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 "safety problems" ...
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Startribune:The Day Care Threat
Children had been dying in Minnesota child care at an alarming rate and state regulators and industry leaders had overlooked the problem until our reporting laid bare a series of safety failures that led to the spike in deaths. The reporters made dozens of public record requests and analyzed hundreds of cases to uncover wide problems in the state’s in-home daycare system. They almost all the deaths occurred at in-home daycares, which have more lax regulations than centers. The series also uncovered dozens of cases of sexual abuse, gun violence and negligence that harmed children in the state’s in-home daycare system. It revealed how Minnesota has some of the weakest training and supervision rules in the country for these in-home daycares. The reporters also discovered that critical safety records that would help parents identify problem providers were not accessible to the public. The response to the series was swift and sustained. State regulators implemented changes to improve infant safe sleep practices and they are planning legislation this session to shore up some of the safety problems. The series also highlighted how the lack of information about child care deaths is a national problem.
Tags: Child care; safety; daycare system; sexual abuse; gun violence; negligence
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HBO Real Sports: Hockey's Darkest Day
In 2011 a plane carrying a Russian hockey team crashed shortly after takeoff--the deadliest accident in the history of professional sports. A five-month Real Sports investigation uncovered massive safety problems in the Russian hockey league. The league spent millions on player salaries but "a few bucks" on everything else--including travel. The plane that crashed was operated by a cheap, third-rate company that had been banned from flying to Europe because they had been cited so many times for major safety violations. The crew of the plane hadn't even completed their training. Our investigation showed that the lack of safety in the world’s second best hockey league—called the KHL—often extends to the ice where KHL team doctors use IV’s and drugs to get their players to perform better on the ice. One young star died after receiving an injection of banned drugs from team doctors. When it came to travel, the lack of safe conditions was nearly universal. Practically every team flew on a Soviet-era jet—jets that make up 3% of the world’s fleet but account for 42% of the world’s accidents. These jets are in such poor condition that most Russian airlines wont use them. Yet even after the crash the KHL continued to use these planes, a fact they initially denied. Shortly after we interviewed the KHL Vice President, the league changed its rules. Now teams fly strictly on modern equipment.
Tags: Russia; Russian hockey team; plane crash; the KHL;
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MKE Journal Sentinel: Police Problems
In Milwaukee, there may be no institution more powerful, more troubled and more determined to fight public scrutiny than the police department. It is a dangerous combination. In 2012 alone, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel exposed how two officers ignored a handcuffed prisoner’s gasps and pleas for help, refused to call an ambulance in violation of department policy, and then were cleared of responsibility despite indications they played a role in the man’s death. We revealed deep flaws with the city’s crime numbers and showed how the chief, instead of fixing them, misled the public about its safety while boosting his resume. All the while, the department has worked to stymie scrutiny, from charging unpermitted fees for access to public records to dropping daily media briefings in favor of news dispensed via Twitter and a flashy new website ironically dubbed “The Source.”
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Life on the Line: 911 Breakdowns at the LAFD
This series of investigative stories paired textbook investigative techniques with a ground-breaking data analysis to document deep-rooted problems in a safety net millions of Angelenos rely on when they dial 911.
Tags: fire department; responders; first-response
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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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Scales of Justice
Many known criminals in Linn County walk the streets freely. Among many problems with the local justice system, the largest is that criminal cases are dismissed without prosecution. Without charges on a drug dealer's, child pornographer's, or girlfriend beater's records, it's as if they never committed a crime. The lack of corrective action is leaving local police with low morale and an overwhelming job of arresting repeat offenders only to see the justice system release them back on the public.
Tags: justice system; police; prosecution; charges; arrests; morale; criminals; streets; Linn County; CBS 2; attorney; public safety;
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Gun Permit
In the state of Indiana, “no permit is required to possess a gun”. But to carry a gun outside of their homes or businesses, they must be issued a permit by the state police to make it legal. A few problems have arisen from this, which include the state issuing permits over the request of the local police not to and these permits being issued to convicted criminals or those deemed violent.
Tags: Indiana State Police; law enforcement; police department; public; safety; gun control; protection
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Failing our Athletes: The Sad State of Sports in Boston Public Schools
This series examined the state of athletics in the Boston public school district. The amount of problems discovered was both shocking and disappointing. Some of the discovered problems were the program was “underfunded compared to cities of similar size, staffing problems, poor facilities, safety of the athletes, and competency of many coaches”.
Tags: children; kids; sports; games; education; student-athletes; court; field; season; players; uniforms; city government
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What's Wrong with the Hydrant?
In the investigation, it was revealed that “hundreds of fire hydrants” were not meeting minimum standards for water flow. This prevents firefighters from adequately fighting a fire and requires more time to extinguish a fire. Further, the investigation revealed a number of problems including a water system “looking like clogged arteries, firefighters struggling in aging rural communities”, and lower costs were more important than finding a solution.
Tags: fire chief; fire department; safety; housing; US Fire Administration; water supply; fire victim
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Dead by Mistake
This series documents the massive number of deaths and injuries caused from preventable medical errors. These errors cause "more deaths than traffic accidents', more specifically they cause nearly "200,000 deaths per year" Behind the numbers are the people who trusted the medical system, including the 30 individual cases spotlighted in this series. Furthermore, once the problems were revealed the medical community and the government failed to take the effective steps necessary to solve the problems.
Tags: Medical; medicine; health care; hospitals; errors; patients; risk; victims; death; mistakes; safety; system