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 "Florida State University" ...
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NCAA: Mixed Messages
The phrase “student-athlete” has been used for a number of years, but recently it seems unsuitable for college athletics. In this series, a number of issues are spotlighted and they include “academics, the arms race, television money, the use of likenesses and images, and the myth of the four-year scholarship”. The main purpose of this series was to display the recent activities of college athletics and let you decide if the phrase “student-athlete” still applies.
Tags: athletic department; FOIA; Florida State; Rutgers University; sports; networks; money; grades; classroom; education
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Citizenship For Sale
Reporters from WTVJ-TV went undercover to witness a Florida man, Audie Watson, in the process of selling memberships in the Little Shell Band of the Pembina Nation. Watson claims the documents he sells for $1,500 allow purchasers to enter the United States legally. Reporters confronted Watson, and he agreed to be interviewed on camera. The series also showed interviews with people who had been arrested trying to cross the border with documents sold by Watson. Although Watson is now being investigated by state and federal officials and is currently on probation in Florida for an unrelated pyramid scheme conviction, his operation has not been shut down as of January 2007.
Tags: Fraud; Native Americans; Latinos; migrant workers; undercover investigations; Customs and Border Protection; Special Agent Zachary Mann; Ron DeLorme; Reginald Thabuteau; Universal Service Dedicated to God; Chippewa; Homeland Security
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Building Homes: Building Problems
"A yearlong investigation by the Orlando Sentinel and WESH-NewsChannel 2 into new-housing construction in the region uncovered a systemic lack of quality control by builders who are producing too many homes too fast, with not enough trained workers and inadequate oversight." The investigation consisted in a survey of new home construction in the state of Florida and the inspection of 406 homes built in 2001, that were randomly selected from the 18,000 new homes sold in Central Florida that year done by engineering students at the University of Central Florida. "The reporting attributed the cause to the construction of too many homes too quickly, by a poorly trained and supervised work force dominated by illegal migrants, with inadequate oversight by regulators."
Tags: building; homes; construction; Latino; Hispanic; immigrants; illegal; inspection; workers; migrants; Florida; subcontractors; Mexicans; engineering; homeowner; builder; CAR
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Professor Peter Ray; Love Nest at Love Hall
The Ledger exposes wrongdoing by Dr. Peter Ray, a meteorology professor at Florida State University. The first story sheds light on misuse of public money for a hurricane research truck requested by the professor. The rest of the series reports on married Ray's pattern of sexually harassing students and colleagues at FSU. Although five women accused him of harassment and he admitted having a relationship with 19-year-old student Melissa Sanders, Allen reports, the university finds no wrongdoing, but takes away his department chairmanship. The stories include copies of the professor's archived e-mails to the student.
Tags: budget; sexual harassment; higher education; women; sexual affair; Doppler; weather experts
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Seeking the Shade
The Chronicle of Higher Education investigates violations of the Alabama sunshine law by public university boards in the state. The story details circumstances surrounding multiple closed meetings of officials at Auburn University, the University of Alabama and the University of West Alabama. The report also details lawsuits alleging violations of state freedom of information acts that are pending against public colleges or public college foundations in Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri. In Arizona, Florida and New Jersey public college lobbyists have managed to curtail or limit the expansion of open-records or open-meeting laws.
Tags: FOIA; lobbyists; lobbying; media; universities; colleges; higher education; press; journalists; SPJ; disclosure; First Amendment; legislature; newspapers
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Betrayal of Trust?
The Chronicle of Higher Education examines the reasons for the "perception, held by some, that American colleges and universities are hooked on securing money at any cost." The story focuses on a controversial act of Iowa State University, which violated a deceased widow's wishes by selling instead of maintaining 240 acres of land received under the widow's will. The article also looks at the misspending of millions of dollars left to the University of Florida foundation by a wealthy supporter, and reveals "wide-spread abuses by fund raisers for California State University at Fullerton."
Tags: universities; higher education; fund-raising; gifts; foundations; public interest; scholarships; finance; money; wills
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Police Corps
"The enemy: rising crime in urban America, coupled with police brutality and corruption. The man with answer: a former Robert F. Kennedy aide who had turned crime crusader. Eventually heeding the constant lobbying of Adam Walinsky, Congress finally created the Police Corps training program to create an elite generation of sophisticated, college-educated officers. But with lax oversight at the U.S. Department of Justice, state and federal program administrators relied on Walinsky for guidance. The result: a rogue program that after $54 million had put only 246 cops on the street. What's more, Walinsky's influence took a controversial path of militaristic, boot-vamp style of training, including sleep deprivation, Hell Week endurance tests and live-fire over cadets' heads."
Tags: police training; FOIA; criminal justice; Florida State University; university graduates into neighborhood cops; Outward Bound training style; character; commando; ROTC for police; sleep deprivation; National Institute on Justice
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1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape
The 1995 IRE TV Award Winners and FinalistsTape is a compilation of 5 investigative stories. 1.) "No Place Like Home," Prime Time Live, ABC News. Hidden cameras captured problems with in-home care including poor supervision, verbal and physical abuse, caretakers watching over far too many children and, ultimately, state inspectors who failed to act. See # 12920. 2.) "The Worst Nightmare," 60 Minutes, CBS News. Real evidence that Russian organized crime in conjunction with at least one senior official of the Yelstin government, had moved into the potentially lucrative area of nuclear smuggling. See # 12836. 3.) "Marks Travels" KCTV, Kansas City, MO. A highly paid school superintendent, who supposedly had a chronic back problem, took a lenghty medical leave. He was caught lugging furniture into his new home in Florida and questioned about his district spending habits. See # 12830. 4.) "Last Rights," WSMV, Nashville. For the last two decades, the University of Tennessee has been using dead bodies in experiments on human decay, without the knowledge of family members. The practice was suspended immediately after the report. See # 12756. 5.) "Guardian's Grasp." WXYZ, Detroit. A guardianship company exploited the elderly it was supposed to protect. Among other things, it sold a client's home for $500 to the mother of an employee, frauded Medicare and overcharged on accounting fees. See # 12805.
Tags: TAPE; daycare; in-home care; ire.
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The High-Risk Prepaid Tuition Plan.
The popular plan, along with Florida's low education funding and cheap tuition, is locking state colleges and universities in a lethal spiral of mediocrity. A deadly combo: low state funding and cheap tuition.
Tags: education; school; tuition; college; university; enroll; student; grades.
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No title (id: 10562)
US News & World Report finds that two researchers have reached different conclusions about the dangers of owning a gun. Prof. Gary Kleck, a professor at Florida State University says that evidence shows that people use guns to defend themselves successfully; Dr. Arthur Kellerman, a physician at Emory unioversity's School of Public Health says his studies show that guns in the home pose more danger to the ownets. The article examines both sides of the issue and surveys the opinions of Americans on gun ownership. Another article takes a look at the rise of citizen militias across the country in response to efforts at gun control.
Tags: Guns; Research; Crime; Brady bill; NRA