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 "GIS" ...
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"Racial disparities in home lending"
A 2008 analysis of more than half a million home loan applications in the Dayton, Ohio, region revealed that blacks with higher incomes were denied home loans, while lower-income whites were not. The report also found that blacks were more likely to receive "high-cost loans" than whites. The real estate market denies redlining practices that were made illegal "in 1977 by the federal Community Reinvestment Act."
Tags: Home Mortgage Disclosure Act; NICAR; GIS; Community Reinvestment Advisory Group; Dean Lovelace; Dayton Human Relations Commission; Federal Housing Authority; home loans; redlining
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In the Danger Zone
"This series revealed how seriously inaccurate federal flood maps for coastal Alabama have contributed to hurricane flood losses, encouraged unsafe construction, and influenced people to forego flood insurance." FEMA’s flood maps drastically underestimate the reality of coastal flooding in large areas of Alabama; the author used GIS to show that floods in the area are six to nine times more frequent than federal predictions.
Tags: environment; hurricane; GIS; FEMA: disaster relief; insurance; mapping
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Peoria Selected Storm Ready
Okeson looked at how adequately Peoria County, Ill., was covered by tornado sirens. She found that the sirens covered census blocks for all but about 5,400 people in the country, or about three percent of Peoria County residents.
Tags: tornadoes; natural disasters; Peoria County; ArcGIS
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Wildfires' Echoes: Developing in the Danger Zone
The authors looked at where new single-family home building permits were issued in the wake of the 2003 wildfires in San Bernadino and Riverside counties. The investigation revealed that several thousand permits were issued in areas considered a high fire threat.
Tags: wildfires; environment; safety; fire; development; home building; city government; building permits; zoning; data analysis; CAR; mapping; GIS
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Suburban money fuels mayor's race in St. Paul
The authors used computer assisted reporting to map out where campaign donations for the 2005 St. Paul mayoral election were coming from. They found that the largest proportion of contributions came from people in the suburbs rather than the city.
Tags: elections; campaign donations; mapping; GIS; CAR; data analysis; voters; city government
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Flood Threat
The authors found that 30,000 homes in San Joaquin County, CA were built in areas prone to flooding. Furthermore, the levees protecting the homes are unstable and insufficient.
Tags: flooding; water damage; GIS; FEMA; mapping; Army Corp of Engineers
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Unnatural Disasters
This investigation began with the deaths of sixteen people who were killed when heavy rains caused an avalanche of mud and rock in the San Bernadino Mountains. The report found that corrupt politicians carelessly put thousands of lives at risk by pushing for development in areas prone to floods and fires. The report looks at the corrupt political history that resulted in the current situation, as well as potential problems that could occur in the future. As more and more people move into the San Bernadino-Riverside area, the risk of future disasters becomes even greater.
Tags: park rangers; forest fires; natural disaster; California Inland Empire; Army Corp of Engineers
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Scarce Goods: Justice, Fairness and Organ Transplantation
Koch's book examines the origins of scarcity of blood and graft organs. The main finding is that the problem has existed at least since a famous legal case of U.S. v. Holmes, 1842, which dealt wit the question of lifeboat ethics - "who should die so that others might survive?" Koch looks at the lifeboat ethics' modern application to the distribution of transplantable organs. Using mapping software, the author reveals that "the scarcity of organs is exacerbated, where not created, by racial and regional inequalities inherent in the American health care and transplant system."
Tags: BOOK; Department of Health and Human Services; United Network for Organ Sharing; race; ethnicity; minorities; National Organ Transplant Act; justice; poverty; health insurance; GIS
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Mapping Finds Its Way to the Mainstream
The Los Angeles Times reports that "...GIS has been around for decades... But until recently computer mapping has been an expensive tool for large corporate and government organizations....All that is beginning to change, however, spurred by simpler, cheaper software and data, as well as the rapid growth of the Internet...."
Tags: GIS; Microsoft; competitive strategy; business; Spatial Data Infrastructure Initiative; EPA; NOAH; ESRI
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Mapping Every Structure in an Enormous Park
The New York Times reports that "... staff members from Fairmount Park Historic Preservation Trust, a nonprofit agency dedicated to preservation and planning, began working with employees of the Fairmount Park Commission, a governing body that oversees the park operations, and the city to create a comprehensive inventory of everything with a roof (or that should have a roof) in the park system by using Geographic Information System software made by ERSI..... Technology is now mixing with history to address some of the problems the park system presents..."
Tags: GIS; historical preservation; grants