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 "Better Government Association" ...
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Maywood Confidential
On the evening of Oct. 23, 2006, as a premature snow fell in parts of the Chicago area, Maywood (Illinois) Police Officer Tom Wood pulled his marked SUV to a dimly lit corner known for drug sales, rolled down his window part of the way and began talking to somebody, likely a person he knew. Within minutes gunfire exploded from the street, ripping through the car and hitting Officer Wood in the head and elsewhere, killing the 37-year-old father of five almost instantly. More than six years later, the murder is still unsolved, and an eerie pall has been cast over the official investigation, and Maywood itself. The nonprofit Better Government Association (BGA) and WFLD-TV/FOX Chicago set out to determine what happened – why Officer Wood was killed and why the official investigation into his death had failed to produce an arrest or criminal charges. In a figurative sense, our findings (which form the basis for our entry) indict not a person, but a culture of corruption and apathy in Maywood that may have contributed to Officer Wood’s death, and certainly played a role in the subsequently botched homicide probe.
Tags: Murder; police officer; corruption; homicide
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The High Costs of Wrongful Convictions
A seven-month investigation by the Better Government Association and the Center on Wrongful Convictions reveals the wrongful convictions of 85 men and women for violent crimes in Illinois has cost taxpayers more than $214 million, and imprisoned innocent people for more than 900 years. Meanwhile, the real perpetrators committed nearly 100 felonies.
Tags: Better Government Association; Center on Wrongful Convictions
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A Questionable Connection
In conjunction with the Better Government Association, the Residents' Journal took on an 8-month investigation into dozens of contracts with the Chicago Housing Association, and their political links to CHA CEO Terry Peterson. What they found was that 62 companies with contracts through the CHA gave more than $250,000 to the 17th Ward Democratic Organization.
Tags: Chicago Housing Authority; real estate; housing; 17th Ward Democratic Organization; CAR
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Shadowing slackers
Civic.com examines how public entities crack down on employees who misuse the Internet. The story reveals that the number of companies that monitor their employees Internet use and check up on employee e-mail messages has jumped in the last three years. Governments are modifying acceptable-use policies, and considering the increasing cost of monitoring. A major finding is that most offenders are solid workers, who, after being punished, "go on about their lives as even better employees than they were before."
Tags: workers; employment; employers; work ethics; American Management association; Web; software; pornography; e-mail; business
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Losing Signal
"..the advent of the information economy has turned the FCC from a minor D.C. player into one of the government's most powerful agencies. As the de facto czar of the nation's communications infrastructure, the commission now makes daily decisions affecting America's technological destiny-reviewing megamergers like AOL Time Warner union, evaluating the Baby Bells' expansion plans, determining whether cable companies should decide what Web content their Internet customers can view. And no one appreciates the FCC's newfound authority better than the communications industry, whose lobbying expenses now stand at roughly $125 million, more than twice the amount spent by defense firms."
Tags: FCC; lobbying; telecommunications; "Big Media; " broadband; Internet; cable; telephone; radio; broadcast licenses; deregulation; digital transition; telcos; CFIC; Dingell; Tauzin; McCain; Lott; open access; First Amendment; location-based services (LBS); privacy; Digital Democracy; National Association of Broadcasters; NAB; analog spectrum; consolidation; government auction
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Asleep at the Switch: 911 Emergency
WMAQ-TV's investigative team aired a series centered around Chicago police officers who were assigned to work at the city's 911 emergency dispatch center. It found that officers assigned to respond to emergency calls were routinely asleep at their consoles. In direct response to the investigation, the chief of the 911 emergency division was forced out and after Chicago City Council hearings reforms were taken to punish sleeping officers, May 19 - 20, 1994.
Tags: IL Savini Chicago Police Department Better Government Association
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No title (id: 3311)
ABC News 20/20 and the Better Government Association investigate a tightly knit Chicago arson-for-profit ring that buys up cheap buildings, trades them among themselves to inflate their values, heavily insures the buildings and then burns them down, Feb. 7, 1980. TAPE
Tags: Tape
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No title (id: 2288)
UPI and Better Government Association illustrate how federal disposals of land are tied up for years by frequent political meddling, costly bureaucratic indecision and intense infighting among federal, state and local governing bodies, February 1982.
Tags: None
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No title (id: 2177)
UPI and Better Government Association does 10 - part series, "American Royalty," on government officials and agencies living high on the hog at taxpayer expense; topics include congressional overseas travel abuses, unauthorized use of military transport and the Pentagon supplying free travel and expensive entertainment to its congressional watchdogs, February 1982.
Tags: None