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 "winter" ...
-
Snow Removal
After the storm in January 2009, Southern Illinois University Carbondale was left to cleanup. The job brought "complaints from students, faculty, and staff" and the conditions were "hardest on the disabled". This story looks at the "Americans with Disabilities Act" and whether the university violated it. Further, it examines the concerns from "disabled students, faculty, and staff that had a very tough time maneuvering around campus because the sidewalks were not properly cleaned up".
Tags: college; education; campuses; storms; snow; removal; winter; criticize; school
-
N.Y. Power Authority
The New York Power Authority provides about one-quarter of NY state's electricity needs. Although it is a branch of state government, it acts as a corporation, giving away some of its profits to pet charities of the Board and the Directors, rather than lowering utility costs to customers. Almost 200 of the NYPA's 1600 employees make more than $100,000 a year.
Tags: NY State Public Authority; NYPA; patronage; energy-efficiency programs; U.S. Olympic Committee; Olympic Regional Development Authority's Congressional Winter Challenge; ORDA; Energy Services Program; Governor Pataki
-
Preying on Parents
A California-based international adoption firm is found to be defrauding prospective parents, taking advantage of "legal loopholes and government neglect." The story involves bribes and kickbacks to foreign government officials, the use of internet fraud on prospective parents, and "the withholding of vital medical information about orphans to misstate their health." In some cases, the children adopted through the agency had such severe medical conditions or other issues, and were institutionalized or sent home to their native countries. Meanwhile, "the company ignored complaints and pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars in fees."
Tags: Adoption; former Soviet Union; child adoption; fraud; Internet adoption agency; orphans; medical problems
-
Vietnam: The War Crime Files
"An LA Times investigation- based on thousands of declassified records from the Army chief of staff's office, scores of interviews and a trip to Vietnam- found that U.S. troops reported more than 800 war crimes in Vietnam, yet many were publicly discredited even as the military uncovered evidence that they were telling the truth."
Tags: Vietnam; war crime; army; military; torture; murder; My Lai; Seymour Hersh; national archive
-
"Toxic Traces"
Minnesota Public Radio investigated the widespread environmental presence of chemicals once used to make Scotchguard. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency was not very aggressive in pursuing the matter, an attitude that is possibly explained by the fact that the commissioner of the agency was at one time an environmental manager for 3M. MPR laid out for the public, both by broadcast and on-line, what was behind the conflicting agendas of the government, 3M and the public.
Tags: pollution; toxic waste; 3M; state government; clean water; whistleblower
-
Prime Suspect
This investigation tracks Marty Tankleff, convicted at age 17 of killing his parents, as he battles the court system for another shot at winning his freedom. The investigation raises issues about the legality of an aggressive police interrogation that ended in Tankleff's confession, which he immediately recanted.
Tags: courts; cops; police; crime; murder; retrial; double jeopardy; evidence
-
County's Aging Bridges at the Breaking Point
One third of Ventura county's bridges were built before 1965 and 28 of them have been designated as "structurally deficient." But the county is still waiting for the funds to fix or replace them. California's winter floods in 2005 washed away one bridge and left others even more weakened. Dodge examines the Federal Highway Administration's Inventory and discusses funding problems as well as the potentially fatal consequences of continuing neglect.
Tags: Federal Highway funds; state highway grants; bridge repairs; structural damage; floods; erosion; engineers; transportation; roads
-
Slow construction zone: Why Omaha road work takes so long
This investigation examines why road projects in Omaha take so long to get completed. Although the slow pace has been attributed to cold winters and wet springs that make for a short construction season, the newspaper found a number of man-made issues as the cause: Contractors take on numerous projects instead of assigning crews to finish a few jobs as quickly as possible; utility line work is often poorly coordinated; and city government rarely gives contractors deadline dates for completions, incentives to hurry or penalties for being late.
-
Cold Cash: Ski Resorts Profit on Cheap U.S. Land
This investigation shows how ski-resorts use federal land, such as national forests, but pay barely any rent to the government. In some of the more extreme cases, the resorts pay less than one cent per dollar. These low rents are in place because of a 1996 piece of legislation designed to make the renting laws simpler. Interestingly, that legislation was drafted by Arthur Anderson on behalf of the National Ski Areas Association.
Tags: winter sports; recreation; taxes; property taxes; government property; national parks; national forestry service
-
Perchlorate in Lettuce
This investigation showed how a potentially harmful rocket-fuel chemical had contaminated the nation's supply of winter lettuce. Approximately ninety percent of the nation's winter lettuce is grown in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, and is irrigated with Colorado River water. The river is contaminated from a Cold War -era manufacturing plant near Las Vegas that stopped making perchlorate in 1998.
Tags: pollution; chemicals; groundwater