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 "Detroit" ...
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Profiting from the Auto-Bailout
September, 2012 the Obama campaign launched television ads blasting Romney’s November 2008 New York Times op-ed, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” In an article for The Nation Magazine, funded by The Nation Investigative Fund we discovered that Ann Romney, personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romneys’, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment. It all starts with Delphi Automotive, a former General Motors subsidiary whose auto parts remain essential to GM’s production lines. No bailout of GM—or Chrysler, for that matter—could have been successful without saving Delphi. So, in addition to making massive loans to automakers in 2009, the federal government sent, directly or indirectly, more than $12.9 billion to Delphi—and to the hedge funds that had gained control over it. One of the hedge funds profiting from that bailout— $1.28 billion at the time of publication — was Elliott Management, directed by Romney supporter, Paul Singer.
Tags: Bailout; political campaign; Obama; Romney; Paul Singer
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Detroit Free Press: Free to Kill
“Free to Kill,” a seven-month Detroit Free Press investigation, found the Michigan Department of Corrections failed to properly supervise some of the most violent of the state’s roughly 70,000 offenders under its watch. A total of 88 parolees and probationers were suspected, arrested or convicted in 95 murders between Jan. 1, 2010, and Aug. 31, 2011. The number nearly doubled from 2010 to 2011 -- from 21 to 38. The series also revealed that dozens of offenders weren't outfitted with court-ordered electronic tethers, and others weren't sent back to prison for new crimes or failed drug tests.
Tags: Department of Corrections; violence; criminals; drug tests
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Speed Trap Controversy
Some Detroit speed limits may be set too low, according to a Detroit News investigation. Municipalities in Michigan were not complying with Public Act 85 which requires them to conduct studies to set proper speed limits.
Tags: speed limits; traffic; roads; speed trap; Public Act 85
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Who Killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones?
LeDuff investigates who death Aiyana Stanely-Jones, a seven-year-old who was shot and killed when Detroit police raided an East Side home where she slept on the couch. Police were looking for a murder suspect, and Aiyana ended up dead. The story "is a powerful heartbreaking elegy for a child, a city and our civic duties."
Tags: crime; murder; Detroit; poverty; police reports; FOIA; homicide
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Detroit lags on vacant house demolitions
The author investigated the Wayne County Medical Examiner's office and the mayor's office to see how well they were keeping up their promise to demolish vacant homes in the city.
Tags: accountability; city government; mayor; promise; watchdog
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"Looting the Public Trust"
In three different investigations, Jennifer Dixon reveals a single consistency: "piercing government bureaucracies." Bribes, questionable wire transfers and hundreds of millions lost in "bad deals" are all part of the investigative reports that reveal startling government misconduct in Detroit.
Tags: Synagro Technologies; Detroit Public Schools; pension; bribes; U.S. Attorney; Detroit City Council
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Air Scare
This series includes the breaking news of a terrorist bomber and the advancement of the story by CBS News. The terrorist bomber failed to “fully detonate the deadly ingredients of a powerful bomb on board a flight headed to Detroit from Amsterdam”. The deadly ingredients of the bomb were undetected by security screening in Amsterdam and he had an active visa through June 2010.
Tags: Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab; US government; federal; Central Intelligence Agency (CIA); The Nigerian; Al Qaida; law enforcement; officials
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"Annie's Ghosts"
Steve Luxenberg had always believed his mother was an only child. Shortly before her death, however, it was revealed that she had a "disabled sister." Once Luxenberg started digging, a multitude of secrets were revealed, including his mother's attempts at hiding her sister's existence. His investigation acknowledges how his aunt and so many others came to live anonymously in mental hospitals for so long.
Tags: imperial Russia; Ukrainian Holocaust; psychiatric hospitals; Detroit; Philippine war
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Not Enough Money or Time to Defend Detroit's Poor
According to the 6th Amendment everyone is reserved the right to have adequate representation in court. Though, in Detroit, a national public defender crisis has broken out due to overworked and underpaid defenders. This is a problem throughout the national, but has reached crisis levels in Michigan. "More than 90 percent of criminal defenders in Wayne County cannot afford their own lawyers", so to make up for this public defenders are used for representation instead.
Tags: court system; defense system; rights; public defenders; criminal defense; clients; law system
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Questionable Advisors, ethical gaps dog Detroit's public pensions
The investigation “focused on the advisers to Detroit’s public pension plans and their investments.” The findings revealed: advisers failed to display the problems with the businessmen who pitched investments, trustees didn’t follow their rules and had zero travel policies, and the fund invested a large amount of money in real estate.
Tags: Advisers; Public pension; Investments; Economy; General Retirement System; Trustees; Stock Market; Ethics