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 "snow" ...
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Maywood Confidential
On the evening of Oct. 23, 2006, as a premature snow fell in parts of the Chicago area, Maywood (Illinois) Police Officer Tom Wood pulled his marked SUV to a dimly lit corner known for drug sales, rolled down his window part of the way and began talking to somebody, likely a person he knew. Within minutes gunfire exploded from the street, ripping through the car and hitting Officer Wood in the head and elsewhere, killing the 37-year-old father of five almost instantly. More than six years later, the murder is still unsolved, and an eerie pall has been cast over the official investigation, and Maywood itself. The nonprofit Better Government Association (BGA) and WFLD-TV/FOX Chicago set out to determine what happened – why Officer Wood was killed and why the official investigation into his death had failed to produce an arrest or criminal charges. In a figurative sense, our findings (which form the basis for our entry) indict not a person, but a culture of corruption and apathy in Maywood that may have contributed to Officer Wood’s death, and certainly played a role in the subsequently botched homicide probe.
Tags: Murder; police officer; corruption; homicide
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Snow Removal
After the storm in January 2009, Southern Illinois University Carbondale was left to cleanup. The job brought "complaints from students, faculty, and staff" and the conditions were "hardest on the disabled". This story looks at the "Americans with Disabilities Act" and whether the university violated it. Further, it examines the concerns from "disabled students, faculty, and staff that had a very tough time maneuvering around campus because the sidewalks were not properly cleaned up".
Tags: college; education; campuses; storms; snow; removal; winter; criticize; school
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System Failure
"In June 2006, the auditor general of Newfoundland and Labrador began filing blockbuster reports on the spending habits of the province's politicians. The money is question came from their constituency allowances- a type of expense account that had long been derided as a type of political slush fund."
Tags: MHA; Derek Green; M.O. Morgan; Lloyd Snow; Douglas Oldford; Beaton Tulk;
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No Tow Zone
An in-depth investigation using Computer Assisted Reporting showed that during snow emergencies, tow trucks rarely showed up to certain parts of St. Paul. The story examines the ramifications for poorer communities as far as selective enforcement and unequal municipal services are concerned.
Tags: Snow; tow; city services
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Forecast: Hazy
Discover reports on the difficulties that modern meteorologists still face in predicting the weather. The story points to several examples of deadly storms in the recent decade, which have not been predicted until few minutes before they hit. The article reveals that weather service boasts with using "numerical weather modeling," said to be the best scientific achievement of the 20th century, but doesn't event track the accuracy of three-day forecasts.
Tags: tornados; winds; precipitation; storms; snow; blizzards; atmospheric conditions; National Weather Service Storm Prediction; National Hurricane Center; National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration; National Severe Storm Laboratory
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Arctic Heat Wave
The Progressive reports on the realities of global warming in areas close to the Arctic Circle. The story describes "the warmest summer anyone ... can remember" in Iqaluit, capital of the new semi-sovereign Inuit nation of Nunavit in the Canadian Arctic. "A world based on ice and snow is melting now...," reports the magazine. The story reveals that the changes are menacing to the local population, since some houses have eroded into the sea, and "food sources are getting farther and farther away."
Tags: Arctic; climate changes; Bush; politics; temperature; mosquitoes; hunting; forests; ice; wildlife
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The Long Winter of Dr. Snow
Philadelphia reports on the story of Larry Lavin, a dentist who "was the mastermind of a huge international cocaine operation ... [that] made him rich, and ... earned him a sentence of 42 years in jail." The author dissects the psychology of a former criminal and describes his turning into a model prisoner, exhibiting "the same leadership qualities that had helped him mastermind his cocaine empire." The story focuses on Lavin's emotional expectation of his 2001 parole hearing, the first he is eligible for "after 15 long years in the pen."
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"Aircraft 53-1876A has lost a device"
Rumrill describes how the U.S Air Force dropped a MK 6 bomb on a civilian property in a small town in South Carolina.The bomb contained a high-explosive trigger which blew up on contact with the ground, leaving a crater 50 feet across and 35 feet deep. Three little girls were injured in the incident.
Tags: bomb; aircraft 53-1876-A; Operation Snow Flurry; Mars Bluff
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The Double Life of a Hometown hero.
The inspiring story of a young boy who triumphed over adversity and became a cold-blooded killer. A successful wheelchair athlete, and how he fired seven bullets into a stranger's body. leaving him dead in the snow.
Tags: murder; disability; wheelchair; robbery; small town
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Snow Job
The Weekly Planet does a three-year investigation of the National Hockey League's Tampa Bay Lightning revealed massive debt; mysterious cash; deception of officials; media conflict of interest