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 "financial mismanagement" ...
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Fiesta Bowl Under Fire; BCS The Money. The Games
The Republic's investigation resulted in the discovery of violations of state and federal campaign finance laws at the Fiesta Bowl and widespread financial mismanagement, including employees being reimbursed for taking luxurious out-of-town trips and visits to strip clubs.
Tags: The Republic; State and Federal Campaign Finance Law; Fiesta Bowl; BCS
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"Fiesta Bowl Under Fire" "BCS The Money. The Games"
Discovery of violations of state and federal campaign finance laws at the Fiesta Bowl and widespread financial mismanagement, including employees being reimbursed for taking luxurious out-of-town trips and visits to strip clubs. The investigation of the BCS found that public universities lose money playing in BCS games; bowls spend heavily on gifts for schools' top athletic officials; pay for the highest executives at the BCS bowls more than doubled since they reunited in the late 1990s; and three of the top bowls accepted large government subsidies even as their revenue and assets have grown.
Tags: BCS; Fiesta Bowl; college; football; fraud; financial mismanagement
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New Jersey's Pension Peril
This four-part series investigates the state of New Jersey's beleaguered pension system. The authors discovered a concerted effort by government insiders to cripple the public pension system through generous giveaways, financial gimmickry and outright abuse. Gross mismanagement cost the fund $18 billion dollars in less than 2 years.
Tags: pension; pension reform; fraud; state government; pension system; Open Public Records Law; pension payments; corruption
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Head Start salaries unreasonable; Head Start not enrolling number of kids it's paid to; Head Start agency rosters padded, ex-employee says; Local Head Start Agency chief set to take $81,829 pay cut; Head Start Conferences keep execs on the road
Using federal financial audits/statements, this investigation looks at the mismanagement of a local Head Start agency. It was discovered that many of the top executives at the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland, the largest Head Start agency in Ohio, have salaries much higher than other Head Start executives in different counties. As a result of this investigation, the executive director took a $82,000 pay cut and county commissioners are reviewing the executives' use of county money.
Tags: financial audits; open records laws; Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action; compensation; teacher salaries; executive salaries; Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland; nonprofit agencies
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Wrongdoing in Wilmer-Hutchins
Using a hidden camera and the unpaid help of a mold remediation expert, reporters at KDFW exposed severe problems with the Wilmer-Hutchins district high school. News cameras also caught the district using illegal immigrants instead of mold remediation specialists to repair building problems. The investigation also lead to the discovery of mismanagement and fraud in the school district's leadership and its financial records. As a result of this report, a state education agency audit followed, along with investigations by the FBI, IRS, U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour division, and the Federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Throughout the investigation, district officials denied any wrongdoing, refused to hand over documents, and were eventually charged with tampering with evidence in the federal investigations.
Tags: standardized testing; bonds; mismanagement of funds; Wilmer-Hutchins school district
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Free ride: While schools suffer, hundreds get free city cars and fill-ups
In this ongoing series that exposes mismanagement, incompetence and corruption inside Yonkers City Hall, the newspaper examined the city's car-lease program for employees, questionable ethics among officials, and a handshake deal for garbage service that allowed businesses to pay their bills in cash. The investigation found the city spent more than $820,000 on 54 car leases -- far more than similarly sized cities -- including leases for SUVs and other expensive cars. Council members were awarded lucrative contracts while in office, and they had failed to file financial disclosure forms for five years as required by law. The garbage deal defied a city code and cost taxpayers $175,000 annually.
Tags: ethics; government leases; contracts; Freedom of Information; computer-assisted reporting; CAR; car-lease program; financial disclosure laws; trash service; city government
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Financial Fiasco at the Oklahoma Public Schools
Public schools in Oklahoma noticed that the maintenance of accounts in the district was in complete disarray. Investigations by The Oklahoman found that the district owed $3 million in overdue bills and had not paid up because they did not know if they had the funds. The investigation also found that the district had spent over $600,000 on a new telephone system only to scrap it a year later.
Tags: Oklahoma City Public Schools; District financial records; public school funding; debts incurred by the district; mismanagement of financial records
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Dividing Lines
The Columbus Dispatch investigated the "uneven educational opportunities in the Columbus Public Schools." The series revealed that "the Columbus elementary schools again are divided by race and income - and by student achievement, teacher experience and resources." The reporters identified problems with "poor test scores, a high dropout rate, financial and policy mismanagement, aging buildings" as common in the schools with prevailing minority enrollments. Some of the key findings were that "the assignment boundaries for some neighborhood schools closely match those ones singled out by the courts as racially gerrymandered", "spending by building bears little relation to the number of poor children" and "private donations...exacerbate inequities among schools". The newspaper also investigated how teachers' absenteeism and salaries correlate with the inequity issue. The reporters came to the conclusion that "veteran educators generally work at schools in middle-class neighborhoods, while beginning teachers get assigned to the poorest schools."
Tags: diskette; education; academics; race; income; poverty; segregation; FOIA; Ohio Department of Education; teachers; absenteeism; minority students; federal funds; database mapping project
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Guinea kids: Arizona's charter schools experiment
Tribune series finds that Arizona's charter school movement, though only four years old, has experienced big problems. People with criminal backgrounds and little education are teaching, schools are closing from financial mismanagement and the charter schools, which are supposed to held more accountable than public schools, are actually less accountable.
Tags: Education Reform
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Special Education on Long Island
More than one of every eight children in Long Island's schools is now classified as disabled, joining a fast-growing special-education system that is now made up mostly of children with speech or learning disorders. The system is eating increasing taxpayer dollars but has largely failed to adjust to these students needs. The story deals with a multitude of problems, from testing methods to financial mismanagement.
Tags: None