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 "Wisconsin law" ...
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Human Trafficking in the Heartland
The Center found that three years after Wisconsin legislators passed a law banning trafficking, little had been done to curb the practice in the state.
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Dangerous and Free
The reporter reveals how criminals in Wisconsin eluded justice because of breaks from judges, communication breakdowns and miscalculations by law enforcement.
Tags: criminals; lax; courts; judges; communication
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Contract Sunshine
This story reveals that state agencies in Wisconsin were not following a four-year-old transparency law requiring them to post contract data online for public review, and that Wisconsin ranked among the worst in the nation at providing such information. Agency directors blamed each other, a lack of enforcement power, technical glitches and a shortage of money.
Tags: Wisconsin; Contract Sunshine; transparency; law; public records; state; online; data;
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Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman's Harrowing Quest for Justice
Author Bill Lueders tells the story of Patty, a blind woman who was raped but had to fight for seven years to find justice. Local law enforcement in Madison, WI was so skeptical of her story that "she was charged witha crime for truthfully insisting that she was raped." Her story unfolds as a tale of her battle against society's reluctance to acknowledge her story, and of the justice system's refusal to admit it might have been wrong.
Tags: Sexual assault; rape; Madison, Wisconsin; justice system; Isthmus weekly newspaper
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Fired Officers Collect Millions
This investigation examines a 25 year old Wisconsin law that "requires the city of Milwaukee to pay fired police officers until their appeals are exhausted with the Fire and Police Commission." The author found that since 1994, this law has cost Milwaukee taxpayers $2.1 million.
Tags: police; firefighters; police officers; state government; city government; crime; appeals
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Locked in :The Price of Truth in Sentencing
This series looks at a state law in Wisonsin that allows hardly any chance for early release of prisoner and how this law has escalated the costs of mainitianing the prisons. The law calls for longer prison terms without parole and longer supervision terms - funds for which comes from the tax payers pockets.
Tags: law in Wisconsin; Wisconsin law; parole; prisons in Wisconsin; truth in sentencing; cost of maintaining prisons CAR
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Failing the Fire Test
The series examined Wisconsin's fire code, specifically a statute that requires schools to perform monthly fire drills. We found that only half the schools in the 10 counties surrounding Milwaukee complied with the law. In addition, we found half of the one - thousand schools in the metro - Milwaukee area did not file required forms with the state or local fire department.
Tags: radio
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Unequal Justice
The Journal Sentinel tells the stories of poor defendants in Wisconsin who are denied their constitutional right to counsel, and often plead guilty and serve time despite being innocent. The main findings are that Milwaukee County sets inadequate poverty lines, in discrepancy with federal and state poverty lines, which leave many have-nots without appointed attorneys; judges are reluctant to appoint attorneys at county expense; when lawyers are appointed, defendants are billed by the state.
Tags: crime; public defenders; prosecutors; law; courts
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Who's driving the bus?
WITI found that because of a gaping hole in state law, murderers, sex offenders, drug dealers, and other convicted felons are legally driving Wisconsin school buses.
Tags: Department of Transportation; Wisconsin Supreme Court; bus drivers; criminal background; Milwaukee Public Schools; TAPE; TV; TRANSCRIPT; CAR
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Political Pawns
Governing reports about the use of issue advocacy televisoin ads in Wisconsin. These ads esacpe disclosure laws because they don't support any specific candidate. But the result can be that candidates have no connection to those who run ads supporting them and no idea who's behind opposition ads. In close races, like in Wisconsin, the amount spent on these ads can be vastly more than the candidates spend.
Tags: campaign finance; independent expenditure ads; issue advocacy