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 "silicone" ...
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Mercury News: Loss of Trust
The San Jose Mercury News IRE contest entry "Loss of Trust" consists of an original two-part series published July 1 and July 2, 2012, and the series' remarkable aftermath. The series exposed the eye-popping fees charged by private professionals working as court-appointed conservators and trustees for dependent adults in Silicon Valley - exorbitant rates that together with attorneys' fees threaten to force their vulnerable clients onto government assistance to survive. Within days of publication, the Santa Clara County Superior Court launched an overhaul of its local rules, and state legislation was pledged for the coming year to rein in the abuses.
Tags: Conservators; Trustees; attorneys; overcharged fees
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The High Price of Looking Like a Woman
"This story looks into the illegal practices of injecting silicone into the body in the transgender community"
Tags: transgender; LGBTQ; pumping; silicone
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The Great Spam Slam
In Nov. 2007, washingtonpost.com ran a series of stories and blog posts Mr. Krebs wrote about the Russian Business network (RBN) led to the company being effectively cut off from the Web. He pursuer a similar strategy in July 2008, when investigating the Silicon Valley-based hosting provider McColo. At the time, Krebs was chronicling the cyber crime activity of Atrivo, another Northern California hosting company. Due to Krebs' reporting, Atrivo's hosting companies cut off connectivity to it, effectively knocking Atrivo offline.
Tags: spam e-mail; Silicon Valley; internet service providers; e-mail scams; cyber crime
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Suspicions and Spies in Silicon Valley
This investigation details the Hewlett-Packard spying scandal. It discusses how the obsession of HP chairman Patricia Dunn to root out the source of press leaks from the boardroom led to covert tracking of directors' phone records. That surveillance eventually led to Dunn's resignation and indictment by the state of California.
Tags: technology; computers; corporate intelligence; business; corporate ethics; SEC; FCC; FTC; Justice Department
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The Body Show
The authors investigated reports that an exhibit of human bodies at the Masonic Center in San Francisco were leaking. Tests revealed the fluid to be a mix of silicone, used in the preserving process, and liquefied human fat. Research led the authors on a global investigation as they uncovered a market in human corpses. A large part of the investigation focused on the origin of the bodies, whether there was consent to use the bodies in the show from the deceased or next of kin in some cases the cause of death.
Tags: The Body Show; Gunther Von Hagens; plastination; human exhibit; Masonic Center; muscular structure; FOIA
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Mask Confusion
Indiana began buying equipment after 911 that would protect police, firefighters, and medics from a weapon of mass destruction. In a statewide investigation, WISH-TV showed that the state purchased gas masks that put first responders in danger. They proved the state broke both state and federal laws by even making the decision on what masks to buy. First responders admitted they did not want to wear the masks because they would not protect them. Some of the comments include: "I want the better mask", "We're going to get first responders hurt or killed." The investigation prompted the state to reconsider the multi-million dollar purchase and return the gas masks.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; police; firefighters; paramedics; weapon of mass destruction; gas masks; OSHA; U.S. Department of Justice; emergency rescue; mustard gas; silicone mask; butyl mask; Biological weapons; chemical weapons; nuclear weapons; U.S. Army's Dugway; Tipecanoe County; Marion County; respiratory hazard
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All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster
This book details the history of Napster, Inc, the fastest growing business of all time and one of the most controversial. The book accounts for issues of copyright law, the modern music industry and the Silicon Valley attitude as it chronicles the success and failure of Napster.
Tags: BOOK
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New ethics or no ethics?
This multi-piece report analyzes the ethical transgressions that some Internet entrepeneurs have performed as Internet-based companies have become more valuable in the stock market during the last part of the 1990's and the beginning of the 2000 decade. The reporters tell the story of several CEO's who made millions of dollars by selling stock of companies they were running and which seemed robust, but were extremely volatile.
Tags: Internet; Internet entrepeneurs; venture capitalists; Wall Street; Silicon Valley; Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP); Financial Accounting Standards Board; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); Investor Responsibility Research Center
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Tracking the E-Waste Trail
Radio Television Hong Kong reports that western companies are dumping computer wastes on China and other less developed countries, despite their governments' crackdowns. The broadcast profiles the computer recycling industry of Guiyu, a small village in the Guangdong Province of China, where "workers burn computers' original components to extract valuable metals from them. The useless parts are then casually discarded, releasing toxic materials, polluting the surrounding environment. "
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; environment; Silicon Valley; toxic waste; environmental protection; high-tech; smuggling; international law; international trade
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Silicon Valley's Dark Side
In this series, The San Jose Mercury News questioned the electronics industry about its "corporate responsibility by examining labor and environmental practices common in the global production and disposal of desktop PCs. Primarily reported in southern China, the series documented the life-cycle of the PC: from components assembled by young migrant women at contractor factories, where many work excessive overtime hours in violation of China's labor law, to unregulated computer recycling centers, where unprotected workers salvage hazardous electronic waste imported from the United States and other developing countries."
Tags: computers; China; corporate responsibility; PC; personal computer; components; migrant workers; labor law; environment