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 "policy-makers" ...
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Wall Street Money Machine
The series showed how some bankers on Wall Street saw problems in the housing market long before the public and policy makers. This meant huge gains for the bankers and a loss of jobs and savings for the public.
Tags: Wall Street; bankers; housing crisis; housing bubble; mortgage
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Wall Street Money Machine
This series of stories reveals that several Wall Street bankers saw indications of the housing market meltdown "long before the public and policy makers." The three-part series offers a different look at the all too familiar results of bigger payouts for the bankers and huge job and savings losses for the public. The series covers the hedge fund Magnetar and the "mechanics" behind the failure of Merrill Lynch.
Tags: Merrill Lynch; Magnetar; CDOs; Wall Street; bankers; gains; payouts; economic crisis; BankAmerica; hedge fund; housing market; bribery
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Hidden Dropouts
Students from high schools are being forced by school authorities to drop out of school and get a GED. This story looks at how false information on the current drop-out rate is revealed by the authorities. This investigation also finds that the dropout rates that are posted publicly for parents and recorded for policy makers are highly understated.
Tags: high schools in New York; New York schools; high schools; high school dropout; high school dropout rates; GED; adult education; parents and schools; Syracuse schools; Fowler High School
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Medical Morass: How Do You Tame A Wild U.S. Program? Slowly and Reluctantly
The Journal investigates the practice of home health care companies to prolong patients' recovery. "Across the U.S., elderly patients are becoming economic jackpots for home-care companies, thanks to open-ended reimbursement by Medicare. What once was seen as one of the government's smartest initiatives for the elderly is increasingly viewed as a program out of control. Costs are soaring. Federal fraud investigators are widening their inquiries into billing practices. And Washington policy makers are hunting for ways to revise the fast-growing program to keep it from busting the already-strained Medicare budget."
Tags: health care; nurses; patients; politics
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King of the Commute
"Despite years of spending on public transit, Americans are driving more than ever. Some analysts say policy makers are mistaken to persist in emphasizing subway and rail construction, resisting road construction and urging commuters to carpool or take mass transit."
Tags: mass transit; transportation; public transportation; Portland; Oregon; commuting
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Drivers in Seattle scour the city for parking, finding frustration at every turn.
Frustration over parking may be highest in downtown Seattle, where a 1996 survey found there are 2.25 workers competing for each parking space. Officials in Seattle and other cities try to limit parking to appease environmentalist who say ample parking encourages drivers to take smog-belching cars onto already clogged roads. This is a three-part series about the parking situation in Seattle.
Tags: parking; autos; Department of Transportation; policy-makers; cars
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Great Escape: How Fannie Mae Gave the Slip to Adversaries Seeking to Rein It In
The Wall Street Journal reports on the critics of Fannie Mae, who say it has "converted its business-buying, packaging and reselling home loans- into a political currency that can be as potent as campaign contributions." In addition, critics question the mortgage company's "privileged, quasiofficial status" saying it gives them unfair advantages. Fannie Mae refutes the argument saying they have "convinced policy makers that the benefits from its rapid expansion-wider home ownership-outweigh any downside." Now legislators have begun to take sides. Kulish and Schlesinger report on this year long debate.
Tags: housing; legislators; Department of Housing and Urban Development; mortgages; Homeownership Alliance; money
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Hard Core
The New Times' "series examined all aspects of criminal street gangs in the Phoenix metropolitan area. It explored the lack of attention that is paid by policy makers and the public to the deeply rooted problems of violence and crime associated with these entrenched urban criminal organizations."
Tags: Drug and Gang Policy Council; crack cocaine PCP marijuana violence murder crime
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The Scariest Criminal
Governing Magazine reports that "Sex offenders are more likely than ever to be punished for their crimes. But that means policy makers face though decisions about how to deal with them in crowded prisons-and after their release....While the phenomenon of a prison system with so many sex offenders is new, the philosophical debates behind the decisions hat are putting them there are centuries old. Balancing the rights of the community and the rights of the individual is an ancient task...."