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 "trash" ...
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Trashing Your Tax Dollars
The NBC2 Investigators uncovered wasteful spending in a multi-million dollar federal program mean to re-stabilize neighborhoods hard hit by foreclosures. The program - called NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program) - utilized stimulus money approved during the George W. Bush administration to buy foreclosed homes, refurbish them and then sell them to families who would live in them, thus stabilizing a neighborhood. In our area, the program was administered by our county (Lee) and another program was administered by our city (Fort Myers). Our investigation of the county-run program found they were throwing away perfectly good appliances and replacing them with more expensive products. Not only could they have kept those appliances in the home - leaving them more money to refurbish others - but the appliances they did throw away could have gone to people in need in our community. Ultimately, our story forced the county to change policies in the program. They now coordinate with a local non-profit to donate all appliances and equipment once meant for the landfill.
Tags: broadcast; neighborhoods; foreclosed homes; appliances
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The Story of Stuff
The book examines and reports on the often invisible impact of all the stuff in our daily lives: where it comes from, how it is made, how gets to us, and where it goes when we no longer want it.
Tags: stuff; trash; deforestation; mining
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"A License To Lose"
This investigative report reveals weaknesses in security in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, as well as in the BMVs of two nearby states. WBNS-TV found that hundreds of social security and registration papers were being discarded in unsecured trash receptacles. The report also reveals that the BMV was aware of the security breach two years prior to the occurrence, but failed to do anything about the issue.
Tags: Bureau of Motor Vehicles; BMV; partial driver's license; registration
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Meadowlands for Sale
"The stories examined how a $1-billion plan to clean up and reclaim a large swath of the Meadowlands -- New Jersey's infamous toxic swamps and trash dumps -- lead to an environmental disaster underwritten by the state's taxpayers." The reporters found that the plan was plagued with corruption. For example, the developers who were supposed to be cleaning the area made $30 million by opening it up to dumpers. The Meadowlands site is now more polluted than when the project began.
Tags: development; developers; EnCap; toxic waste; garbage; environment; EPA; state government
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MBI Heavy Trucks
WSMV-TV examined MBI trucking, “the nation's largest garbage hauler,†which hauls ordinary household trash across Tennessee. Their analysis of "a single trucker's daily weigh tickets for a period of more than 3 years" showed that he only "followed the federal weight law just 21 times." As a result of the investigation the company's safety and compliance record has caught the interest of the federal government.
Tags: waste management; trucking; highways; roads; U.S. Attorney; FBI; Congress; federal government; MBI; landfill;
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Radioactive Dumping
"Tennessee, for nearly 20 years, had been allowing low level radioactive waste to be disposed of in 5 ordinary trash landfills, strategically located throughout the state without public knowledge, with out a public hearing and in violation of NRC regulations."
Tags: radioactive waste; trash dumps; landfills;
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Trashing the Truth
"Authorities across the country have lost, mishandled or destroyed tens of thousands of DNA samples since genetic fingerprinting revolutionized crime solving 20 years ago."
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Trash-to-Energy Proposal Trashed
A company named Green Power "proposed turning Cheyenne's trash to diesel through the process of catalytic depolymerization." The Austrian gentleman who owned the company, Michael Spitzauer, intended to "cure the shortage of diesel and America's dependence on foreign oil within a matter of years." But a background check revealed a criminal record in Austria, and a jail sentence for fraud. In addition, an expert noted that it is not possible for "a low-energy material such as trash to be turned into a high-energy product such as diesel fuel."
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Barrio Land Deal
In a poorer section of San Diego, a site was set aside for a development that would help a local rebirth. But the lot "sits vacant, surrounded by a fence, filled with trash." A KGTV investigation finds that while the city continues to pay an $8 million loan from Housing and Urban Development for the development of the area, nothing has happened on the property. The land continues to increase in value, and the developer continues to do nothing.
Tags: Property; development; vacant lot; urban renewal
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Talkin' Trash
The authors investigated a scam run by Republic Waste Services involving the city of Houston. The investigation found that Republic had falsely charged the city for millions of dollars of waste disposal over a timespan of several years.