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 "Lunch" ...
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Trouble on the Tray
This series found problems in the federal, state, and local programs that supplied food to the nation’s schoolchildren. Some of the major findings: beef supplied for school lunches wouldn’t pass at national fast-food restaurants, chicken found at schools is only quality enough for pet food, supplied recalled beef to schools, failed to inform schools of bad tortillas, and many schools lacked the two inspections per year.
Tags: Food safety; Schoolchildren; Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Schools; Cafeteria; Government; Lunch; Beef; Children; Food; Bad food; E. coli
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Watching the Watchdogs
The story documented how six tax investigators for the city of Pittsburgh were failing to do their job. Instead of looking for deadbeat businesses, they were shopping, taking four-hour lunch breaks or simply going home. Moreover, some of them got reimbursed for mileage on the days they were not working. Their jobs are especially critical in difficult financial times, when Pittsburgh is under state oversight because of its poor finances. The story had added weight because this was not an isolated case of one or two employees; the entire department has only eight tax investigators and this investigation found six of them goofing off.
Tags: tax investigators; Pittsburgh; misconduct; city government;
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I Lit the Fire: Jared Petrovich Admits His Role in the Killing of John Chamberlain. But why did he target the gay?
These four articles probed the culture of violence at tTheo Lacy Men's Jail in Orange, CA, beginning with an exclusive interview of Jared Petrovich, the accuse ringleader of the Oct. 5, 2006 murder of John Chamberlain, an inmate suspected of child molestation who was brutally beated inside the jail. That story included combined interviews with Petrovich and other inmates and guards at the facility with transcripts and notes of interviews with inmates and guards that the reporter obtained from lawyers representing inmates, including Petrovich, who were charged in the attack. The article contained allegations that Deputy Kevin Taylor, a prison guard who was never charged in the crime, told Petrovich that Chamberlain was a child molester, and that Taylor routinely use inmates like Petrovich to enforce prison rules and mete out punishment to various inmates. Petrovich provided an example of this behavior that I did not include in my original story, alleging that Taylor had known about--and approved--a previous beating of an inmate in Sept. 2006. He only knew the inmate's first name--Mark--but claimed the inmate had been a guitarist for the rock band Kiss. He claimed another inmate, nicknamed "Sick Dog" had witnessed Taylor being informed of the planned attack and, after it was carried out, rewarding the inmates with sack lunches. Through a California Public Records Act request, the reporter obtained the Sheriff Department's jail file on the beaten inmate, Mark Leslie Norton, aka Mark St. John of the rock band Kiss, and found information which corroborated Petrovich's account of the incident, and obtained his death certificate. St. John died of a brain hemorrhage several months after being released.
Tags: prison beatings; rock band Kiss; California; prisoner brutality; bribe; prison regulation
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Free Lunch
Free Lunch is "an expose of hidden and subtle government policies that take from the many to give to the few. It explains why a quarter century of economic growth has not been matched by rising incomes, except for those at the very top."
Tags: government spending; economy; economics; wealthy; incomes; salaries
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Housing Authority Drinkers
The Executive Director and the Director of Maintenance at the federally funded Millville Housing Authority were caught by Fox Undercover team drinking alcohol at lunch and after work and then driving their taxpayer leased vehicles.
Tags: housing authority; employees; drinking; alcohol; driving; taxpayer; undercover; hidden camera
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It's Just Lunch - Or Is It
The San Diego-based dating service "It's Just Lunch" and its 80 franchises worldwide sell themselves as a "specialized dating service for busy professionals." But the company does not fulfill its promise of a love connection. Clients pay $1,500 for up to 14 dates - "usually for lunch or cocktails after work" - that are supposed to be chosen by the company based on specific criteria provided by the clients. The reporters spoke with more than 30 consumers and former employees who painted a picture of a company that inflates the number and quality of its clients, and also refuses to give refunds when clients are unsatisfied.
Tags: Dating services; fraud; It's Just Lunch
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The Pull of Chance
A casual lunch with the county medical examiner leads this reporter to do a story on automobile safety. The reporter based on her conversation investigated a major glitch in seat belt mechanism. She found that in case of accidents, in some models of cars, the seat belt gets hooked with the seat lever throwing the person out of the vehicle through the rear.
Tags: automobile safety; automobiles; seat belts; wearing seat belts; accidents; paralysis due to automobile accident; safety in cars; seat lever
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What is being fed to schoolchildren?
Millions of American children get free or reduced lunch through a government program, but critics claim that some of the food, particularly meat, is contaminated.
Tags: food; school-lunch program; USDA; agriculture; sanitation violations; AMS; Agricultural Marketing Service; E.coli; meat inspection; contamination
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Is your kid failing lunch?
School lunches in America are rarely inline with USDA guidelnes and when they do the children rarely take advantage of the healthier choice.
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High School Series
The Buffalo News reports on public high schools' inequities that go beyond the expected differences stemming from a city or suburban location. The reporters analyzed state data on state aid and high school taxes, as well as a self-created database containing comparisons of about 40 criteria for 58 schools. The major findings include that some wealthy school districts are getting more state aid funds than they qualify for; that some of the school districts with the highest taxes have the most limited curriculums; and that the school district of the City of Buffalo suffers from lack of consolidation and the existence of too many schools.
Tags: FOI request; education; students; teachers; school lunches; municipalities; superintendants