rooms, homeless shelters and jails.
Tags: mental health; funding shortage; fraud; financial incompetence; mental illness; advocates; suicide; commitment; hospitalization
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Air safety issues
Air Safety Issues is a six-part series that covers everything from a tragic crash caused by air controller error to outsourcing issues regarding maintenance of commercial aircraft.
Tags: Air safety; air traffic controller; controller error; flight records; flight path; Lindberg field; Controller shortages; maintenance; FOIA; Southern California airspace
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The Pineros: Men of the Pines
This investigation documents the abuses of the Pineros, migrant pine workers working legally in this country under a federal guest worker program. After nine months of investigation with more than 150 interviews, and thousands of pages of FOIA documents, the Sacramento Bee unveils how these workers have been the victims of employer exploitation.
Tags: pine workers; labor shortages; federal guest worker program; U.S. Forest Service; Healthy Forests Initiative; forestry; CAR; FOIA