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 "Unit 5" ...
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The Blueberry Children
This investigation reveals that child labor is still a large issue in the United States. They found children “as young as 5 years old” in the fields picking fruits and vegetables. The child labor laws are rarely enforced, which is why nothing was being done to stop this practice. Further, many of these children were picking blueberries, which were some of the largest blueberry fields and were supplying national grocery store chains.
Tags: agriculture; operations; federal; human rights; lawmakers; regulators; kids; supermarkets; farmers
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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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Exporting Faith
The Boston Globe used "a complete raw database of all USAID awards (prime contracts, grants and agreements) obligated from FY 2001 to FY 2005" to investigate the results of President Bush's Executive Orders that "created the faith based initiative and relaxed federal regulations for religious groups using government funds that once sought to protect church-state separations." The series shows that the percentage of USAID awards going to ngo faith based organizations in 2005 was almost doubled the percentage in 2001, from 10.5% to 19.9%. This creates the potential for problems where aid recipients "might forgo assistance because they don't share in the religion of the provider."
Tags: separation of church and state; faith-based initiatives; foreign aid; executive orders; church-state ties; White House Office of Faith and Community Based Initiatives; President Bush; USAID; NGO; Christian evangelicals; Kenya; Angola; Pakistan; Focus on the Family; James Dobb; FOIA; UNICEF; UNDP; State Department; Samaritan's Purse; National Association of Evangelicals; Americans United for Separation of the Church and State; Global Health Outreach; Offfice of Volunteers for Prosperity; Youth for Christ; World Vision; Yellowbook;
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Command Mistake
As a result of this WISH-TV (Indianapolis, IN) report, the United States Marine Corps is now issuing helmets with ballistic padding to all marines. Previously, only the Army was issuing padded helmets; and some marines were buying their own padding. The story showed that college football players' helmets were more protective than the marine helmet."The cost to care for a head-injured soldier with permanent brain damage is $2.5 to $3 million. The cost of the helmet pads is as little as $30." Story contains on-ground elements filmed in Germany and Iraq.
Tags: Traumatic brain injury research; TBI; concussion; ballistic pad testing; football helmet testing; Kevlar helmet; roadside bomb blasts; Commanding General George Casey; Baghdad; Fallujah; Landstuhl Medical Center, Germany; Riddell; Brigadier General John Kelley; Congressman Steve Buyer; Indiana National Guard; Roudebush VA Medical Center; craniectomy; aphasia; Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz; Joint Theater Trauma Registry; Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center; DVBIC; Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital; Traumatic Brain Injury in the War Zone; Susan Okie, MD; New England Journal of Medicine; American Football Coaches Association; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Sports Medicine Concussion Program
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What the atomic age left behind
This series described a 10.5-million-ton pile of nuclear waste polluting the Colorado River. The waste was left over from decades of milling uranium ore, first for atomic weapons and later for nuclear fuel. For decades, the pile of toxic and radioactive waste leaked into the river, which provides the drinking water for more than 20 million people in three western states. It was the largest of the dozens of piles of tailings and the only one that hadn't been moved away from major rivers in the United States. And for a while, it appeared it would stay put, contaminating the river for centuries.
Tags: water pollution; Colorado River; nuclear waste; atomic weapon; nuclear fuel; radioactive waste; drinking water; water contamination
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What's in your backyard?
The news team learned that several people complained the EPA never told them about toxic chemical waste contamination in their residential area. The waste was dumped near their homes or contaminated their water. Some residents eventually found out as they started to fall sick, but the EPA had known about the exposure for decades. The news team obtained the EPA database, mapped out where contaminants were concentrated and spotted the affected people. The source of contamination is traced to two steel companies. As a result, legislation is on the way, and authorities are testing soil and water.
Tags: backyard; toxic waste; chemical waste; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; contaminants; dumping; toxic chemicals; arsenic; Health Department; contamination; pollution; drinking water; municipal water; skin rash; stomach problems; illness; potential health threat; secret; playground; pneumonia; tumor; lymphoma; pond; well water; benzene; cancer; toxin; steel warehouse; Unit 5; sludge
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It's Not in the Mail: Bounce a check, and you might not write another for 5 years
The Wall Street Journal reports that some banks are using a database "to blacklist customers for even small slip-ups." The database, known as ChexSystems, is subscribed to by 80 percent of banks in the United States -- and once your name is placed on it, none of those banks will let you open a checking account. What's more, "once lodged in ChexSystems, you automatically stay there for five years, whether your offense was bouncing a check or two or committing serious fraud." As a result, an increasing number of people -- particularly the poor -- are finding themselves unable to write checks for years through any bank, even if the offense was only a one-time bouncing of a check. "Denied access to checking, a privilege most Americans take for granted, those stuck in ChexSystems are forced for five years to use expensive check-cashing services and to undergo the inconvenience of paying bills with money orders or cash. Customers often learn about having been placed in the database only when told be a bank explaining why an application for a new account has been rejected." Says one chief banking officer: "..if you are in the system, a checking account is not an option, regardless of why you are there." The Journal examines whether the punishment fits the crime, and looks at the toll on low-income areas.
Tags: banks; account; checking account; checking; checks; ChexSystems; financial; business; punishment; blacklist
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High-alcohol malt taps market furor
In 1991, G. Heileman Brewing Co. planned to release PowerMaster, a malt liquor beverage that was 5.9% alcohol with 50% more alcohol than a regular can of malt liquor. Black communities accused Heileman of targeting them and trying to harm them, by citing the fact that (at the time) black and Hispanic men drank most of the malt liquor in the United States.
Tags: Olde English 800; Schlitz Malt Liquor's Red Bull; Bureau of Alcohol; Tobacco and Firearms; G. Heileman Brewing Co.
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School Food Safety; School Lunches: Illness On Menu
The Tribune reports on school food illness outbreaks across the United States. The series finds that "dangerous practices exist in the factories where school food is made and in the kitchens and cafeterias where it is warmed and served." The government inspection system for monitoring the $5-billion-per-year school-food business is flawed. It is often difficult to trace spoiled food because subcontractors' identities are rarely disclosed to school officials. The reporter looks at a notorious case in which 1,200 children in North Dakota were sickened by contaminated tortillas.
Tags: schools; education; United States Department of Agriculture (USDA); FOIA requests; lead-based paint; lead poisoning; health violations; bacteria; CAR; meat industry; food safety; FDA; CDC
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The Highs and Lows of Ritalin
"In the first undercover probe of its kind, Unit-5 exposed the increasing problem of Ritalin being illegally sold, even stolen and used as a party drug to get high. We also conducted the first computerized investigation of U.S. Food and Drug Administration records analyzing Ritalin side effects and related deaths."
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; Ritalin; drugs