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 "Iowa" ...
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Trouble on the Land
The story examines a massive agricultural project in Tanzania involving an Iowa-based company called AgriSol Energy. The investigation found tens of thousands of refugees living on the land AgriSol planned to farm -- land the company claimed was vacant.
Tags: refugees; agriculture; Tanzania; AgriSol
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Left for Dead
A woman who “allegedly hoarded and killed more than a dozen dogs at her animal rescue” was never convicted for the crime. Her court date was postponed for a number of times and now she can’t be found as she runs from the law. Many people donated money to her rescue initiative and families donated their pets for her to find good homes for, but later found out about their help was a waste.
Tags: Eastern Iowa; Waggin' Tails; Michele Kintzer; sheriff; law enforcement; police; state officials; Hardin County; evidence
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The Siren Song of Alcohol
Iowa City, home to the University of Iowa, is facing a staggering upward trend of alcohol-related injury. Ambulance calls taking place at night and early morning hours are consuming and straining city emergency medical response resources. Binge drinking, drunk driving, and blacking out have all on the rise over the last five years.
Tags: drunk; drinking; alcohol; Iowa City; University of Iowa; binge; ambulance; injury; blackout; driving; intoxication; strain; resources; emergency; violence; deaths;
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"E-scam nation still thriving"
An e-mail scam promising University of Iowa students several hundred dollars a week for online employment invaded the inboxes of more than 21,000 student in January 2009. Xin Feng, a recipient of the e-mail, purposefully accepted the fraudulent offer to learn more about the scam and trace its source.
Tags: scam; spam; e-mail; university of iowa; e-scam; internet; fraud; online
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Postville Series
Postville, Iowa lost a third of its population on May 12, 2008 when the Dept. of Homeland Security raided a kosher meat-packing plant that resulted in nearly 400 undocumented workers were detained.
Tags: false identity; illegal immigrant; green card; Agriprocessors; St. Bridget's Catholic Church; union;
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Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
This fourteen-part investigative series revealed how a prostitution and human trafficking ring could flourish in rural Iowa towns. The series also details the story of one 13-year-old runaway Minnesota girl was entrapped in the ring and was forced into prostitution. A ring operator, who was being beaten by her live-in boyfriend, helped rescue the girl from prostitution and helped her make her way to safety. Law enforcement officials first missed opportunities to help this girl and break the ring. But they finally solved who was behind the ring and assisted in a dozen human trafficking convictions.
Tags: human trafficking; sex abuse; prostitution; kidnapping; court hearings; Iowa; sex workers
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Agriprocessors and Beyond: Inside the Kosher Meat Industry
This series of articles looked inside the kosher meat industry, a quietly guarded world worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The reporting began two years ago when the Forward's Nathaniel Popper wrote about the working conditions at the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse, Agriprocessors, in Postville, Iowa, setting off a wide-ranging debate in Jewish community. The paper has continued to follow the problems at Agriprocessors and reported early in 2008 on the debate withing the kosher industry about a widely used but apparently cruel method of kosher slaughter known as shackled and hoist. Then, in the middle of the year, federal agents, citing the Forward's reporting raided the Agriprocessors' plant in Iowa. Since the raid, the Forward has followed each legal development, but has also reported on elements of the story that were being overlooked. The first such article detailed the way in which Agriprocessors had handled immigrants and unions at its Brooklyn warehouse-sparking a case that went to the Supreme Court. The next set of articles investigated the working conditions in the rest of the kosher eat industry, with particular attention paid to the labor battles at Agriprocessors' biggest competitor, Alle Processing, which had been completely ignored. The article and chart on industry-wide conditions were the first effort to systematically set down the relative size and production of the major players in the kosher meat industry. The Forward also wrote a lengthy report on the immigrant workers from Agriprocessors who had been released from prison and ordered to testify in federal court against their supervisors, but were given no means to support themselves before the hearing date. After Agriprocessors declared bankruptcy, the Forward reported on the unnoticed consequences for the town and its inhabitants, from the lowly turkeys to the local bankers.
Tags: meat processing; kosher meat; agriculture; Agriprocessors; meatpacking; immigrant workers
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University of Iowa Sexual Assault Investigation
The Press-Citizen takes a look at how the University of Iowa handled an alleged sexual assault by football players at one of the university's residence halls. Access to information of the case details were withheld by the university from the publication.
Tags: rape; athletic department; Hawkeye; Kirk Ferentz; athletes; open records request; UI;
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Who Deserves to Drive
This story revealed that thousands of Iowa driver’s licenses were suspended because of unpaid court fines. This story explores the impact of suspended licenses on drivers, the state and insurance companies. The story also delves into key problems that obstruct the collections process from moving forward effectively.
Tags: driving; transportation; roads; courts; state government; department of transportation
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The Foundation
This series focused on a little-known network of privately run government contractors called "quality improvement organizations," or QIOs, that collectively spend about 300 million tax dollars annually. This story focused on an Iowa QIO, but included an on-line report that detailed the spending and complain investigations at every other QIO in America. That report was based on a review of more than 200 public documents.
Tags: tax dollars; state government; oversight; Medicare