The IRE Conference is quickly approaching! This year's program offers essential tips, advice and strategies for investigating the biggest stories of the day, and we want as many people as possible to be able to attend. The conference hotel is the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront, and it's a great place to stay because you are able to attend the day's training and then meet with your colleagues for networking at night. The hotel is located in Harbor East on the Waterfront. The hotel has plenty of stores and restaurants all within walking distance. If you reserve your room ... Read more ...

Next weekend IRE is holding a watchdog workshop in Detroit, Mich., in conjunction with the National Association of Black Journalists and the Detroit NABJ Chapter. Training is Saturday, April 25 and Sunday, April 26 at Wayne State University. On-site registrations will be accepted the day of the event. View the schedule. IRE is also hosting a watchdog training event in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2. This regional workshop is another affordable opportunity to sharpen your skills close to home. Training is taking place at the Salt Lake Tribune and the University of Utah ... Read more ...

This has been a tough financial year for IRE, as it has been for our industry. We wanted to take this opportunity to update membership on some financial issues, and update some budgetary information we published last year. We are operating at a deficit, for the second year in a row. IRE has financial reserves that should help carry us through this difficult economic period and a sound plan to address the deficit in the coming fiscal year. Below is a report from the Endowment Committee, as well as an update on IRE's budget and a note about revisions ... Read more ...

In this free-read article from Uplink, Gregg Hennigan of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids explains how he used FEMA data and Microsoft Excel spreadsheet tricks to examine the flood aid flowing into eastern Iowa last year. Hennigan, a local government reporter, completed the story after attending and IRE and NICAR computer-assisted reporting boot camp. - David Herzog

UPDATE: With the support of dedicated IRE members and others who believe in the importance of investigative journalism, we passed our $75,000 goal. Sincere thanks! IRE gives journalists the skills and tools that enable them to fulfill their watchdog role, and your contribution will assist in continuing these efforts. IRE is a dynamic force in journalism, training thousands of journalists each year and providing resources and encouragement for investigative work of the highest caliber. Year after year, we help print, broadcast and online journalists throughout the world become better watchdogs for society. And year after year, IRE helps journalists ... Read more ...

Seymour Hersh has joined the lineup of speakers at the 2009 IRE Conference. Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter who has exposed scandals and cover-ups for decades — from the Mai Lai massacre in Vietnam to Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq — joins a strong group of speakers that also includes Bob Woodward of The Washington Post, Donald Barlett and James Steele of Vanity Fair, Jill Abramson and Dean Baquet of The New York Times, Brian Ross of ABC News, Armen Keteyian of CBS News, and David Simon, creator of "The Wire" and a longtime Baltimore journalist. Jon Klein, president of CNN-U ... Read more ...