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 "Texas Public Information Act" ...
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"DWI Death Capital"
KHOU-TV set out to answer a frightening question: Why is Harris County, Texas "the DWI death capital of the country?" Employees of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission revealed "little-known amendments" that offer immunity to bars and bartenders "from civil liability" or "state administrative action" that could result from the state law that prevents over-serving alcohol.
Tags: Safe Harbor; TABC; Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission; dram shop; liquor distributors; drunk driving; bartender; public records; Texas Public Information Act; Harris County
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Crossing the Line
"We're coming after you." That was the Houston Police Chief's message to thieves when he launched the elite, $5 million a year Crime Reduction Unit. The problem? Some of the department's own officers alleged "we're coming after you" meant violating citizens' rights and search and seizure laws to build flimsy cases and rack up arrest numbers that ultimately did little to fight crime. KHOU-TV identified how CRU officers routinely stopped, handcuffed and interrogated citizens for petty infractions such as jaywalking or riding a bicycle without a light. The vast majority of the time these citizens were let go, but if police did make an arrest, it was usually for trace levels of drugs, which often resulted in plea bargain prosecutions for minimal jail sentences. One veteran defense attorney described the CRU as nothing more than "a mill to get convictions."
Tags: Houston; Texas; law enforcement; arrest; Texas Public Information Act; Crime Reduction Unit
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Crime Doesn't Pay (Back)
A look into court-ordered restitution in Texas reveals that in the last five years, more than 90 percent of parolees still owe their victims money. In fact, only 5.3 percent of the $435 million in restitution that Texas parolees were ordered to pay in those five years has ever been collected. The state does nothing to attempt to collect the money from these people once they are discharged from the system.
Tags: Restitution payments; court-ordered restitution; Texas; parolees; Texas Public Information Act; City of Houston
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Prisoners Best Friend
Reporters Todd Bensman and Robert Riggs from CBS-11 News, Dallas, investigated tips that State Representative Terri Hodge solicited campaign contributions from inmates families in return for intervening in their loved ones' cases. Not all those campaign contributions were reported. Bensman and Riggs found over 60 instances where Rep. Hodge obtained confidential prison files under a legislative privilege designed to assist in law-making. "As a legislator, Hodge served on the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee and frequently sat in on hearings before the COrrections COmmittee, which oversees the Texas Prison system. In her role, Hodge had power over budgets and prison jobs."
Tags: Terri Hodge; campaign contributions; parole board; disciplinary refractions; influence; victims rights groups; Texas Public Information Act; Texas Inmate Families Association; TIFA; legislative privilege; campaign finance reports; Texas Criminal Jurisprudence Committee; Texas Department of Criminal Justice; TDCJ; Texas Corrections Committee; Justice for All; Texas Ethics Commission
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A Stunning Toll
Fort Worth Weekly partnered with University of North Texas students who made open records requests of all Texas law enforcement agencies to obtain data on deaths and injuries in Texas resulting form law enforcement agency individual's Taser use.
Tags: Distributed Reporting Project; FOI; Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas; University of North Texas; UNT; Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism; Tasers; law enforcement; Texas Public Information Act; police; sheriffs; Taser International; American Civil Liberties Union; Live Music Capitol of the World; Austin; use-of-force policy; bean hole; stun gun; product safety; wrongful death; Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas; Those Disgruntled Motherfuckers That Have Been Tased; TDMTHBT; Light of Day Project; IRE Student Entry
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Corruption at Dallas City Hall
The authors investigated a corruption scandal at Dallas City Hall. The investigation commenced after FBI agents executed high profile search warrants on the city council offices, businesses, homes and vehicles. The FBI wasn't talking and neither were the two officials known to be the subjects of the raids. It fell to the press to explain the city's and FBI's activities.
Tags: corruption; FBI; search warrants; covert operation; lobbying; city council; Dallas City Hall; Texas Public Information Act
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Bad Doctors
A Dallas Morning News investigation reveals that the Texas medical board allowed felons to continue practicing as doctors, and let thousands of alleged malpractice cases involving patient death pile in closets and cabinets.
Tags: Texas Public Information Act; sexual misconduct; disciplinary actions; fraud; medical examiners; licences
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Collapse of control
The Star-Telegram reports on "construction irregularities, shoddy oversight and waste of taxpayer funds that have riddled the Fort Worth school district for five years." Some of the findings are that two of the school's contractors regularly overcharged for jobs; the district was paying twice for the same job, as its employees worked on projects that have already been awarded to contractors; at least ten projects skirted standard bidding practices; internal controls were not in place. To report the issue, the team built a database of invoices and purchase orders.
Tags: budget scandals; finances; building codes; Texas public Information Act; FBI
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Cell Extractions
A KTVT-TV investigation exposes "the violent way some correction officers handle inmates in North Texas jails." The investigation dociments the "overuse of pepper mace and excessive force," and details a case, when an inmate "died at the hands of the correction officers." The story features a letter from an Amnesty International expert, "stating the treatment of the inmates ... was tantamount to to torture and cruel punishment."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Texas Public Information Act: jails; criminal justice system; Tarrant; Denton; Dallas
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Unequal Justice
A Star-Telegram three-part series reveals that in Tarrant county, Texas, "people who can't afford their own attorneys are much more likely to receive a jail or prison sentence than people who pay for their own lawyers, even among defendants with similar criminal histories." The reporters examine more than 10, 500 court records and find numerous cases of innocent people, spending months in prison, because they can't afford to pay an experienced attorney. The investigation also shows that poor are more vulnerable to death penalty. "The findings reveal a system in which poor defendants must stay in jail because they can't afford bail or an attorney; low compensation leads many top defense attorneys to avoid court appointed cases, leaving defendants with inexperienced lawyers; rules for providing lawyers to the poor differ from judge to judge."
Tags: Texas Public Information Act; crime; wrongful convictions; death penalty; lawyers