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 "beyond politics" ...
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Green Energy: Contracts, Connections and the Collapse of Solyndra
Beginning in March, the Center's Ronnie Greene and ABC's Matthew Mosk and Brian Ross exposed flaws in the Department of Energy's billion-dollar spending spree, revealed deep links between Obama campaign bundlers and energy contracts and foreshadowed the financial and political storm that later engulfed Solyndra. Our reporting for "Green Energy: Contracts, Connections and the Collapse of Solyndra" broke ground before Solyndra's meltdown, and went well beyond the company in revealing a web of connections entangling a department lauded for its innovation. Working as full-reporting partners, our stories tied major Obama donors to lucrative green energy contracts for everything from electric cars to diesel substitutes. After over a year of reporting, we produced 50,000 words for the Center's website, thousands more on ABC's site and broadcasts on World News Tonight, Good Morning America and Nightline. Our stories, built from FOIA requests that yielded thousands of contract, financial and ethics documents, served as a template for national media reports that followed.
Tags: contracts; green energy; Obama; green energy; spending
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Beyond Sago: Coal Mine Safety in America
"Nearly 40 years after passage of the federal coal mine safety law, U.S. coal miners continue to die on the job because of widespread violations by coal companies and lax regulation by the government. And, while explosions and mine fires draw media and political attention, most coal miners die alone, one by one in roof falls and machinery accidents that could have been avoided if the operators they worked for complied with existing laws."
Tags: Coal mining; mining; accident; equipment;
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Reform beyond the beltway
Dreyfuss offers an overview of campaign finance reform in several states. He argues that the public is more than ready for a complete overhaul of campaign finance and the role donors play in government proceedings.
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Capitol Offenders: How Private Interests Govern Our States
[THIS ENTRY TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE UNTIL BOOK REVISION IS OBTAINED.] An investigative report exposing the close ties between state lawmakers and powerful industries, documenting the fusion of public service and private interest. This book examines much of the raw data that proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the large role that big business plays in a largely unregulated area of American politics. Lobbyists for these organizations, according to the book, outnumber state legislators 6 to 1, and expenditures by the 36,959 special interests registered in 2001 topped $565 million. With a special emphasis on financial disclosure reports filed by state lawmakers around the nation, this book documents dozens of cases of conflicts of interest where public interest was sacrificed for lawmakers' personal interests.
Tags: money and politics; state lawmakers; lobbyists; state government; state assemblies; state legislatures; financial disclosure reports; conflicts of interest; BOOK PAGES-297
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Deadbird
"The story examined several factors- political pressures, mismanagement, wrongdoing, and a lack of government oversight- behind the poor performance of a private company, Redbird Development Corp., that managed facilities at a city-owned general aviation airport in Dallas. It found that racial politics played a role in the award of a major city contract to a company run by a man who at the time was in personal bankruptcy. It showed how lower-level city officials documented years of poor performance by the company, reports that were ignored at upper levels of city government. It also probed allegations of corruption and the company's tangled corporate history, and proved that a man with a history of bank embezzlement and fraud owned at least a minority stake in the business and had tremendous influence over its affairs. It suggested- but could not prove beyond question- that he was the majority owner."
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No title (id: 14019)
Worth magazine investigates the life, work, and economic philosophies of Alan Greenspan, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank. Greenspan believes others should butt out and let him run the world's economy. His mentor, Ayn Rand, agrees, but others find the idea troubling. (May 1995)
Tags: Lewis Beyond economics; beyond politics; beyond accountability Free-market economics 14 pgs.
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No title (id: 13871)
This series probes an unprecedented law-enforcement effort to bring down what by many accounts is America's largest street gang, the 30,000-strong Gangster Disciples, and its alleged, multimillion dollar retail drug business. But the series goes well beyond the federal crackdown to explore in detail the gang's extraordinary grip on inner-city neighborhoods in Chicago, its far-reaching drug enterprise, and its bold efforts to gain political power and legitimacy. The series culminates with a surprising profile of the gang's enigmatic leader as he awaits trial. (March 28, April 8, July 15, Sept. 27, Dec. 31, 1996)
Tags: Scott Tyson Bringing down a gang Contest entry 25 pgs.
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No title (id: 13060)
A News & Observer team spent six months following the trail of pollution on the Neuse River back to its sources. The story goes beyond water quality to politics: broken promises, failed cleanup plans and the lack of any real requirements that cities, farms and businesses stop damaging the river.
Tags: Leavenworth Warrick Sold down the river Agriculture Livestock Commercial fishing South River 32 pgs.