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 "Five Percenters" ...
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Unreasonable Doubt
The Globe's team found that when accused drunk drivers waive their right to a jury trial and take their cases before a single judge, they are acquitted four out of five times- an astonishing statewide acquittal rate of 82 percent that is virtually unmatched in the United States. The Globe found that the acquittal rate by judges is 30 percentage points higher than the acquittal rate by juries.
Tags: Drunk driving; judge; jury; acquittal; conviction
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Jobopoly
Despite investments of $1.2 billion over five years, corresponding to 55 percent of the total Tax Increment Funding program in Chicago, the downtown area has lost over 12,000 jobs during the past five years, predominantly hitting African-American communitites.
Tags: chicago; public spending; the loop; tax dollars;
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The Five Percent Rule
The investigation uncovers the U.S. military's failure to comply with its own tobacco pricing restriction, selling millions of dollars of tobacco products for well beneath legal limits.
Tags: cigarrettes; Department of Defense; Marlboro; soldiers; smoking
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"Long session led to many missed votes"
Twenty-one of Arizona's 90 state legislatures missed more than 20 percent of the floor votes held during 2009. The percentage is five times that of 2008. Lawmakers whose attendance and voting records fell in that percentage were interviewed, revealing discontent with the way the legislature is being run.
Tags: Arizona State Legislature; Rep. Rich Crandall; Sen. Debbie McCune Davis; Sen. Paula Aboud; Rep. Olivia Cajero Bedford; Bob Burns; senate
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Through the Cracks
The 1988 brutal rape and murder of a young mother and her daughter has left the child's grandmother, Phyllis Little, with 21 years of questions. In 2009, the NYPD announced they had arrested a man and charged him with the double-murder. Reporter Joshua Kors provides a detailed look at the lives of the murdered mother, as well as the man accused of killing her. Kors also describes the pain and guilt felt by Little for more than two decades.
Tags: crack; Bronx; low-cost housing; DNA; Five Percenters; Rikers Island prison; Bronx River Projects; West Farms
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Police Complaints Rising
Brutality complaints were on the rise at three area law enforcement departments; they had increased by 25 percent in the last five years. Complaints about other officer misconduct, such as rudeness or harassment, also were on the rise. Few citizen complaints were validated by the departments, which investigated the complaints themselves. The majority of complaints were deemed unsubstantiated and in many cases they were classified as false, which subjected the complainant to possible criminal prosecution.
Tags: civil liberties; law enforcement; police brutality; search and seizure; excessive force; civil rights activists
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Crime Doesn't Pay (Back)
A look into court-ordered restitution in Texas reveals that in the last five years, more than 90 percent of parolees still owe their victims money. In fact, only 5.3 percent of the $435 million in restitution that Texas parolees were ordered to pay in those five years has ever been collected. The state does nothing to attempt to collect the money from these people once they are discharged from the system.
Tags: Restitution payments; court-ordered restitution; Texas; parolees; Texas Public Information Act; City of Houston
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Wasting Away: Superfund's Toxic Legacy
An analysis of the EPA's Superfund program listing nearly 100 companies responsible for more than 40 percent of America’s most contaminated sites. Since the Superfund’s creation in 1980, of the 700 sites less than one in five have been cleaned up or removed from the list. From 1998 to 2005, the companies spent more than $1 billion lobbying to the federal government and contributed more than $120 million to federal campaigns.
Tags: hazardous waste; unhealthy; contaminate; EPA; toxic exposure; solid waste;
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Takings Initiatives Accountability Project: The Center for Public Integrity investigates ballot initiatives that would radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states
The [non-partisan]Center for Public Integrity investigated 2006 "ballot initiatives that were designed to radically change land-use and environmental regulation in five Western states. They discovered that a trio of "secret donors" accounted for 99% of the propostions' bankrolls, and some of the initiatives did not comply with campaign-finance and other regulations. Then the Center revealed that 85 percent of the funding was coming from a single wealthy real estate investor and Libertarian activist, Howard RIch All but the Arizona inititative failed at the ballot. The Center for Public Integrity set up a stand-alone website-- www.takings initiatives.org-- and filed more than 50 articles on it. "Our general practice-- and a novel one as far as we can tell-- was to mount verbatim transcripts of the interviews on our website, including audio recordings where available. We sought to allow proponents, opponents funders and experts to have a chance to present their side of the story in their own words." The Center also checked with state and federal regulators for compliance of relevant laws and regulations.
Tags: Takings Initiatives; takings clause; ballot initiatives; land-use regulation; environmental regulation; tax-exempt organizations; Howard Rich; Andrea Millen Rich; Council for Responsible Government; William A. Wilson; state campaign-finance filings; public records requests; state freedom of information requests; America At Its Best; Americans for Limited Government; John Tillman; Howard Ahmanson; Fieldstead & Company; property rights; prefessional signature-gatherers; Colorado At Its Best; term limits; nonprofit advocacy organizations; Sam Adams Alliance; Sam Adams Foundation; Legislative Education Action Drive; Parents in Charge Foundation; Social Security Choice.org; Illinois Charitable Trust Bureau; educational vouchers; tuition tax credits; National Taxpayers Union; First Class Education; Susquehanna International Group; Jeffrey YAss; Cato Institute; Alliance for School Choice; Decision Education Foundation; Eric Brooks; Susan Mitchell; Pete Sepp; Kern Family Foundation; Generac Power Systems, Inc.; Milton Friedman; Taxpayer Bill of Rights; TABOR; Laird Maxwell; This House is MY Home; John Whitehead; Lower Manhattan Development Corporation; Exoxemis, Inc.; Family Farm Preservation Pact; Citizens for Community Protection; Kelo v. City of New London; eminent domain; New York Millionaires Assistance Act; Wallace Global Fund; Nicholas C. Dranias; PRNewswire; Eric O'Keefe; getliberty.com; George Soros
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Power Failure
Energy deregulation in the state of Texas is the subject as the Daily News reports the $40 billion yearly sales and consumer unhappiness with rates that continue to rise. "Most have seen their electricity rates increase between 67 and 114 percent since the retail market was deregulated five years ago." The investigation finds not only that supply and demand may does no apply to electricity, but also that "some power companies have appeared to engage in anticompetitive behavior and even outright manipulation." And the state's utility commission has done little to remedy the situation.
Tags: Energy; electricity; energy deregulation; energy rates; rising energy costs