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 "NICAR" ...
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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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Mortgage Meltdown
WMAR predicted the subprime mortgage crisis that began in 2007 after doing an in depth CAR analysis of the Maryland's mortgage data. With this data they created a map of "foreclosure hotspots," predicted minorities would be the worse hit, and much more.
Tags: subprime mortgage; housing; Maryland; foreclosure; minorities; loans; mortgage; computer assisted reporting; NICAR; federal government; state government
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Sept 11 - Lax loans
The governments $5 billion effort to help small businesses recover from the Sept 11 attacks was so loosely managed that it gave low-interest loans to companies that didn't need terrorism relief - or even know they were getting it.
Tags: 9/11; World Trade Center attacks; federal loans; small business loans; FOIA; NICAR; Small Business Administration; disaster loans
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A widening gap
"Twenty-five percent of Minnesota's bridges and 28 percent of North Dakota's bridges are older than their designed life span of 50 years... Across the United States, one bridge in nine needs to be replaced." Federal funds are available once a bridge scores a sufficiency rating of less than 50 (out of one hundred.) In the Grand Forks area, aging bridges pose a problem for farmers who can't move new, heavy farm machinery across them to their farms. Another issue is the fact that even though federal funds are available for as much as 80 percent of the cost of a replacement bridge, often poor counties have trouble paying the balance.
Tags: transportation; roads; safety; inspections; North Dakota Department of Transportation; Minnesota; weight limits; Red River Valley; engineers; CAR
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Park it where the sun don't shine
KOMU found that the odds of getting a parking ticket in Columbia on a day with even the slightest amount of precipitation (.01 inches or more) are about half what they are on a perfectly sunny day, and the odds plummet as the weather worsens.