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 "Virginia" ...
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Where Doubt Remains
A multimedia investigation "detailing two questionable criminal convictions in West Virginia."
Tags: Lee Jones; Joe Lavigne; rape; sexual abuse; evidence; witness; police; recanting;
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Who Killed Her Daughter?
"The package of stories focused on the unsolved slaying of four young women within central Virginia that occurred within a seven-month span in 1996."
Tags: forensics; murder; serial killer; Richard Marc Evonitz; slaying; law enforcement; FBI lab; Darrell Rice; innocent; death penalty
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State of Decay: West Virginia's Oral Health Crisis
West Virgina has the highest percentage of "older adults who have had all their natural teeth removed. The state's Medicaid program will pay for pulling teeth, but not saving them." Also "dentists were billing the state more for pulling low-income children's teeth than for cleaning them."
Tags: dentist; teeth; oral hygiene; dental work; Medicaid; lip cancer;
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The Cost of Liability
"We set out to find how much money cities and schools are paying for accidents. We were looking for two things: 1. Large payouts for accidents that we weren't previously aware of. 2. Trend of accidents caused by city/school negligence."
Tags: schools; lawsuits; Virginia; Chesapeake; city; school bus; lawn mowers; sewers
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Marshall Plant State's Top Mercury Polluter
The PPG Industries Chemical Plant in Natrium, Marshall County, "is West Virginia's largest source of mercury, a toxic metal that can poison the brain and is especially dangerous to children and developing fetuses." Reports filed with the Environmental Protection Agency reveal the plant "emit[s] more than 1,200 pounds of mercury into the air." The plant pumps salty water "through vats of pure mercury" to make chlorine and "only nine U.S. plants still use this 111-year-old process."
Tags: mercury; chlorine; toxic chemicals; chemical plants; West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection; Environmental Protection Agency; EPA; PPG Industries
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Politics' Role in Selecting Judges Condemned, Defended
"Virginia remains the only state in the nation in which the legislature - specifically the majority party - wields all the power in the judicial selection process." Because of this, patronage is a problem, as judges have been appointed to positions after making "hefty campaign contributions to the legislators who picked them."
Tags: Patronage; campaign contributions; judicial appointments; judicial selection
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The Truth About Donor 1084
Using the story of mothers who used "Donor 1084" from a cryobank in Virginia, SELF magazine examines the problems that occur when a sperm donor is not completely honest about his medical condition, and passes on poor health to his children. Four mothers who had children using Donor 1084 not only found that his information was false, but that their children were suffering from diseases such as eczema. They contacted the sperm back, Fairfax Cryobank in Fairfax, Virginia, to report problems, but the cryobank did not take Donor 1084 off the market. There is also the story of a young law clerk who made 320 donations to California cryobank in the late 1980s, leading into the tragedy of one of his recipients. Brittany Johnson is a 17-year-old who "inherited a life-threatening kidney disease from Donor 276."
Tags: cryobank; sperm bak; Fairfax Cryobank; California Cryobank; eczema; kidney disease; falsification of health records
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Hidden Hazards: A Legacy of Neglect
Robert McCabe unmasked a failed environmental protection system on the local, state and federal level in Chesapeake, Virginia, that permitted developers to build housing on lands with serious pollution problems. In his first report, McCabe explained how in one subdivision, the lead contamination is so high that home buyers in part of the neighborhood will be forbidden to grow vegetables or to water their lawns with groundwater. Furthermore, their homes sit over an old dump site with high levels of underground combustible gas.
Tags: pollution; Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); River's Edge at Quailshire; environmental hazards; lead contamination
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Harvest of Death
The story investigated the disproportionately high number of auto fatalities and injuries caused by Hispanic drivers, most of them seasonal migrant workers, on Virginia's East Shore. Most of the accidents were alcohol related.
Tags: FOIA; seasonal migrant workers; driving under the influence; alcohol related accident; licence plate fraud; U.S. Route 13
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Investigation of Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
The Virginian-Pilot found wasteful spending at the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. Top officials spent thousands of dollars on travel and unnecessary outdoor equipment purchases. Nineteen agency employees exceeded state-imposed spending limits. Three top officials resigned or were fired after the story ran, and criminal investigations ensued.
Tags: government waste; corruption; Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; spending; public officials; public funds; FOI