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 "soil" ...
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"Homegrown Terror"
In this 60 Minutes broadcast, CBS investigates "homegrown terrorism." The war on terrorism has been heavily focused on Al Qaeda, but individual terrorist who are raised in the U.S. often have little or not contact with the organization. These people often avoid the "law enforcement's radar." This report is intended to provide new insight on the topic of terrorism on U.S. soil.
Tags: terrorism; Al Qaeda; Taliban; Somali; Obama; Minneapolis; al-Shabaab
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"Mexico Drug Wars"
AP reporters investigate how repercussions of the Mexican drug wars have mowed over the border and have settled on U.S. soil. They also reveal that the U.S. is the biggest supplier of weapons to the "gangsters" and also offers drug lords a lucrative market.
Tags: Mexican border; drug violence; drug lord; Ciudad Juarez; Tijuana; drug cartels
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Witnesses Wait
Humans have found ways to synthesize chemicals that cause terrible damage in the human body and do not decompose; they last and last. Most companies that produce these compounds locate away from people, in industrial zones. But in one neighborhood of New Orleans, an old chemical company mixed some of the most hazardous substances ever produced by man: Agent Orange, Heptachlor, Endosulfan, Dieldrin and DDT. They produced these chemicals out in the open on a small parcel of land ringed by people's homes. The wind blew the dry chemicals onto the houses, and there has been no effort to remove the soil or the risk to people who play and raise children and gardens there. Using an EPA database and Google Earth, the reporter found that there is no place more polluted with old, canned, organo-chlorine insecticides than this tiny, black, new Orleans neighborhood.
Tags: Pollution; Agent Orange; heptachlor; endosulfan; dieldrin; DDT; New Orleans; soil contamination; EPA; Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
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Losing Louisiana
The Times-Picayune found that over the next 100 years the natural sinking of soft marsh soils could result in making New Orleans an island. Hundreds of miles of Louisiana coastline would be wiped out and sea-level will rise over time as the soil falls.
Tags: flooding; marshes; delta; Mississippi River; Hurricane Katrina; wetland; sediment;
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Nobodies: Modern American Slave Labor and the Dark Side of the New Global Economy
"The book uncovers three labor environments where modern-day enslavement or near-enslavement of immigrants has taken place on American soil." Bowe looks at outsourcing, unpaid and illegal immigrant workers, and other loopholes in the American business system.
Tags: immigrant; immigration; outsourcing; India; Kuwait; Saipan; Florida; Oklahoma; employee; employer; PepsiCo; Tropicana; John Pickle Company; clothing; factory; Gap; Target;
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Danger Below
This investigation began with citizen complaints about New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation. Many of the complaints concern old toxic waste disposal sites; the agency does not make sure the contaminated groundwater and soil are completely cleaned, nor does the agency communicate with people affected by the sites. The DEC's shortcomings may have stemmed, in part, from its diminished resources and power under the administration of governor George Pataki.
Tags: environment; toxic waste; FOI; EPA; state government; pollution
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Toxic Traces Revisted
The first story in the series shows that the Minnesota Dept. of Health knew about the contaminated drinking water in the Twin Cities almost a year before releasing the information to the public. The second story reported that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency ignored the fact that perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in the soil near the 3M Company building were spilling into the Mississippi River and ground water. Last in the series, MPR News reported on how pressure from the public drove the investigation in regulating the flow of PFCs into the city's water.
Tags: contamination; Minneapolis; St. Paul; PFBA
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Cactus, Texas
"In a three-part series The Dallas Morning News and Al Dia examined Cactus, Texas: A town where three out of four residents were thought to be illegal immigrants; the slaughterhouse where they worked; and the local officials who walk a politcal tight wire with the biggest employer in town."
Tags: immigration; mexico; mexican; quiche; citizen; Swift; Guatemala
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Cracked Houses
Thousands of new homes in Arizona suffer from foundation problems. "But while cracking foundations are mostly due to poor soil conditions, mitigation is both legally required and fairly inexpensive. The problem, Fenske learned, is this: Instead of following the law, some Arizona builders chose to save a few hundred dollars per house." The owners of the flawed homes often find that they have no choice but to file a lawsuit against the builders.
Tags: foundation; Arizona; builders; home owner; lawsuits; homes;
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Gas Line Explosions
Older soft copper gas lines have been linked to a series of home explosions. Regulators mandate such lines be replaced, but a KTVI investigation found that tens of thousands remain under homes. The homeowners never suspect, because the corrosion and gas leaks usually begin the yard, allowing the scent to be filtered out of the natural gas "as it travels through the soil into the home."
Tags: Gas leaks; homes; dangerous gas lines; at-risk homes; soft copper gas lines