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 "ownership interest" ...
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Lost Paradise
People who bought retirement or hunting property in north Arkansas learned too late that developer Wayne Watkins didn't record their sales at the county courthouse and that he used land he sold to them as collateral for $2.6 million in loans. When he defaulted, banks foreclosed. Because no legal record existed of the buyers' ownership interest, banks often sold the land again.
Tags: banks; lending; housing; loans; fraud; housing scams; foreclosure
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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
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Chiron: Hepatitus C and Flu Vaccine
This series began as an investigation into the unusual cooperation and patent fight between the Chiron Corp. of California and the CDC. The two worked together to make discoveries concerning Hepatitus C. In an interesting twist, the reporter used his knowledge of the company to uncover its involvment in the 2004/2005 flu vaccine shortage.
Tags: health; disease; hepatitus c; influenza; Centers for Disease Control; Chiron Corp.; FDA; patent; discovery; ownership; research; Britain
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Habitat: Borrowed Dreams
This story discovers some negative outcomes within Habitat for Humanity, the popular charity that helps poor families become homeowners. The report found that Habitat's recipients were ill-prepared for home ownership. More than 40 percent of the local affiliate's homeowners filed for bankruptcy after moving into their homes, and nearly half of those who filed for bankruptcy did so multiple times. For many, Habitat's benefits, including its hallmark zero-interest mortgage, fell victim to crushing financial stresses. They found at least 40 examples of homeowners refinancing their no-interest mortgage, adding costly second mortgages or tacking criminal bail bond liens onto their homes. Desperate for cash paid at closing when taking a new home loan, homeowners paid fat fees and took on steep interest rates, some as high as 24 percent. Seventeen homeowners either lost their homes in foreclosure of deeded them to others. Some contributing factors involved Habitat for Humanity, for having inadequate front-end financial training, and a failure to protect Habitat mortgages from new lenders. Other factors stemmed from poverty in Memphis.
Tags: Habitat for Humanity; mortgage; bail bond liens; homeowners; bankruptcy; foreclosure; housing; loans; predatory lending; Collier County Habitat for Humanity; RISE Foundation; bankruptcy protection; low income housing
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Well Connected
This is a series of stories on media ownership in hometowns of each of the five FCC commissioners. The articles cover information including profiles of the 44 largest telecommunication companies in America, profit information, stock holdings of directors and salaries of top officials. The stories uncover the amounts being spent on FCC officials on travel and entertainment. It also shows how the FCC relies on data provided by the private industry while making decisions that are supposed to be in the public interest.
Tags: Federal Communications Commission; Media Ownership; Telecommunications
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Power Play
Orlando Magazine examines the business interests supporting Orlando's basketball team. The investigation tells "the story behind the Orlando Magic's early ownership group, and how winning the franchise shattered friendships and caused bitter memories." The report focuses on how William DuPont III, "a rising young downtown Orlando real estate magnate," has replaced businessman Jimmy Hewitt as managing partner holding majority interest in Orlando Basketball Ltd.
Tags: NBA; basketball; football; investors; ventures; business
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W.L. Brown: A Public-Private Partnership
A SF Weekly investigation of San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown revealed that the mayor's public and private lives may include a number of conflicts of interest. Before becoming San Francisco's mayor in 1996, Brown "moonlighted" as a lawyer and "his private law practice was large, lucrative, and controversial. He was repeatedly criticized for accepting large legal retainers from clients with significant interests in state legislation." SF Weekly's eight-part series found that Brown "received significant sums of money each year from a law firm he supposedly sold" after taking office, made mayoral decisions benefiting business entities that the mayor had financial interest in and "held ownership in a real estate partnership that made millions... when government agencies suddenly... showered the area with tens of millions of dollars in government subsidies."