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 "work ethics" ...
-
Health care influence at the Rhode Island General Assembly
This series of stories raised a number of ethical concerns involving state legislators. The stories detailed how the president of the senate made hundreds of thousands of dollars selling Blue Cross Insurance to CVS pharmacy employees, while as a legislator he used his position to kill pharmacy choice legislation. Other stories showed how another senator worked as a "consultant" for health care concerns and how the national drugstore industry entertained state legislators from around the country at luxury resorts. Following the newspaper's reports, the senate president and the head of Blue Cross resigned, while the state police and the FBI began an investigation.
Tags: politics; health care industry; pharmaceutical industry; drugstores; ethics; corporate influence; lobbying; special interests
-
Med School Turmoil
Dr. Issam Awad, the chairman of the neurosurgery department at Colorado's only medical schools, was accused by his colleagues of hurting patients, which prompted an investigation by a five-doctor committee that concluded that he gave substandard care in seven of the 10 cases reviewed and committed egregious violations of ethics. A series of FOIA requests and the anonymous mailing of the peer review of Awad's work made this a story that took considerable time and effort.
Tags: Education; Medicine; doctors; neurosurgery; scandal; racism; race; prejudice
-
On my Honor...
When word of a cheating scandal leaked out from the University of Virginia, it shook the very basis on which the institution stood. The honor code, one of the pillars of the University's ethics, had been crushed. And what's more, it wasn't even done by a handful of students. In one class alone, 158 papers turned in were all plagiarized, mostly from the works of previous students. This story investigates how the honor system has changed, and if it even still exists.
Tags: University; Virginia; Academics; cheating
-
Clinton's Top Fund-Raiser Made Pile for Himself, Too
Gerth offers this in-depth look at Terry McAuliffe, a fund-raiser for President Bill Clinton. Apparently, McAuliffe used political and business connections to raise money not only for political campaigns he worked on, but also to add to his own wealth. Since he is not government employed, he is not held to any ethical standards which might apply to politicians, but his work certainly played a large role in various political races over the past 20 years.
Tags: fund-raising; politics; money; philanthropy
-
Adventures on the money trail
Riverfront Times "went looking to find out how "campaign-finance-refrom legislation" was working in Missouri," and dicovered that it wasn't.
Tags: lobbying; special interests; lobbyists; Missouri Ethics Commission; elections; public records
-
Friends in High Places
A WTVF-TV investigation exposed "a questionable relationship between Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist and some state contractors." The news station discovered that two long-time friends of the governor received contracts for work from the state totalling almost $200 million. In one case, one of the companies was given a no-bid, $2 million contract with the explanation that this company was "the only company in Tennessee that has experience" for the job. The company in question, however, was incorporated just six days prior to that statement.
Tags: Tennessee; Governor Don Sundquist; state contractors; state government; governor; ethics; TennCare TAPE; TRANSCRIPT
-
Bitter Aftertaste
Antonia Demas, a graduate student, feared that some professor might steal her idea--and in this case, one did. Hers is a cautionary tale of a nutrition expert obsessed with justice, the professor who took credit for her work, and a university unwilling to do much about it . The Chronicle of Higher Education calls it a "stark case of academic misappropriation."
Tags: Cornell University; Antonia Demas; academic misappropriation; USDA; research; David A. Levitsky; university ethics
-
A sweetheart deal
WFTS reports that Steve LaBrake, Tampa's mayor right hand, has been abusing power for years. The series reveals that LaBrake, the city's Director of Business, Community Services and Housing, has awarded low income housing contractor Dean Ryan millions in city contracts in exchange for an underpriced luxury house. LaBrake also awarded millions to Tampa Hillsborough Housing Authority, a nonprofit agency, which paid back with favors and kickbacks. The stories describe how the housing director and his mistress - who was promoted to an executive position without having the required education and work experience - maintained a lifestyle they could not afford.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; contracts; nonprofit; ethics; law enforcement; city government; housing; construction; city council
-
Sheriff's Shake-Down
WTAE investigates a sheriff whose department used on duty officers to give rides home to people who didn't work for the department. They also looked at fund-raisers for the sheriff for which officers were mailed tickets at their homes.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; police; fund-raising; ethics
-
Yucca Mountain Conflict of Interest
A Las Vegas Sun investigation reveals that the law firm hired by the Energy Department to do legal work on the Yucca Mountain repository has been lobbying to get the project built. The Energy Department manages the proposed Yucca Mountain project, a federal proposal to bury tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste at the site about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The plan is controversial, environmentalists say its a bad idea, the nuclear energy industry says its needed. The Energy Department hired Chicago-based Winston & Straw to "independently review Yucca documents and impartially advise the DOE about possible flaws." But the Las Vegas Sun learned that Winston & Straw also does lobbying work for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the energy industry's top trade group and the "most vocal Yucca proponent in Washington." Nevada lawmakers contend that Winston & Straw involvement with the NEI and DOE presents a dangerous conflict of interest.
Tags: conflict of interest; ethics; Winston & Shaw; lawyers; federal government; Energy Department; Department of Energy; Yucca Mountain; nuclear waste; nuclear energy; Nuclear Energy Institute; lobbying; big money; politics; environment