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 "black" ...
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Scapegoat: The Chino Hills Murders and the Framing of Kevin Cooper
Scapegoat is the true story of the horrific Chino Hills murders -- the highest profile crime in San Bernardino County history. It shows how law enforcement ignored eyewitness information implicating three white men as the perpetrators in order to pin the crime on Kevin Cooper, a recently escaped black prisoner from the nearby prison in Chino, California. It shows how his public defender lost the case before the trial even began and how the justice system has failed Cooper at almost every turn. It also shows the heroic work of an international law firm headquartered in San Francisco that adopted Cooper's case pro bono just three months before his scheduled execution in 2004 and won him a stay and how lawyers from this firm continue to appeal his wrongful conviction.
Tags: Murders; crime; law enforcement; police; prison; justice system; wrongful conviction
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Crunch Time: The relationship between the police departments and black communities in Champaign and Urbana
This project looked at the relationship between the black communities and police departments in Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. Specifically, we used five years of arrest data to found major disparities in the percentage of black residents in both communities and the number of black people arrested each year from 2007 to 2011. These disparities were event greater for crimes like noise violations and jaywalking. Although Champaign had been the site of high-profile incidents, including the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old boy in 2009, the disparities had become even greater in Urbana. After our analysis we went into the community and talked with black residents. They described a charged relationship in which they reported feeling highly scrutinized by, and afraid of, the police. We also found that the police had made some efforts to deal with the situation.
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As Mine Protections Fail, Black Lung Cases Surge
A joint investigation by NPR and the Center for Public Integrity mined government databases and analyzed together for the first time ever, coal dust enforcement records and black lung occurrence data. We compiled what appear to be the most comprehensive accounts to date of an unexpected reemergence of black lung, sharp increases among younger miners, rapid progression to the most serious stages, widespread fraudulent coal dust testing by industry, weaknesses and loopholes in federal regulations, and ineffective enforcement by federal regulators. We asked Ken Ward Jr., the veteran coal industry reporter at the Charleston Gazette, to contribute web and print stories about the history of failed government regulation, as well as fraudulent coal dust testing specifically at the Upper Big Branch mine, where 29 miners died in an explosion fueled by coal dust in 2010. Our reporting prompted the Labor Department to establish an internal team to review the agency's enforcement of coal dust regulations, according to internal agency e-mails obtained by NPR. Federal regulators stepped up coal dust enforcement, targeting mines with a history of violations. Members of Congress cited the series in calling for tougher regulations, and one group launched a petition drive demanding action.
Tags: mining; miners; black lung disease; coal dust; government
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Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness
The journalist tackles what it means to be black in America today, and examines the concept of "Post-Blackness."
Tags: Black; Blackness; African American; Obama; race; racisim
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Crime and Human Organs
Bloomberg Markets magazine shows how impoverished people from Belarus to Nicaragua have been humiliated, maimed, and killed by organ traffickers and the doctors with whom they work. The stories expose the activities of transplant rings that supply wealthy Americans, Europeans, and Israelis with kidneys extracted from the poor.
Tags: Belarus; Nicaragua; Kidney; Organ Donation; Black Market
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White Mayor's Burden
In the summer of 2011, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he was starting the Young Man's Initiative, a multi-million dollar public-private partnership to "help" young black and Latino male New Yorkers. What he neglected to mention in the rollout was that under his tenure, New York City has arrested record numbers of black and Latino young men using the controversial "stop and frisk" technique, has suspended record numbers of black and Latino men from schools, and has actively fought a federal lawsuit to make the Fire Department comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Tags: Civil Rights Act of 1964; Michael Bloomberg; Mayor; New York City; Young Man's Initiative Black; Latino; Fire Department
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Unredacted Harassment
An ongoing investigation by the Red & Black showed professors continued to violate sexual harassment policies and get away with it at the University of Georgia, and to make matters worse, those who came forward and who were told their identities would be protected, discovered their names were not redacted in documents sent out by UGA to those requesting such documents.
Tags: Sexual Harassment; University of Georgia, UGA; Red and Black
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Alleged Illegal Searches & Unlawful Marijuana Arrests by NYPD
The story takes a look into the NYPD's "stop and frisk" policy. The "stop and frisks" are street encounters carried out almost exclusively blacks and Latinos in the city's poorest neighborhoods. The investigation shows that NYPD is likely making false arrests for marijuana possession after recovering marijuana through illegal searches during "stop and frisks."
Tags: stop and frisks; NYPD; police; drugs; radio
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The Henry Louis Gates Jr. Case: Racial Profiling or Stifling Free Speech
When police arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct in his own home, Gates claimed he was a victim of racial profiling. NECIR analyzed five years of arrest records from the Cambridge Police Department for disorderly conduct which did not seem to indicate a pattern of racial profiling. The results showed that more white people than black people had been arrested for disorderly conduct by the department.
Tags: racial profiling; disorderly conduct, police; Henry Gates; Henry Louis Gates Jr.; Cambridge Police Department
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"Arrested Developments: Crime Streets of Athens"
The staff of The Red & Black spent several months collecting and compiling crime documents from law enforcement departments throughout Athens, Ga. The student reporters wanted to find and report current information on the "most crime-ridden residential streets in Athens-Clarke County," which is where the University of Georgia is located. The UGA population (students, faculty and staff) makes up a "big chunk" of Athens. The Red & Black takes a look at crime in the area to see whether or not the higher crime areas have an affect on those who "attend and work" at the university.
Tags: UGA; University of Georgia; Athens; Athens-Clarke County; Athens Housing Authority