The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. Add to that more than 3,000 tipsheets from our national conferences on how to cover specific beats or do specific stories and you have a resource that no reporter or editor should be without. These stories and tipsheets 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. Logged-in members can view the tipsheets free online:
Search results for "property records" ...
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Investigating Higher Education
Use this tipsheet from award winning reporter, Perez, when you need to cover the higher education beat. She gives great resources for where to look and story ideas for the data you receive.
Tags: higher education; property records; IRS; grants; student federal loans
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Data Ideas for Congressional Coverage
Thorough tips and advice on how and where to look for information regarding congressmen in areas such as staff members, salaries, owned properties, received donations, etc.
Tags: congress; senate; congressman; senator; fec; legistorm; opensecrets; legislative bills; sopr; senate office of public records
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Investigating Politicians
Grimaldi covers basics for backgrounding politicians, but goes into depth about some of the things you should look for in their property records, etc. He also details how to explore their campaign finances and various lobbying and travel reports.
Tags: politics; politicians; lobbyists; campaign finance; House of Representatives; Senate; Congress;
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CAR stories for every newsroom
Off suggests data and stories that can be used in every newsroom to cover stories on such topics as: school call to police; dam inspections; group homes; property records and many more.
Tags: CAR; computer-assisted reporting; quick hits;
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Backgrounding People and Businesses on the Web
Dowdell provides a helpful framework for all your backgrounding needs. Starting with a strategy and some basic questions, she provides suggested helpful links for finding information on people and businesses on the web.
Tags: backgrounding; background check; business; property records; court records; public records; criminal background check; campaign contributions; politicians; articles of incorporation; business license; professional license
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Backgrounding People
This tipsheet provides a list of resources to use when backgrounding individuals. Lyle's is careful to denote which resources are free vs. for a fee. Her list is broken down to include national resources (for the U.S.) and regional resources specific to New York state. She also gives phone service information for several international countries.
Tags: background; phone records; public records; business records; property records; New York; professional licenses; aviation administration; medical license; biographies; WhoIs; social networking; international phone records
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Quick-hit CAR
The Microsoft PowerPoint slides detail some quick CAR projects using death records, voter registrations, pet licenses, property records and more.
Tags: quick; computer-assisted reporting; data; records; licenses
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After Disaster Strikes: Be A Recovery Watchdog
Cervantes details how the Union-Tribune covered the wildfires that ravaged San Diego in October 2007. The city and county governments offered "free" demolition and debris removal for destroyed properties. "We got a tip contractors were charging outrageous rates, so we decided to investigate and analyze the public records and data to see what was being done with taxpayer money."
Tags: disaster; wildfire; Union-Tribune; FEMA; California Public Records Act; FOIA; demolition permit applications; RFP; requests for proposals; Governor's Office of Emergency Services; San Diego; GIS mapping; mapping
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Belief is in the document: Tips on investigating religion
Gorski discusses various aspects of covering religion. The tipsheet includes advice about where to find church records such as 990s, applications for property tax exemptions, and articles of incorporation. The tipsheet also explains what each type of record could reveal about the church.
Tags: religion; beat reporting; churches; nonprofits
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Investigating Fraud: Schemes, Scondrels and Scams
The authors discuss how to uncover and report on fraud. The tipsheet offers suggestions for documenting fraud, such as finding a paper trail or videotaping the scheme. Then, the tipsheet discusses how to turn your findings into a well-organized, effective investigative piece. Finally, the tipsheet includes useful websites for finding court records, consumer information, corporations, property records, regulators and more.
Tags: internet sources; undercover investigations; visual story-telling; story ideas; consumer investigations; crime; fraud