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 "top secret" ...
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ABC News Brian Ross Investigates: Money Trail 2012
While most of the political press followed the usual rapid spin cycle of the 2012 presidential campaigns, Brian Ross and the ABC News Investigative team instead focused on the corrupting influence of the unprecedented flood of big money on politics, exposing details of Romney’s hidden wealth, ferreting out the identities of secret big money donors and exposing political pay-offs to Obama’s top donors in a series of original investigative reports on ABC World News, Nightline and a year’s worth – more than two dozen front page print stories on ABCNews.com.
Tags: politics; political press; presidential campaign; Obama; Romney; wealth
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Land Flips Sting Taxpayers
The Gwinett County school district is not only Georgia's largest, but arguably its most highly regarded after winning a prestigious award as the nation's top urban district. However, while the district celebrated its national acclaim, the Journal-Constitution began scrutinizing its unusually secretive land-purchasing program. After analyzing all the district's land purchases over the past 12 years, the Journal-Constitution focused on 11 mullti-million dollar transactions, many of them involving prominent and politically connected real estate developers.
Tags: Gwinett County; Georgia; School District; Land Purchasing; Sweetheart Deals
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MSD
Corruption in the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District. The MSD oversees sewer treatment, storm water management and Ohio river flood control for the several hundred thousand people who live in Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky. Throughout the investigation, The Courier-Journal discovered that MSD board members owned companies that they were doing business with the agency they served, excessive bonuses to top officials, and a secret $140,000 lawsuit with an HR chief when he threatened a whisteblower lawsuit.
Tags: Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District; MSD; Jefferson County; Kentucky
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Top Secret America
The story covers the country's vast national security and intelligence system and determines if it is really fulfilling its purpose of keeping citizens safe. It details the organizations and private companies that are part of system, but kept from public view.
Tags: national security; Top Secret America; oversight; terrorism; 9/11
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Top Secret America
The series examines the national security and intelligence structure in a post-9/11 America that is so vast, no one can be sure if it is fulfilling it's purpose.
Tags: national security; CIA: intelligence; top-secret; national intelligence
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Hospital Corruption: "Salaries First, Patients Last"; "Hospital Secrets"
The series exposed Schneider Regional Medical Center's top executives' self-dealing and lavish pay, perks and the tragic result: The public hospital's cancer center was left so cash-strapped it could not pay for medicine and radiation equipment. The Daily News also revealed that more than $2.4 million in charity donations to the hospital's cancer center is missing, and the hospital cannot produce documentation to explain the numerous large withdrawals from bank accounts and entities that were specifically created to receive those donations. The investigation also found that two top hospital executives had criminal records, which were not disclosed when they were hired.
Tags: health care; hospital administration; corruption; embezzlement; chemotherapy and radiation; Virgin Islands
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Kwame Kilpatrick: A Mayor in Crisis
The Free Press's investigation into Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick exposed "public corruption at the highest levels of government in America's 11th largest city. Schaefer and Elrick's reporting revealed that Kilpatrick and his top aide lied under oath during a police whistle-blower trial and sought to cover up those lies by brokering a secret $8.4 million settlement paid for with the taxpayers dollars."
Tags: FOIA; tax corruption; fraud; Philip Meyer Award; 2009 Pulitzer Prize: Local Reporting
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The Great Empire Zone Giveaway
"One of New York's top business-incentive programs wasted millions of dollars a year in tax money. New York tried to keep secret the waste in the $600-million-a-year Empire Zone."
Tags: Empire Zone; real estate; Home Depot; law firms; tax; FOIA
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Secret Land Deal Topples Top Official
Palm Beach County Commission Chairman Tony Masilotti used a secret land trust, "shell companies and straw men" to hide his interest in land deals. The Post tells the story of how he made $10 million "using his political influence." The money was never reported on his financial disclosure forms. He was removed from office and erased from the county's Web site.
Tags: Land deals; fraud; financial disclosure; shell companies
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The Jesus Landing Pad: Bush White House checked with rapture Christians before latest Israel move
After obtaining memos from secret meetings between members of the White House and fundamentalist Christian leaders, the Village Voice discovered top Middle East aides who justified Israeli policy decisions because they coincided with Biblical prophesy. This investigation looks into "the role apocolyptic Christians play in sabotaging the Middle East peace process."
Tags: religion; Bush administration; Israeli policy; Gaza Strip; anti-prostelyzation laws; Pastor Robert Upton; Israel Embassy; Americans for a Safe Israel