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 "wills" ...
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Buying the Election
“Never Mind the Super PACs: How Big Business Is Buying the Election” investigates previously unreported ways that businesses have taken advantage of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, which overturned a century of campaign finance law and allowed corporations to spend directly on behalf of candidates. The piece debunks a common misperception that businesses have taken advantage of their new political spending powers primarily through so-called Super PACs. In fact, most Super PAC donations have come from extremely wealthy individuals, not corporations. The investigation shows how corporations have instead used a variety of 501(c) nonprofits, primarily 501(c)(6) “trade associations,” to direct substantial corporate money on federal elections. As one prominent advisor to GOP candidates as well as corporations points out, "many corporations will not risk running ads on their own," for fear of the reputational damage, but the trade groups make these ad buys nearly anonymous. In 2010, 501(c)(6) trade associations and 501(c)(4) issue-advocacy groups outspent Super PACs $141 million to $65 million. The investigation shows that the growth of trade association political spending has had a number of significant ramifications, such as increased leverage during beltway lobbying campaigns. Most troublingly, legal loopholes allow foreign interests to use trade associations to directly influence American elections. One of the most significant revelations in the piece was that the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for the oil and gas industry, had funneled corporate cash to groups that had run hard-hitting campaign ads while being led in part by a lobbyist for the Saudi Arabian government, Tofiq Al-Gabsani. As an API board member, Al-Gabsani was part of the team that directed these efforts, which helped defeat candidates who supported legislation that would move American energy policy away from its focus on fossil fuels. Federal law prevents Al-Gabsani, as a foreign national, from leading a political action committee, or PAC. But nothing in the law stopped him from leading a trade group that made campaign expenditures just as a PAC would.
Tags: Elections; campaign finance; corporations; Super PACs
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City Hall Heist
How a humble city utilities dept. worker stole $1 million from City Hall, with no one noticing. His fellow employees had no idea that mild-mannered "nice guy" Joe Phan was a millionaire and - relying merely on a rubber stamp, an ATM machine and a willing bank - was depositing stolen city checks into his personal account at the rate of more than $360,000 annually. Seattle Weekly dived into the story explaining for the first time who Phan was, how he pulled off a million-dollar heist, and how it could happen again.
Tags: City utilities department; city hall; theft
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The Long Island Power Authority
Superstorm Sandy struck the Northeast in late October, leaving much of Long Island damaged by the most severe flooding in memory and wind gusts reaching 96 miles an hour. A total of 90 percent of the Long Island Power Authority’s 1.1 million customers lost electricity -- tens of thousands of them for weeks.
Tags: Superstorm Sandy; Long Island; electricity; New York
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The Curious Case of Sgt. Drenth
A decorated and highly respected Phoenix police sergeant is found dead on the ground in an alley near the State Capitol complex, the victim of a shotgun blast to the head. The weapon is discovered on his body in a manner which several first-responders later claim looked "staged" by another party or parties. Almost a year after Sgt. Sean Drenth's death, the county Medical Examiner rules that the manner of his death was a "suicide," not a "homicide" or "undetermined." The enclosed two-part series was published after the reporter investigated this complex and ultimately tragic case for several months. A few weeks ago, the county Medical Examiner personally told Sgt. Drenth's widow that he personally will revisit the case in light of the revelations in the story and other relevant reasons.
Tags: Death; police sergeant; shotguns
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For-Profit-College Business Model Breeds Exploitative Marketing Tactics
In the first radio piece: Interviews with former recruiters, faculty, administrators and students of a small group of for-profit colleges in Minnesota paint a picture of schools that are exploiting unsophisticated students for their financial-aid money. Analysis points to a high-enrollment, high-dropout business model that earns the company millions but provides questionable return on taxpayer investment. In the second radio piece: Political differences at the federal level make it unclear how much the government will regulate for-profit colleges. At the Minnesota state level, the leading official for higher-ed says his agency doesn’t have the resources to go after problem colleges – and isn’t sure whether beefing up enforcement would be the best use of higher-education funding.
Tags: Non-profit colleges; financial aid; business models; for-profit colleges
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Platts: Russian Gas Giant Mines U.S. Energy Data
Russia’s state-owned natural gas company says the U.S. shale-gas boom is economically unsustainable — and it’s buttressing its claim with financial data collected by an American consulting firm located less than 20 miles from the White House. Moscow-based Gazprom, the world’s largest gas company, is working with Pace Global Energy Services, a consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia, to analyze how much money U.S. gas companies are spending on hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Gazprom, citing the Virginia company’s data, says the true costs of U.S. shale-gas production are upwards of 150% higher than the revenues its practitioners have been reaping in the last few years. Gazprom says this will ultimately lead to the demise of fracking-based shale-gas drilling in the US and other countries that are considering adopting it. But Gazprom’s critics say the company and its unlikely Washington-area ally are spreading “myths and misconceptions” about the U.S.-led shale-gas gas boom so that European and Asian countries will not develop their own shale plays, and will instead continue to buy conventional Russian gas.
Tags: Oil; gas; natural resources; fraud; oil wells
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Failed to Death: Protecting Colorado’s Children
In a joint investigation with the Denver Post, 9NEWS uncovered 72 of the 175 Colorado children who have died of child abuse over the past 5 years were known to the agency that is supposed to keep them safe--human services. The series revealed how those children were “Failed to Death” by each and every person they had ever known. Reporters fought for access to public documents, police reports, and court records, along with convincing key stakeholders to allow them unprecedented access to every step of the child welfare process. The reporters uncovered a system where accountability and transparency is nearly non-existent and caseworkers find it nearly impossible to assess which children will live and which will not. Since the series first aired, the Colorado Legislature has put a priority on fixing the child welfare system.
Tags: child welfare; FOIA
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The Shame of the Boy Scouts
The Los Angeles Times made public for the first time thousands of files documenting sexual abuse of Boy Scouts by their troop leaders, resulting in reforms that will help ensure the protection of children.
Tags: sexual abuse; Boy Scouts
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Investigating the Fire
After three people were killed in a fire set by the Colorado State Forest Service, KMGH-TV uncovered governmental mistakes and communication failures that killed people and destroyed homes. Our coverage spurred legislative change that will ultimately help the victims of the Lower North Fork Fire (LNFF) rebuild their lives and protect future fire victims. The LNFF was started in March 2012 by a state forest service prescribed burn that went out of control, killing three people and destroying more than 20 homes. KMGH-TV's six-week investigation uncovered multiple government failures that turned a supposedly controlled burn into an uncontrolled wildfire. Despite heading into a busy ratings period, KMGH-TV dedicated two reporters -- Amanda Kost and Marshall Zelinger -- full-time to investigate the fire. The station produced more than two dozen investigative reports over 40 days. On top of the daily reports, KMGH-TV produced a 30-minute special of original content in six days. Our investigations sparked a legislative inquiry into the fire and prompted Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper to sign a law lifting liability limits that protected the state agency responsible for the blaze. Lawmakers, fire victims and community residents all agreed that without KMGH-TV's extensive investigation of government failures and mistakes, the families of people who died and people who lost homes would never be adequately compensated for their losses. Our investigation forced the state to reevaluate how it sets future prescribed burns to make sure the fires are safer for the community.
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What Killed Arafat?
This 50-minute film was the result of a nine month long cold case investigation into the suspicious death of Yasser Arafat, Palestine's iconic, revolutionary leader. After obtaining Arafat's entire original medical files, Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, led by producer and reporter Clayton Swisher, crossed continents to track down and interview the French, Jordanian, Egyptian, and Palestinian doctors who had worked to save Arafat's life. Part I of "What Killed Arafat?" was able to easily shatter popular myths about what caused Arafat's precipitous decline from the onset of his illness on October 12, 2004 until his death on November 11th. Testimony from Arafat's doctors conclusively ruled out liver cirrhosis, cancer, even rumors of HIV. The scientific, evidence-based discoveries made in the Part II result from the work performed by a team of forensic pathologists, toxicologists, and radiation physicists from the University Center for Legal Medicine and Institute for Radiation Physics in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working without payment, they agreed to run a battery of sophisticated tests on a large gym bag containing Arafat’s last personal effects. The scientists discovered significant levels of reactor-made Polonium 210 contaminating areas of Arafat's personal effects that came into contact with his biological fluids. When the final results came back in late June, Al Jazeera hosted Mrs. Arafat in Doha to watch the Swiss explain the results on set. Upon witnessing their testimony, Ms. Arafat made a resolute, unanticipated surprise announcement, calling on the Palestinian Authority to exhume her husband's body for testing. Yasser Arafat’s body was exhumed on November 27, 2012 so that the final samples could be retrieved. Whether the causes of Arafat's death are determined to be natural, inconclusive—or even murder—suffice it to say that Al Jazeera’s "What Killed Arafat?" and the resulting investigations and exhumation will have inched the world closer to understanding what did not, and possibly for the first time, what did claim the life of this historic and controversial personality.
Tags: Science; death; biology; investigation; exhumation; testing