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 "storms" ...
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Heart Like Water: Surviving Katrina and Life in its Disaster Zone
"Hundreds of oral histories, interviews, and anecdotes lace through the author's own narrative of the storm and its ten week aftermath." Clark lived in New Orleans when Katrina hit and did not evacuate, this is his memoir.
Tags: Hurricane Katrina; natural disasters; memoir; New Orleans; wetland
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City Adrift: New Orleans Before and After Katrina
This book takes readers on "a journey from the time the storm hit on Aug. 29, 2005 through its aftermath, as well as the progress of the city's efforts to rebuild and what the future might hold. Through interviews with homeowners and health officials, first responders and politicians, as well as firsthand experience, this unique collection of voices paints a detailed portrait of what happened, what went wrong and why, and on a broader scale, examines how local and federal officials prepare for and react to such catastrophic events whether a killer hurricane, terrorist attack or potential pandemic flu."
Tags: hurricane Katrina; federal officials; local officials; homeowners; catastrophic events; storms; progress of New Orleans; aftermath
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City Aide Clenas Up After Storm
New Orleans' city chief techonology officer Greg Meffert was provided a driver/bodyguard/gofer to do his work at the expense of the city's taxpayers. The city had enough expenses to cover after Hurricane Katrina, and Meffert added to the list by hiring a guard who is paid more than the highest police officer.
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Airport Safety Failure
After a summer storm blacked out the main terminal at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the Airport Director asserted that the backup generators had recently been tested. But a KTVI investigation of city records discovered that maintenance workers did not test the generators, and had not even turned some of them on in months. As a result, the Director and the city's mayor held hearings that led to one termination and one disciplinary action.
Tags: Airport; blackouts; power failures; backup generators; maintenance neglect; Lambert-St. Louis airport
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Peoria Selected Storm Ready
Okeson looked at how adequately Peoria County, Ill., was covered by tornado sirens. She found that the sirens covered census blocks for all but about 5,400 people in the country, or about three percent of Peoria County residents.
Tags: tornadoes; natural disasters; Peoria County; ArcGIS
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Storming the Court: How a Band of Yale Law Students Sued the President -- And Won
This book tells the story of how Yale law students and human rights lawyers teamed up in the early 1990s to take on the U.S. Government. 300 Haitian refugees were being held in secret Guantanamo Bay detention camps because they were HIV positive. The team of students and lawyers sued the government for their release, and won the case. The story is especially relevant in the post- 9/11 world, where Guantanamo Bay is once again a prominent example of government abuse.
Tags: Guantanamo Bay; Yale Law School; Harold Koh; student activism; HIV; AIDS; political asylum; political refugees; Haiti
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Ports in the Storm
The author audited the South Carolina State Ports Authority. He found that the agency, "...condemned land from private citizens, violated the state Freedom of Information Act, had questionable connections to private businesses associated with the state operation and perks like $7,600 golf club memberships paid from the state rolls."
Tags: FOIA; watchdog; fraud; government waste; corruption; state and local government; port; shipping; cargo; containers; privatization; transportation; intermodal
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Brevard's neediest on edge of disaster; thousands of poor, seniors eligible for storm evacuation program
This investigation, done in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, shows that Brevard County, Florida is also unprepared to handle a similar natural disaster. "Like New Orleans, tens of thousands of seniors, poor people and families with no cars live in neighborhoods likely to be overcome by storm surge or flooded rivers in a powerful hurricane..."
Tags: FEMA; natural disaster; flood; hurricane; public transportation; emergency; mapping; database analysis
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Masters of chaos: The secret history of the special forces
This book recounts the Special Forces missions over the past 15 years, including Desert Storm, Just Cause, Somalia, the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq. It is based on interviews with soldiers of all ranks, access bestowed upon a reporter with 10 years of experience covering insurgencies in Latin America.
Tags: BOOK; military; Special Forces; Iraq; Desert Storm; Afghanistan; Somalia; Green Beret
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Cashing in on Disaster
This investigation started with the observation that many more Floridians were receiving disaster relief funds than were actually affected by the 2004 storms. The story went on to reveal that some relatively unaffected parts of Florida received even more aid than areas that took a direct hit. Residents of Miami-Dade County got more than $21 million, though the actual damage done there was equivalent to a bad thunderstorm. Reporters found that FEMA inspectors often received inadequate training. Results from the story include a state legislative investigation into the hurricane payments and even involvement from the federal Department of Homeland Security.
Tags: FOIA; hurricane; Federal Emergency Management Agency; FEMA; fraud; disaster relief; inspector; homeland security