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 "city contract" ...
-
KSHB: Questionable Contracts
A 41 Action News investigation scrutinized the bidding process for a $32 million energy project with Kansas City Public Schools. The investigation revealed that a businessman who acted an unpaid adviser early in the process eventually founded his own company and won the lucrative contract. The reporting lead to a resignation by a high-ranking district leader and a canceled contract. The ongoing investigation later examined other contracts and discovered a district facilities manager had helped award millions of dollars of work to a company with whom he had a personal relationship. That part of the investigation showed the district did not have a conflict of interest policy in place for district employees.
Tags: broadcast; public schools; personal relationship; corruption; bidding process
-
King High Charter Controversy
The King Charter stories reveal that two public officials- Dwight Evans, a state legislator, and Robert Archie, chair of the city's school governance board- collaborated on a secret campaign to steer a lucrative charter school contract to a politically connected private contractor.
Tags: Charter Schools
-
Cashing In
During a period of tight city finances, Memphis was outlaying a yearly average of as much as $2,300 per day on attorneys fees. Nealry $8 million across 22 law firms was payed out by taxpayers in a four year time frame. WREG-TV uncovered that many of these lawyers were personal friends of the mayor, and the station's requests for budget items were purposefully stalled and stonewalled until serious actions of litigation against the city were threatened.
Tags: Memphis; attorneys; fees; lawyers; legal; firms; contracts; mayor; friends; finance; open records; municipal; city; campaign manager
-
"Union Township Investigation"
A Cincinnati township has found itself in the midst of an "ethical swamp." Government officials made high dollar deals with contractors to make way for new developments in the city. The officials then took "high-level" positions "with the developer." In addition, bids were skewed so that they would only go to one contracting company, the same company that was owned by "the son of a township official."
Tags: Chuck Kubicki; Ken Geis; Clermont County; Cincinnati United Contractors; Cliff Johnson; Ohio Ethics Laws;
-
New Orleans's tech contracting scandal
Former top mayoral aide, Greg Meffert, was caught in a web of self-dealing and exposed free vacations that the mayor had received. The series “helped the FBI and other federal investigators track the payments and relationships”. Also, it eventually “led to a 63-count federal criminal indictment against Meffert, his wife and the city vendor, Mark St. Pierre”.
Tags: crime; Mayor Ray Nagin; technology chief; state government; corruption; gifts; city hall; civil trial; city government
-
Tons of Questions
After wildfires destroyed 365 homes in San Diego, the city rushed to enter contracts with two companies to haul away mounds of potentially toxic debris. The Union-Tribune investigated and found that the contractors, A.J. Diani Construction C. of Santa Maria and Watsonville-based Granite Construction Co., claimed to haul far more rubble than privately hired companies did from comparable lots, failed to provide accurate documentation of how many tons they removed and billed the city millions more than stated in their contracts.
Tags: contractors; natural disasters; restoration; fraud; overcharging; demolition permit applications
-
A Question of Security
The "investigation discovered allegations of overfilling and security gaps at three major facilities in South Florida- the Miami Metrorail system and the Juvenile Assessment Center and a major hospital. All have contacts with Wackenhut, one of the largest security companies in America. The publicly funded contracts involve millions of dollars. Not only did we observe unfilled posts first-hand, but guards, former guards and supervisors went public detailing a pattern of fraud."
Tags: security; fraud; city government; contracts; transportation; health care; hospital; guards; Wakenhut
-
Indentured Doctors
Throughout the United States foreign doctors are being cheated out of wages, coerced into unfair contracts and being kept away from medically needy patients because their bosses are the ones sponsoring their visas. They work for medical residency and are allowed to live in cities and rural areas with shortage of physicians so long as they work full-time. The program was started by the government, but since its creation there has been little oversight to the abuse of the doctors.
Tags: work visa; immigration; J-1 doctors; Pahrump; pediatrician; health care;
-
Did State Fund Overpay in Redding Land Deal?
State Compensation Insurance Fund board member Kent Dagg was pushed for State Fund to build a new regional headquarters in his city of Redding, California. SCIF overpaid for the property by almost 50 percent, and the contract was given to a former officer of the Shasta County Builders Exchange, which was run by Kent Dagg.
Tags: Highway 44: Shasta View Drive; Ken Miller; Lewis-Pripgras; Workers' Comp Executive; Frank Del Re;
-
Mayor's family cashes in
"A series of stories revealed that the next generation of Chicago's Daley family has found ways to profit off City Hall, where the family has ruled for most of more than 40 years. Though Mayor Richard M. Daley has long maintained that his family isn't being enriched by his administration, Novak's stories revealed, for the first time, that one of the mayor's children, his soldier-son Patrick Daley, made money off a city contract - and neither the younger Daley nor the company disclosed his ownership interest in the company, despite being required to do so by city ordinances his father signed."
Tags: corruption; mayor; city contract; ownership interest; silent partners