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 "disclosure" ...
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Follow the Money: Congress & TARP Oversight
This series of watchdog stories look at spending in Congress and use of TARP funds. They used FOIA requests to gain access to TARP contracts and called into questions some questionable charitable work, sweetheart deals, financial disclosures, fund-raising, earmarks and more.
Tags: TARP; congress; oversight; economy; earmarks; Recovery Act; FOIA
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The Fight for Transparency
"Bloomberg is the only news organization ever to sue the Federal Reserve Board-and win, forcing disclosure of borrowers and collateral for emergency bailout money." They are forcing the Reserve Board's accountability by providing accurate numbers to the public. Also, the information on the subject is now available to every major news organization in the US.
Tags: Federal; government; money; funds; taxpayers; financial; stimulus; Obama; banking; banks; FOIA
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Full Disclosure
When the Daily Record used the state's new open records law, it created an open records website. Doing this published multiple public records based stories and investigations. One of the largest stories to come out of this was the compensation paid to the founders and operators of Angel Food Ministries Inc. This raised the question of what their earnings were being used for and if they were really an organization focused on helping the less fortunate.
Tags: FOIA; Angel Food Ministries Inc; charity; new open records law; records; public; access; documents; Wingo family; non-profit; Christian
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Bosnia-Herzegovina Politicians' Assets
By law, Bosnian politicians are required to disclose their assets. When the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo explored financial records of individual politicians, small unreported private fortunes were uncovered. Corporate kickbacks from special interests were found as well.
Tags: Bosnia; Herzegovina; assets; politicians; disclosure; finances; officials; officeholders; private business;
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Dateline NBC: Tricks of the Trade
In this investigation, Dateline exposed what experts call deceptive sales practices in the marketing of equity indexed annuities - especially to senior citizens. Hidden cameras captured the claims agents made and the critical disclosures they glossed over when they thought they were alone with retirees.
Tags: fraud; abusive sales tactics; equity indexed annuities; marketing; sales methods; retirement planning seminars; scare tactics; insurance licenses;
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The Favor Factory
The Seattle Times analyzed the 2008 defense bill and found that lawmakers - who had promised full disclosure of earmarks - were hiding $3.5 billion of them, about 40 percent of total earmarks. Some of the most prominent and powerful members of Congress used loopholes in a new reform measure to avoid disclosure.
Tags: defense bill; lawmakers; legislature; earmarks; vetting earmarks; campaign donors; campaign scam; wasteful earmarks; chemical-warfare decontamination kit; inferior products; Capitol Hill; Congressional favors; campaign donations
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Fees on 401(k)s Rock Boomers Facing Flawed Disclosure
Although 50 million people in the United States have retirement savings in 401(k) plans, almost no one understands how much they are paying for them and how much money they may be losing in hidden fees. Most modern-day retirement plans have as many as 17 different fees, most of which are not disclosed to employees.
Tags: retirement; money; savings; securities and exchange commission; finance; stock market; fees
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Way Ahead of the Curve
This is a series of three stories by senior writer David Evans that ran in the February, July and November issues of Bloomberg Markets magazine. In "The Risk Nightmare," (July 2008), Evans pierced the opacity and complexity of credit default swaps, unregulated securities that were supposed to act as a form of insurance and protect investors against risk. He found that CDS had built up so many interconnections that one player could jeopardize the entire financial system. In "Banks on the Edge" (November 2008), Evans reported that scores of regional banks across the U.S. would fail within a year because they hadn't yet realized their losses on defaulting mortgages. In "Peddling Tainted Debt to Florida," (February 2008), he reported that Lehman Brothers was both advising and selling toxic debt to Florida's "money market pool." This disclosure prompted a run on the pool, and it was then shut down as the state investigated its holding and worked to restore its creditworthiness.
Tags: Lehman Brothers; Bear Stearns; Florida; Charlie Crist; bank collapse; Wells Fargo; Washington Mutual; bailout
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Lobbying Disclosure and Financial Bailout
Narayanswamy went line by line through the reported contributions to nonprofit organizations that honor members of Congress made by lobbyists. She found that the contributions were numerous and that incumbents received the most. However lobbyists also contributed to new candidates.
Tags: Philip Meyer Award entry; lobbyist; politics; money; campaign finance; Congress; Mark Warner; Jeanne Shaheen; John Sununu; Federal Election Commission
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Police Illegally Buying Machine Guns
"An ongoing, in-depth investigation, coupled with ongoing Freedom of Information litigation, of the secret, illegal purchase of dozens of machine guns by officers of the Albany, NY Police Department who used their agency's authority to buy automatic weapons for official use only as a means to acquire restricted firearms for personal sport and amusement. Eventually, the guns began turning up for sale in at least two gun stores. To this day, several machine guns remain missing and unaccounted for while the department refuses to comply with New York's FOI Laws and has fought disclosure of the truth at every turn."
Tags: police; weapons; fireams; FOI; city government; law enforcement; gun control