An investigative report by Chris Cary and Justin McLachlan, of Sharesleuth.com, revealed how a Canadian stock promoter and his associates worked as the hidden force behind the creation of nearly a dozen Chinese companies that gained listings on U.S. exchanges through so-called reverse mergers with American shell companies.
Read MoreFormer reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Asra Q. Nomani, and Georgetown University Journalism Director Barbara Feinman Todd led a team of 32 students in investigating the kidnapping and murder of Daniel Pearl that occurred in 2002. The three-year investigation, broken down into 11 parts, reveals new information and details about the 27 men who…
Read MoreIn 2005, Sacramento County decided to invest $4.4 million in a custom-built debt collection system. The system was expected to be implemented within two years. An investigation by the Sacramento Bee found that “six years later the costs have skyrocketed to more than $10 million, and the county still doesn’t have a finished system. In…
Read MoreBy Doug Haddix, IRE training director A public records request for e-mails sometimes can produce quick-turn watchdog stories with powerful results. Take the experience of John Russell, a business reporter for The Indianapolis Star. Russell sharpened his investigative skills during a two-day IRE watchdog boot camp in Nashville for Gannett employees. The training was one…
Read MoreThe work of reporter Stanley Nelson, of the Concordia (La.) Sentinel, has implicated a man in the unsolved 1964 civil rights murder of Frank Morris. Interviews with three people linked a Richland Parish truck driver to the arson that killed Morris. “The three people, all of them now or previously related to the truck driver,…
Read MoreLong-time IRE member Dunstan “Dusty” McNichol died unexpectedly Tuesday. He was 54. McNichol, who contributed to the IRE Journal and spoke at IRE Conferences, was an active member of IRE since 1998. McNichol covered the New Jersey Statehouse for 10 years for the Star-Ledger “and was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize…
Read MoreDespite sanctions and trade embargoes, over the past decade the United States government has allowed American companies to do billions of dollars in business with Iran and other countries blacklisted as state sponsors of terrorism, an examination by Jo Becker of The New York Times has found. Nearly 10,000 licenses for deals involving such countries…
Read MoreJohn Lauerman and Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News found that for-profit colleges, faced with new federal restrictions, more than doubled their lobbying spending, bringing in six former members of Congress to help make their case on Capitol Hill. Ten education companies and their trade association spent $3.8 million on lobbying in the first nine…
Read MoreA Dallas Morning News review of public records and databases found nepotism in charter schools across Texas, along with many administrators earning six-figure salaries to run charter schools with only a few hundred or a couple of thousand students
Read More