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 "townships" ...
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Examination of Township Government
This series examines township governments and looks at the effectiveness of them from a number of people. These stories revealed that these townships were reserving money, though funds and resources were tight, reducing the amount of taxpayer money available, and nepotism was frequent in the townships.
Tags: property tax; budget; state; benefits; administrative; state records; families; neighborhood; assistance; rural
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"Union Township Investigation"
A Cincinnati township has found itself in the midst of an "ethical swamp." Government officials made high dollar deals with contractors to make way for new developments in the city. The officials then took "high-level" positions "with the developer." In addition, bids were skewed so that they would only go to one contracting company, the same company that was owned by "the son of a township official."
Tags: Chuck Kubicki; Ken Geis; Clermont County; Cincinnati United Contractors; Cliff Johnson; Ohio Ethics Laws;
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section 8: Subsidizing Surburbia
"Thousands of poor people have moved out of Cincinnati's inner-city ghettos and settled into homes on middle-class, suburban streets- exactly the result a federal housing program intended. But that victory comes at a cost: Poor families with government subsidies that help pay the rent are creating new pockets of low-income housing in formerly stable, middle-class neighborhoods."
Tags: clustering; relocation; township; housing; property; real estate; urban development;
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Land of Confusion
At Country Club of the Poconos, some residents of this large home development "weren't conveyed any land with their home purchases." The land had never been subdivided for individual ownership "on plans approved by the township and recorded in the deeds office." and a new property owners association eventually obtained the deed on the land as "open space." While that association has a property tax exemption for the open space, individual home buyers are still paying taxes "on property they don't own."
Tags: Country Club of the Poconos; land development; land ownership
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Poor Priorities?
The Center Township trustee's office's primary goal is to help the poor and the needy, when it controls millions of dollars of real estate which is not on the tax rolls.
Tags: Career Development Institute; Carl L. Drummer; Jon Elrod; Fall Creek
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Fatal Flight - The Mystery at Marlboro Airport
Seven years after a seemingly accidental private airplane crash, the Asbury Park Press found evidence that forced the reopening of the federal investigation. The original NTSB investigation of a fatal 1998 plane crash in Marlboro Township, New Jersey, determined that the accident was caused by a bird strike, but the Asbury Park Press consulted experts who determined that sabotage was the most likely cause. The pilot, who died in the crash, had previously testified in a lawsuit that he suspected his planes were being sabotaged. A disputed land deal involving the township's airport provided a motive for murder.
Tags: airports; aviation; airplanes; murder; sabotage; plane crashes; lawsuits; NTSB; bribes
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Close Connections
The Asbury Park Press' investigations of municipal officials found that politically powerful attorneys had almost free reign to double bill and over bill the agencies they were supposed to serve. An investigation of the township attorney, who is the top elected Republican in the state, found that he double billed the city by more than $8,000. He initially said the double-billing was not his responsibility, but later admitted it was an accident. The Press found that the project in which the double-billing occurred was part of an unfinished seven-year effort to rewrite the city's ordinances. The senator charged more than $100,000 for the incomplete work, although similar projects cost a quarter as much and can take months, not years, to finish. Close examination of these billing records for the ordinance re-writing project showed his bills included rewrites of ordinances that don't exist, and repeated rewrites of ordinances that were little more than a paragraph or two long.
Tags: Marlboro Township-New Jersey; Council Members; Mayor Matthew V. Scannapieco; developers; Anthony Spalliero; Senator John O. Bennett III; political contributions; double-billing; town budget; ordinances; legal invoice; Monmouth County; campaign contributions; Center for Responsive Politics Marlboro Cultural and Improvement Fund; Keansburg Board of Education; New Jersey State Commission of Investigation; reform bill; elected officials
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Double Billing
A spreadsheet and some sharp eyes helped Todd B. Bates and Paul D'Ambrosio of the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press nail a story about a New Jersey State Senate co-president who double-billed a township for work he did on a legal project. John O. Bennett III also serves as Marlboro's full-time attorney but his contract permits him to bill the township for special projects. A CPA that reviewed the records for the Press said the double billing didn't appear accidental: "My professional opinion is that it is a low probability that it is a mistake."
Tags: Marlboro Township; lawyers; legal bills; legal billing
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Painted into a corner
Inquirer Magazine reports on the financial troubles of the Barnes Foundation. The story reveals that the organization is facing scrutiny by local officials and activists, and that its coffins have been "depleted by litigation and escalating operating costs." The article examines how Barnes Foundation got involved in politics in order to raise funds. "In this acrid and paranoid atmosphere, the foundation must define itself and convince all interested parties that is moving ahead on a legitimate and worthy course," the magazine reports.
Tags: County Orphan's Court; Lower Merion township; benefactors; donors; galleries; high-school students; canvases; grants; collections
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Illinois Townships: Bargain or Boondoggle?
"Often overshadowed and overlooked, Illinois' 1,433 township governments last year collected almost half a billion dollars from taxpayers although many did not need the money and hundreds wound up spending as much on bureaucracy as on services. In September, for example, Benton Township paid $7,500 for two employees to pass out $500 in welfare to five needy people in Franklin County... Illinois clings to the tradition of its townships governments while neglecteing serious questions about their usefulness, such as: Are townships efficient grassroots government or outdated vestiges wasting millions to do jobs that overlap services already offered on wider scales by county, munincipal and state governments?"
Tags: taxes; electied officials; elctions; fraud; surplus; commissioner; hometown; consolidation; township officials; CAR