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 "Growing Family" ...
-
More Than 1,500 Homocides Grow Cold in Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland has one of the nation's highest murder rates, and though the police department's clearance rates have improved in recent years, decades of solving less than half of the county's homocides has left thousands of family members still looking for justice for their slain loved ones.
Tags: Homocides; Prince George County; Murder Rate
-
Hard Driving: The Wendell Scott Story
"The book reports how Bill France's political and business alliances with influential segregationist politicians helped NASCAR to grow into the multi-billion-dollar, family-owned corporation that today controls one of the country's most popular sports."
Tags: NASCAR; Bill France, Sr.; Wendell Scott;
-
Corruption in the 2-million-member Service Employees
This investigation of the nation's fastest-growing labor union uncovered corruption in its largest California local as well as questionable financial practices at several affiliated organizations and its national headquarters. The stories revealed that the president of the California chapter - who represented nearly 200,000 working poor people, caregivers making about $9 an hour - had funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in dues money to himself his relatives, and spent similar sums on golf resorts, expensive restaurants and a Beverly Hills cigar lounge. They also showed that Tyrone Freeman misused two nonprofits for financial gain and political purposes, and that the head of the SEIU's largest Michigan local misappropriated funds from one of the charities. In addition, the stories reported that the SEIU's national office, while holding itself up as a model of reform, paid millions of dollars to consulting firms, nonprofits, and individuals with family ties and other personal connections to the union's top leaders.
Tags: Unions; SEIU; corruption; California; Michigan; Tyrone Freeman
-
Cuban Smugglers
"The lucrative but dangerous business of smuggling Cubans into the United States is highly organized and growing fast. It is financed mostly by Cuban-American families in South Florida and involves smugglers and financiers in the Miami area, along with arrangers and transporters in Cuba and Mexico." Coast Guards in the United States, Havana, and Cuba are "frustrated by what they see as a national security threat as hundreds of boats a year come from Florida to pick up passengers illegally on the Cuban coast."
Tags: Cuba; illegal immigrants; smuggling; Mexico; Havana; Florida
-
Wretched Excess
The story investigated the growing industry of municipal sewage sludge recycling, and particularly the practice of spreading sludge on farmland. The story followed a rancher who claims that sewage sludge made him and his family sick, and it reviews the case of a scientist who faced resistance at the EPA to his study of sludge health effects. It showed how science unfavorable to the sludge recyclers was suppressed by the EPA at the behest of the companies.
Tags: sludge; sewage sludge recycling; Environmental Protection Agency; environment; pollution; science; corruption
-
Mining Your Business
This story investigates how certain companies get access to personal information and use it to their advantage. Growing Family, the largest baby photo company in North America seizes personal information as soon as a baby is born and sells the personal information with other corporations. Most telemarketing companies get information in a similar manner.
Tags: personal information; Growing Family; baby photo company; telemarketing; private information
-
Prescription for Peril
"This series explored the growing number of young adults without medical insurance and the impact the lack of insurance had on their health, their finances, their families and the finances of those who have medical insurance coverage."
-
The Struggle Within Islam
Powell draws from all over the Islamic world for this story. It profiles the family of Mohammed Shakr, whose son is edging toward fundamentalism and jihad. Powell takes a look at the "civil war" that has raged within Islam for years, intesifying since 9/11. Powell finds that "the number of Muslims expounding radical beliefs is clearly growing; the global war on terrorism has fueled perceptions that Islam is under attack; and America's war in Iraq has made it more difficult for patient voices inside Islamic states to be heard."
Tags: Islam; Jihad; Muslim; Sunni; Shiite; Osama bin Laden; 9/11
-
Developmental Disability: Not All Children Grow Up and Move Away
The story was prompted by a lawsuit filed on behalf of seven families with developmentally disabled adult children. The article exposed the state imposed roadblocks that people with disabled children face once that child becomes an adult, including state budget shortfalls and what those numbers mean to the lives of every day people.
Tags: disabilities; Medicaid; ICF/ MR; Developmental Disabilities Services Act
-
Staying Home From School: Parents who choose to teach their children at home have traditionally done so for religious reasons. And many - indeed most- still do. But a growing number of home-schooling parents now point to a host of secular and practical reasons for opting out of school and taking education into their own hands.
More and more parents are opting to homeschool their children, but not for traditional reasons. This article explores the phenomenon by focusing on several families who homeschool for various reasons such as having very gifted children or living in rural areas.
Tags: homeschooling; education; unschooling; mental development; learning strategies