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 "demographics" ...
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Glamour Beasts: The dark side of elephant captivity
The zoo industry claims that elephants are thriving inside U.S. zoos. But that’s not true. It never has been. The Times found that elephants are dying out inside zoos. For every elephant born, on average two others die. Just 288 elephants are left inside 78 accredited U.S. zoos. Captive elephants may be demographically extinct within 50 years – there won’t be enough females left to breed. The Times conducted a first-of-its-kind analysis of 390 elephant fatalities for the past 50 years. In a desperate race to make more baby elephants, Seattle’s Woodland Park has tried to artificially inseminate their Asian elephant, Chai, at least 112 times, sometimes adopting crude and reckless procedures. As nearly two dozen zoos have shutdown or plan to close elephant exhibits, nonprofit sanctuaries with thousands of acres represent one option for retired or unwanted elephants. But a zoo industry trade group is fighting a bitter battle to thwart sanctuaries and punish zoos that give up their elephants.
Tags: zoo; elephants; zoo industry
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Murder Mysteries
Scripps Howard developed a computer algorithim that can identify suspicious clusters of homicides of women that have a significant chance of containing serial murders.
Tags: serial killer; murder; victim; demographic; offenders
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Lost Voters
This investigation reveals how Florida's new, $23 million computer-driven voter registration system actually disenfranchised more than 65,000 would be voters. The story documented how these voters were "lost" by the state, quantified who they were and told their stories.
Tags: elections; voters; voter registration; demographics; race; politicians; state government
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Too Tough? Tactics in Suburban Policing
Some police departments in the Philadelphia area have been recording some of the highest arrest rates in American for minor offenses. These towns are mostly white, and the high number of arrests are made up overwhelmingly of African Americans. Legal experts say some of the arrests are unconstitutional. Furthermore, the towns with the highest arrest rates have actually seen crime go up, not down.
Tags: police; arrest; demographic; racial profiling; public records
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Leaving to Learn: DPS' Enrollment Gap
The reporters used data from Denver Public Schools, the US Census Bureau, and the Piton Foundation of Denver to determine where Denver's school age children were going to school. Their analysis found that nearly a quarter of Denver's children do not go to public schools, and that many students from certain areas of the city are attending suburban schools instead of city schools.
Tags: education; school; transportation; Census; demographics; data analysis
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Missed Signals; Killed by the Cops
This project, a collaboration between the Chicago Reporter and ColorLines, analyzed fatal police shootings among America's ten largest cities. The investigation found that African Americans were overrepresented among police shooting victims, and Latinos are also frequent victims.
Tags: police; violence; shootings; racism; demographics; city government; census
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Incredible Shrinking Paycheck
This investigation tracked median wage and salary income, broken down by age, gender, race and education, across more than five decades of Census data. The goal of the research was to measure the health of the middle class, which many people think is in danger.
Tags: research; Census; data; class; poverty; demographic data; American Community Survey
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The Final Frontier
This investigation looks into the Chicago Housing Authority and demographic changes that have occurred with the destruction of public housing. Starting with 1995, The Chicago Reporter analyzed residential property transactions and home mortgage lending data, as well as Census data to track significant racial and economic shifts over the years.
Tags: Chicago Housing Authority; public housing; real estate; home mortgage lending data; CAR; housing developments; FOIA; Census 2000
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Suspensions and Expulsions: Minority students face harsher discipline
The author analyzed student discipline and demographic records from the state of Illinois and found that minority students are disproportionately expelled and suspended. Jenco interviewed various experts, teachers and students to try and make sense of the situation.
Tags: education; school; high school; students; discipline; local government; teachers
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Mormons in Utah: the Shrinking Majority
This series of seven stories showed that the Mormon Church is not the fastest growing religion worldwide, as it claims. In fact, active church membership is about a third of what the official numbers are. Traditionally Mormon majority counties in Utah are losing their majority status. And stricter criteria for missionaries have reduced their numbers and converts worldwide.
Tags: Mormon religion; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; LDS; Pentecostals; demographics; state planning