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 "USA" ...
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Green Inc., Environmentalism for Profit
With the groundbreaking series Green Inc., USA Today for the first time uncovers the truth behind the soaring movement toward constructing buildings that are certified as environmentally friendly. The series shows how "green" buildings often are barely different from their supposedly conventional counterparts -- except that green-building designers and owners often win huge tax breaks, zoning waivers and other valuable perks from government agencies. The series involves an unprecedented analysis of records for 7,100 green-certified buildings to show how the designers follow the easiest and cheapest steps to get certified. Numerous freedom-of-information requests revealed the enormous tax breaks awards to the building designers and owners, and also show how some buildings are falling far short of their environmental promise.
Tags: Environmental friendly; taxes; green buildings; certificated
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Locked up
A USA TODAY investigation found that the U.S. Justice Department was using its legal authority to decide who gets locked up for how long in ways that reward the guilty and punish the innocent. Our examination found that government lawyers were trying to keep dozens of men who they conceded were “legally innocent” imprisoned anyway. We found that the Justice Department had kept accused sexual predators locked up for years past the end of their prison sentences on the basis of faulty psychological assessments. And exposed a brazen pay-to-snitch enterprise that illustrated how the government rewards its informants — often hardened criminals — with shorter prison sentences.
Tags: U.S. Justice Department; lawyers; sexual predators; criminals; prison sentences
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Earmarks To Nowhere
Just when you thought you had read every outrageous story about congressional pork, last year USA TODAY revealed $13 billion in "orphan earmarks"- highway spending directed to pet projects but never spent. For states, this uncooked pork came at a tremendous cost: almost $7.5 billion of the earmarked money was taken directly out of the state's direct highway funding- meaning states literally lost billions they could have spent to improve or build bridges and highways.
Tags: pork barreling; earmarks; highway; money; orphan earmarks
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Testing The System
USA TODAY's "Testing the System" focused on mandated state standardized tests, and in particular, whether radical gains in scores in some schools or classrooms were real or the product of cheating.
Tags: Standardized tests; schools; classrooms; cheating; grades
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Earmarks to Nowhere
USA Today revealed $13 million in "orphan earmarks" in highway spending director to pet projects but never spent. In reaction, Congress demanded an accounting of the earmarks from the Obama Administration, and members of both parties quickly introduced bills to clean up the practice and require public disclosure unspent funds.
Tags: orphan earmarks; Congress
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Toxic Towns, USA
The story follows a woman and her fight for environmental justice in Mossville, a once-rural African-American community now surrounded by chemical plants.
Tags: Mossville; environmental justice; Dorothy Felix; cancer-causing chemical
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Made in the U.S.A.
Despite a U.S. embargo against Iran, hundreds of people and companies in the U.S. have been caught smuggling the goods to Iran. CBS shows how vast the underground smuggling network is and how smugglers are moving the weapons from the U.S. to Iran through third countries like Malaysia or Dubai.
Tags: Iran; embargo; weapon trade; underground; Malaysia; Dubai
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"NCAA - College Athletic Fees"
In this months-long report, USA Today analyzed hundreds of "financial reports" that college athletic programs are "required to release to the NCAA." They found that many schools are relying more on student fees to finance sports programs (without student's knowledge). The investigation also reveals a growing "unrest" at many universities in response to the financial "divide between sports and academics."
Tags: Football Bowl Subdivision; Coalition of Intercollegiate Athletics; Big East Conference; University of Cincinnati; Nebraska State; Louisiana State; Atlantic Coast; Big Ten; Big 12; Pacific-10; Southeastern
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"Justice in the Balance"
USA Today started investigating the topic of potentially corrupt federal prosecutors after the case against Sen. Ted Stevens was dropped. Reporters looked at "tens of thousands"of "routine cases" that were filed in federal court to locate any mishandling of the proceedings. The outcome was startling. Federal prosecutors have "violated the law to win convictions," setting guilty people free and landing "innocent people in jail."
Tags: Ted Stevens; prosecutors; U.S. Justice Department; Nino Lyons; Lexis; PACER; database; FOIA
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Ice Rink Pollution - Danger in the Air
The machines that resurface the ice of many U.S. ice skating rinks, have been found to emit the potentially harmful pollutants, Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Dioxide. E:60 tested 34 rinks throughout the U.S. and found that almost one-third had "dangerous levels" of the pollutants that are released from the machine's exhaust pipes. Also released onto the ice are tiny "Ultrafine Particles," which, when ingested over a long period of time, can cause long-term lung damage.
Tags: Ice hockey; USA Hockey; emissions; ice resurfacing; Carbon Monoxide emissions; Ultrafine Particles; Ken Rundell