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 "Construction management" ...
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Saving Millions to Cost Billions
The executives who run the local power plant in St. Petersburg said from the start that their customers should help pay a $2.5 billion repair bill at their nuclear plant because no one could have predicted or prevented the disaster that crippled the facility and shut it down. But the Tampa Bay Times revealed gaping holes in that argument. Porgress received multiple warnings from employees and contractors about their approach to the project. An internal report obtained by Tampa Bay Times even warned the utility against self managing such an ambitious construction effort.
Tags: St. Petersburg; Tampa Bay Times; Repair Bill; Utility
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Welcom to Boondoggle Unified
" At L.A. Unified, the nation's second largest school district, Joe Santos worked at a construction company that had won a $10 million dollar seismic bracing project, despite no experience in seismic safety work. When Santos witnessed false claims, left his company and became a federal whistle blower, he was troubled to find that not only were the school district and FEMA reluctant to root out the fraud and waste he exposed; the District Attorney was willing to prosecute him on computer theft charges, even though key evidence had been tainted. The story exposed a vacuum of accountability between FEMA, its inspector general, the general, the school district and its facilities management division. Selective prosecution raised questions about priorities and methods within the L.A. District Attorney's Office."
Tags: earthquake; seismic protection; fraud; construction; school district; FEMA
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Washington Park School
The I-Team investigated Cincinnati School Board decisions related to the relocation of one inner city public school. The story provides insight into how CPS is managing a billion dollars of new school construction. It revealed problems of student safety, economics, Board incompetence and conflicts of interest. The school board deviated from standard property appraisal procedures, overpaid for the school, located it in Cincinnati's most dangerous area and could have renovated a nearby school for far less money.
Tags: school board; school construction; inner city schools; conflicts of interest; student safety
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No Bargain Basement
This investigation exposed the shoddy practices of Vista Home Management, a mobile/modular homebuilder that catered to lower income buyers. The company used cheap contractors and then waited years to fix the problems that inevitably followed the thrifty construction.
Tags: contractors; construction; property; home owners
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Alluvial Amnesia: How Officials Imperil Communities by Downplaying Flood Risks
Floodplain development, flood prediction and inter-agency coordination are the main themes of this investigation. "We uncovered documents proving that in their haste to approve plans for two public schools in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., state education officials ignored state emergency managers from another agency who cautioned that no adequate evacuation plans existed and that constriction should be halted. We also exposed flawed reasoning the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used to argue that flood risks in the area were minimal. Reputable flood experts say as many as 20,000 homes have been constructed on flood-prone lands located near high mountain canyons.
Tags: flood; natural disaster; construction
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Favoritism in School Contracts
This investigation revealed that the director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission received favors from companies to which he awarded unbid contracts as part of the state's #3 billion program to build and renovate schools. Furthermore, the investigation showed how an ongoing campaign fund controlled by the governor to campaign on state issues was a slush fund for companies doing business with the state. Almost 90 percent of the school design and construction management contracts went to firms that contributed to the fund.
Tags: None
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Farming the System
The series explored loopholes across the country that allow developers to get extremely low property tax rates on land under laws intended to keep working farmers and timber growers from being taxed off their property. In many states, a developer need only cut hay on a property a couple of times a year to qualify for the benefit, and many states require no proof the "farm" actually earns any money. The reporters documented millions of dollars in savings reaped by people who fully intended to develop their land, some of whom saw their taxes drop by up to 400 times fair market value.
Tags: farmland; property tax breaks; Knapp Properties Inc.; construction; development; Lincoln Institute of Land Policy; Scythe & Spade; Hertz Farm Management; landowners; property appraisal; Vortex LLC
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US audit: Big Dig is 'bankrupt'
Big Dig managers have systematically covered up hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns for years through shell-game accounting that made public estimates for the road-and-tunnel work little more than a mirage. While state officials insisted the project was on time, on budget, and tightly managed, a two-month Boston Globe investigation found little of that was true.
Tags: audit; budget; bankruptcy; management; Federal Highway Administration; Roads; construction
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Collision course
More reports on the reasons behind the suicide of a hard-working school superintendent, Janet Shaner, in Weston, Connecticut. Shaner received more than $15,000 in gifts from the district's construction manager at her previous job in Pennsylvania, the story reveals, and went through an ethics commission investigation. The papers about her alleged unethical behavior there made their way to Weston, and Shaner went in disgrace, investigated by Weston-area media, and blamed by local residents for hiding her past. Even though she had supporters, warning that "to label a person morally corrupt for making a mistake would brand all of us," Shaner hanged herself in April 2001.
Tags: schools; ethics; teachers; students; parents; community; The Weston Forum; e-mails privacy
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Our Polluted Runoff
"Rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runoff moves across the land... [It] picks up... residues from the production of food, the manicuring of yards, the construction of roads and buildings... and transports these contaminants to the nearest stream, lake, estuary or aquifer," National Geographic reports. Our water sources are getting more and more polluted, and salvation lies in the hands of the average citizen not corporate polluters.
Tags: water; run off; nonpoint-source pollution; blue-baby syndrome; integrated pest management