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In an attempt to bust criminal operations in Milwaukee by purchasing drugs and guns from felons the ATF set up a storefront sting. However, “the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun…
Read MoreIn December, Tim Steller, a reporter and now columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, reported on the increasing number of shootings occurring between Border Patrol and illegal immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. The victims in some cases appear to have been unarmed. This fact and the lack of transparency in the investigations has cast doubt…
Read MoreOn Monday Congress approved $51 billion in disaster aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy, three months after the storm that killed more than 130 people and caused billions in damage to the Atlantic coast. Follow the money with IRE’s coverage page, Hurricane Sandy: Covering the Aftermath The spending was heavily debated and at a time sparked bipartisan…
Read MoreIRE’s Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference offers an opportunity for in-depth, one-on-one coaching on data-driven investigative reporting techniques, news applications and tools. These private sessions allow attendees to seek advice on challenging projects or followup ideas and professional development. These sessions are not for job seekers; they are designed for teaching and sharing information. You must have…
Read More“This long-running spree of crime has led US immigration officials to try, at least three times in the past 12 years, to detain and deport Vaclavik. But each time he has challenged the effort with a lawsuit — and each time immigration has backed off and set him free,” according to The Boston Globe’s story.
Read More“Choco was the first journalist to fall victim to the turf war between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels that engulfed the state of Chihuahua from 2007 to 2011. He was not the last. In July, the special prosecutor for crimes against journalists in Mexico testified that 67 journalists had been killed in that country since 2006.…
Read MoreAnalyzing state education data, The Morning Call found that only 28 percent of Pennsylvania charter schools met an adequate yearly progress rating, compared to 49 percent using a more lenient calculation implemented by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Education and later rejected by the U.S. Department of Education.
Read MoreThe ability to background a person is an essential tool for journalists regardless of beat, as shown by news of Lennay Kekua, the deceased girlfriend of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o who never existed but became one of the prominent storylines in sports this year. The fact that Kekua was a complete fabrication is a…
Read More“President Obama has indicated a move towards strengthening federal gun control measures, but the reality is that the majority of gun legislation in the US is enacted at the state level. That has brought broad variations across the country, with states taking different approaches to issues ranging from sales, permits, licensing, self-defense and carry laws.”…
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