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 "Philip Meyer Award" ...
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Lobbying Disclosure and Financial Bailout
Narayanswamy went line by line through the reported contributions to nonprofit organizations that honor members of Congress made by lobbyists. She found that the contributions were numerous and that incumbents received the most. However lobbyists also contributed to new candidates.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award entry; lobbyist; politics; money; campaign finance; Congress; Mark Warner; Jeanne Shaheen; John Sununu; Federal Election Commission
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Protect Yourself Online
Package of stories: "Protect Yourself Online", "7 Online Blunders", "ID Leaks", and "Security Software." These stories investigate the current state of Internet safety, including its impact on the public, as well as highlighting the newest threats and what is being done to fight them. The package of articles found that American consumers lose about $8.5 billion to e-mail scams, that such scams remain a serious threat, and analyzed recent ID breaches.
Tags: online security; ID breaches; e-mail scams; consumer affairs; consumer advocacy
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Free to Flee
For years in many states "fugitives have been let go by police, only to victimize more people. Between crimes, fugitives have used their real identities to get new drivers licenses in new states. Some have registered with police as sex offenders and still avoided arrest...The lapses mean hundreds of thousands of felony fugitives can run - and they don't need to hide."
Tags: Philip Meyer Award; felons; police; crime; warrants; St. Louis; database
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Code 3
"'Code 3,' a two-day series that focused on ambulance delays in San Francisco, provided a rare glimpse inside an inherently complex and often secretive bureaucracy." Findings included: 439 people died while waiting for the ambulance to arrive; in 27 percent of high-priority medical calls, first responders failed to meet the city's time standard; and the city's 911 call center was the weakest link.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award; ambulance; response time; 911; Fire Department; Department of Emergency Management; death; medicine;
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Kwame Kilpatrick: A Mayor in Crisis
The Free Press's investigation into Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick exposed "public corruption at the highest levels of government in America's 11th largest city. Schaefer and Elrick's reporting revealed that Kilpatrick and his top aide lied under oath during a police whistle-blower trial and sought to cover up those lies by brokering a secret $8.4 million settlement paid for with the taxpayers dollars."
Tags: FOIA; tax corruption; fraud; Philip Meyer Award; 2009 Pulitzer Prize: Local Reporting
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The Taxman and the Truth
This investigation explores Texas' high property taxes, which are based on valuation of land by a government appraiser. The investigation reveals that appraisals are often made with incomplete data about home prices in the area. Consequently, appraisal values are often off by as much as ten percent and sometimes more.
Tags: real estate; property tax; local government; state government; housing
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Saving Babies: Exposing Sudden Infant Death in America
Hargrove, Hoffman, and Bowman reviewed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's records and found "inaccurate diagnoses of sudden infant deaths throughout America...The study found that states with multiple levels of Child Death Review boards are much more likely to detect infant homicides and accidental asphyxiations than states with little or no such review."
Tags: children; babies; death; mortality; CDC; beds; California; Florida; sleeping environments; Sudden Infant Death Syndrome;
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Fatal Failures
"The Star was the first newspaper to discover the extent of the problem of airbags not deploying in frontal crashes. The newspaper also found that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was doing little to protect the public."
Tags: airbags; transportation; automobile safety; National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
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Too Tough? Tactics in Suburban Policing
Some police departments in the Philadelphia area have been recording some of the highest arrest rates in American for minor offenses. These towns are mostly white, and the high number of arrests are made up overwhelmingly of African Americans. Legal experts say some of the arrests are unconstitutional. Furthermore, the towns with the highest arrest rates have actually seen crime go up, not down.
Tags: police; arrest; demographic; racial profiling; public records
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School Bus Breakdown
This investigative series found that South Carolina owns and operates the oldest, least safe, and most polluting school bus fleet in the country. The investigation also addressed the state's failure to mandate a school bus replacement age.
Tags: education; safety; transportation; buses; schools; school districts