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 "South Carolina" ...
-
Transportation Center Stalled at South Carolina State University
The series investigates where the $50 million in state and federal dollars went that had been given to build a new transportation center at South Carolina State University. With a vacant building site and no underway, school officials did not have an answer as to where the money went. The story prompted lawmakers to launch a formal investigation.
Tags: South Carolina State University; Transportation Center; watchdog; federal funds; Legislative Audit Council
-
"South Carolina Governor"
After news broke of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's affair with a woman living in Argentina, the AP immediately started investigating his travel habits. They found the governor often neglected to record flights to visit his mistress as "taxable benefits" and also ignored state rules and regulations by traveling extravagantly.
Tags: Mark Sanford; affair; Argentina; Jenny Sanford; Maria Belen Chapur; soul mate
-
Law and Disorder
This series revealed how criminals free on probation or parole in South Carolina kill, rob and rape all too often in a state where repeat offenders routinely are released into a system that is too under-manned and ill-equipped to maintain control.
Tags: probation agents; parole agents; criminals; repeat offenders; overcrowded prisons; probation violators; rehabilitation; prison inmates; jail; justice system; suspects; offenses; supervised release
-
The Mercury Connection
"The Mercury Connection showed that people who live near mercury hotspots in South Carolina have unusually high levels of mercury in their bodies. The series showed how the state has done little or nothing to address mercury contamination in people."
Tags: mercury; pollution; contamination; poison; state government
-
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
-
Truth Be Tolled
An analysis of 23 modern toll road projects in Colorado, Texas and South Carolina "found that most badly missed revenue projections in their opening years, leading one to fail and others to either flee default or refinance at less favorable terms." The expected amount of traffic never materialized, causing the shortfall. Further, some of those responsible for the optimistic projections had a financial interest in seeing the roads completed.
Tags: Toll roads; infrastructure; Denver's Northwest Parkway; revenue shortfall
-
The Hunley: Government by Stealth
The Confederate submarine the Hunley has earned a storied place in South Carolina history, and has received a lot of attention since being raised in 2000. The State investigated the money spent for the preservation and promotion of the Hunley, and revealed the amounts of money spent in the name of this historic artifact, including $10.3 million earmarked to Clemson University to "build a remote campus around the conservation lab that is home to the Hunley submarine."
Tags: The Hunley; submarine; Civil War-era submarine; Confederate submarine; government funds; Clemson University
-
Power Trips
Medill students partnered with American Public Media and the Center for Public Integrity to examine travel taken by members of Congress and their staffers paid for with private dollars, largely by lobbyists. They expanded the publicly available database to include travel by staffers and travel though June 30, 2006. Reporters from Medill NewsService wrote over 30 stories based on the data. All the stories are included here.
Tags: ethics; congressional staffers; lobbyists; Alabama; California-Imperial Valley; Colorado; Connecticut; Florida; Indiana; Iowa; Massachusetts; Missouri; Mississippi; North Carolina; Oregon; Pennsylvania; Platts, South Carolina; Barney Frank; Washington; IRE Student Entry
-
Tarnished Badges
A loop hole in South Carolina law allows for law enforcement officers to continue working in the police force despite having a history of misconduct and criminal behaviors. Also the agency in charge of monitoring and disciplining the officers was discovered to be understaffed and underfunded.
Tags: police officers; law; law enforcement; discipline
-
Adoption deal questioned
The Star investigated the adoption of twins by Stephen F. Mellinger, a single New Jersey schoolteacher, who, through the Indiana-based Surrogate Mothers Inc., hired a woman in South Carolina to bear a child for him. Following the twins' premature birth in an Indianapolis hospital, it became clear that Mellinger was unequipped to care for them properly. The newspaper found information on Mellinger unknown to child-welfare officials, who were either unwilling or unable to travel out of state, persuaded a judge to reopen the case file, helped state officials find eight other interstate adoptions similar to this case and brought to light the need for greater oversight in surrogacy and adoption.
Tags: child welfare; interstate adoptions; Surrogate Mothers Inc.; surrogacy; CAR; Stephen Mellinger