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 "regulation" ...
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Debt Deception?
Although the financial crisis exposed the perils of predatory lending, some of the worst practices continue to elude regulators. The Center for Public Integrity's "Debt Deception" series takes a penetrating look at some of the most egregious lending practices afflicting consumers today.
Tags: financial crisis; debt; deception; lending practices
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Model Workplaces, Imperiled Workers
The Center's series exposed serious problems with an ever-expanding government program that promises results through cooperative regulation but often has failed to protect the nation's working men and women. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary Protection Programs, known as VPP, recognize "model workplaces" and offer them an exemption from regular inspections. But in many cases, this government stamp of approval was a hollow trophy, allowing companies to avoid scrutiny and to attract employees. Even after preventable tragedies at these sites, OSHA rarely cracked down.
Tags: OSHA; occupational safety and health administration voluntary protection program; model workplace
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Drilling Down
After covering the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Ian Urbina and his editors were struck by a simple question: The Gulf spill highlighted the weaknesses in oversight of offshore drilling, are there any weaknesses worth investigating in the regulation of onshore drilling?
Tags: BP Oil Spill; Gulf Oil Spill; onshore drilling; offshore drilling
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The Cruelest Show on Earth
The story documents a decade-long history of injury, illness and fatal accidents in Ringling's famed herd of performing elephants -- and the repeated failure of federal regulators to intervene.
Tags: elephants; Animal Welfare Act; Jim Moran; exotic animals; circuses
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Aging Nukes
The series examines the condition of aging nuclear power plants in the United States. It's opening installment proclaims: Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation's aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them.
Tags: Nuclear Power; United States; Power Industry; Reactors;
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Investigation of fatal pipeline blast
Before the National Transportation Safety Board issued its findings into the 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno that killed eight people, the San Francisco Chronicle had already exposed negligent management by pipeline operator Pacific Gas and Electric Co. and lax regulation by the state and federal governments that contributed to a disaster.
Tags: NTSB; National Transportation Safety Board; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.; pipeline
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Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough not to be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes -- sterile and nonsterile -- can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.
Tags: alcohol wipes; public safety; bacteria; public health
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Asleep at the Wheel
Driver fatigue kills more people on the highways than texting, cell phone use and all other distractions combined. Yet the underlying factors of fatigue-related crashes have yet to capture the attention of Congress, the public and federal regulators. The WCNC-TV Investigative Team spent months drilling down into one cause that has received almost no national attention: sleep apnea. An estimated 13 to 20 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea and with increases in obesity which is related to the disorder, that number is climbing. Studies show drivers with sleep apnea are exponentially more likely to crash. And millions of long-haul truckers are more prone to sleep apnea than the average driver of a "four-wheeler".
Tags: broadcast; sleep apnea; drivers; crash
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Poisoned Places: Tonawanda
It's difficult to definitively link any one person's illness to air pollution from a particular plant. But the concerns about the health effects of Tonawanda Coke's toxic pollution rallied a small group of people in Tonawanda -- most of them sick -- to force complacent regulators to clean up the air. The case highlights the risks posed to communities around the country by an environmental regulatory system that largely entrusts companies to voluntarily disclose how much toxic pollution they emit and that can take years to act once violations are discovered.
Tags: air pollution; toxic emission; Tonawanda; Coke; health effects;
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Shattered Trust
The public assumes sterile alcohol wipes are sterile or at least clean enough to not be dangerous. But an ongoing investigation in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that wipes--sterile and nonsterile--can be dangerously contaminated, and federal regulators are not doing much to protect the public. When there are recalls, the public is not finding out because of lax communication and weak tools for regulators.