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 "Hillsborough" ...
-
"Full Disclousure"
In this investigation, ABC Action News revealed a political scandal the included a county commissioner and candidate for the state senate. Commissioner Jim Norman failed to disclose several personal properties, including two boats and a lake front vacation home. As a result of the investigation, Norman was removed from the state senate race.
-
Buddy Johnson series
Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson was scrutinized for flawed elections occurring in Hillsborough County since he was elected in 2004. Precincts moved without notifying the voters and votes were lost do to poorly trained workers.
Tags: election chief; campaign; candidate; voting polls; tax bills;
-
Expressway Authority Investigation
This series investigated the Tampa-Hillsborough County Expressway Authority, which prompted an investigation by Governor Jeb Bush's office, an investigation by the Florida Legislature's Auditor General and an ongoing investigation by the FBI.
Tags: transportation; highway; political scandal; politicians; lobbyists; special interests; state government; Hillsborough County Florida
-
Hillsborough County School District Land Investigation
The ninth largest U.S. school district, Hillsborough County (FL), in 2006 was "growing fast enough to fill five new schools" per year. To meet the demand, Hillsborough county used the services of 4 private real estate brokers, without using bids, in violation of its own regulations. Three of the four brokers have records of criminal, legal and financial problems. Some of those brokers simultaneously represented the sellers, or flipped the land themselves, resulting in land purchases often made substantially above appraisal values. Reporters from the St. Petersburg Times documented swampland purchases, and school sites surrounded by the homes of sexual predators.
Tags: land; school board; school district superintendent; real estate brokers; realtors; swampland; bidding practices; state FOI; land flipping; rezoning applications; condemnation; assessments; appraisals; financial investigations; land records; wetland maps; FBI investigation; Florida Department of Law Enforcement; Excel; Matthew B. Cox; Chester B. Luney; Fred Edmister; National Realty Associates; school planning; Wilson-Miller; Florida Real Estate Commission; 2606 East Caracus Land Trust; Laurence E. Fuentes; Fuentes and Kreischer Title Co.; Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
-
Failed 9-1-1
A 19 year old Hillsborough County youth died from an asthma attack because an enhanced 9-1-1 system, required by law and paid for by customers, was not in place. The authors also found that the fire rescue back-up systems were not in place.
Tags: emergency services; Hillsborough County; public safety; enhanced 9-1-1 system
-
Firefighters' time-off scam
This investigation exposed a firefighter who paid other people to work in his place while he ran a side business of phone solicitation for donations to firefighting causes. He only donated a small percentage of the collected proceeds.
Tags: firefighting; firefighters; fraud; absenteeism; public employees; Hillsborough County
-
Bus Stop ADA
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency thumbed its nose at the Americans with Disabilities Act, until we found a wheelchair bound bus rider putting his life on the line to flag down a bus. County commissioners were appalled and demanded change.
Tags: Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Agency; HARTline; Americans with disabilities Act; Federal law violations; bus services; bus stops
-
Blurring the lines
Education Weeks looks at Hillsborough County, Florida, which has "forged one of the nation's coziest school-police partnerships in a place where once turf-conscious agencies now stay in close touch."
Tags: schools; police; juvenile offenders; school-police partnerships; juvenile records; criminal history; juvenile delinquents; Juvenile Assessment Center; young offenders
-
To Protect and Serve?
WFTS-TV investigates a case where "two Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies respond to a scene where they are told about a woman who is being beaten inside her apartment by an estranged boyfriend. Because the apartment complex was inside Tampa city limits, the deputies stood outside the woman's door and told security guards to call the Tampa police department instead. Police officers arrived, pushed past the deputies and kicked in the woman's door to find her unconscious and bleeding from the head."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Hillsborough County; Tampa; Florida; police; law enforcement; city limits; sheriff; Tampa police department
-
Nepotism: A Family Affair
WFTS-TV exposes how "Gary Pailthorp, a top administrator of one of Florida's largest counties, Hillsborough, flagrantly breaks state law and engineers a high paying management job for his unqualified son, Scott Pailthorp." The story shows several other cases in which county jobs have been taken by relatives of county government power players.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; FOI; conflicts of interest; Florida State Ethics Commission; personnel records; human resources