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 "New Jersey" ...
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Pension Madness
In "Pension Madness," New Jersey Watchdog exposes systematic state pension abuses in New Jersey. The report documents 170 "retired" public officials who collectively pocket $12 million a year in retirement pay in addition to their current salaries.
Tags: Pension; New Jersey; State Pension
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Struggling to Understand
The story takes an investigative look at the personal struggles of the recent suicide victims in a small seaside New Jersey town and examined how the school and community at large responded to what is for New Jersey an unprecedented public health crisis. While each case involved a unique set of circumstances, the reporters found that a history of mentalillness, alcohol and drug abuse -- and a community all to willing to turn a blind eye to teen substance abuse -- played a role in the majority of the deaths.
Tags: suicide; mental illness; drug abuse; youth suicide
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Radioactive Waste Leaking into Ground Water
The Asbury Park Press found that millions of gallons of radioactive water have leaked from nuclear power plants in the U.S. since the 1970s, threatening water supplies in New Jersey and other states. But the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has never fined a violator. The Press also found that major leaks have increased in recent years, nearly all nuclear power plants have leaked radioactive titrium, most plants hvae had more than one titrium leak, and esseentially all plants have leaked or spilled radioactive material.
Tags: radioactive waste; power plant; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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Toxic Landscape: A Neighborhood In Peril
The Record's three-part series "Toxic Landscape: A Neighborhood In Peril" chronicles 30 years of poor decisions, lax enforcement, and bureaucratic indifference by the New Jersey Department of Enviromental Protection that lead to an entire Garfield, N.J. neighborhood becoming a Superfund site last year.
Tags: New Jersey Department of Enviromental Protection; Posion; Garfield; New Jersey
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No Show Policing
The police chief of one of New Jersey's largest cities billed taxpayers for tens of thousands of dollars a year for off-duty "detail work", much of which was never actually performed. Subsequent reporting uncovered that a handful of influential officers, including the heads of both police unions, also enriched themselves in this way. Police records were also so sloppy that it appears taxpayers paid some officers double for working (or, in some cases, not working) the exact same hours.
Tags: taxpayers; police; off-duty; News Jersey
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Breaking Point: Personal tales of New Jersey's tax crush
This investigation into New Jersey's highest-in-the-nation property tax system found that it is forcing people out of their homes, fueling the big business of tax lien sales, forcing homeowners to pay billions in extra taxes because of the faulty assessment system. Loopholes in the law allow billionaires and land developers to get a 98 percent tax break.
Tags: tax liens; property tax; tax loopholes; tax breaks; tax rates; assessments
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Toxic Landscape
The series examines the contamination left behind by dirty industries and illegal dumping in New Jersey.
Tags: environment; toxic; contamination; pollution; pollute
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"Barnegat Bay Under Stress"
This series of stories investigates the gradual demise of Barnegat Bay, the "largest coastal estuary" in New Jersey. Reporters found that thousands of pounds of fertilizer and other "land-borne pollution" is flowing into the bay. The investigative series resulted in Gov. Chris Christie shutting down a nearby nuclear power plant and earmarking millions of dollars for "special environmental control funding."
Tags: Gov. Chris Christie; pollution; wildlife; stormwater; Oyster Creek; nuclear power plant; estuary; fertilizer; jellyfish; Ocean Gate; Toms River; EPA
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Special Care, Unknown Costs
The series took gave readers a look inside New Jersey's special education system. It's findings show how there is no one held accountable when students in the system fall through the cracks.
Tags: Special Education; bureaucracy; autism; accountability; disabilities
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Strong at Any Cost
The investigation examines the use of anabolic steroids and human growth hormone prescribed to law enforcement officers and firefighters in New Jersey. The authors discovered how easy it was for hundreds of law enforcement officers in New Jersey to obtain the drugs and found that in most cases they were paying for the drugs under their government health plans.
Tags: law enforcement; steroids; human growth hormone; drugs; perscription drugs