1986 IRE Award winners

Leon Dash 
The Washington Post 
A series that challenges widely held assumptions about the reason for teen-age pregnancy in poorer communities.

Alex Beasley and Rosemary Goudreau 
The Orlando Sentinel 
Series finds the nation’s liability laws are being rewritten based on incomplete and inaccurate information.

Newspapers under 75,000

Ken Kolker, Steve Jessmore, Paul Chaffee and Curt Leece 
The Saginaw (Mich.) News 
A series on how blight robs the city of its homes, its history and its spirit.

Todd Oppenheimer 
The Independent (Durham, N.C.) 
Stories showing that a rushed, superficial property tax revolution mistakenly created more than a million dollars in tax breaks for the county’s most affluent homeowners.

Magazine

William C. Symonds and team 
BusinessWeek 
A story of questionable management practices at Allegheny International

Sheila Kaplan 
Common Cause 
A story about the growing number of members of Congress who are receiving all-expenses paid vacations for themselves and their families from business and special interest groups, possibly in violation of federal ethics rules.

Television, larger markets

Al Austin, Andy Greenspan and Peter Molenda 
WCCO-TV (Minneapolis) 
Stories finding that a young Minnesota man who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for two rapes in Texas was innocent.

Joe Collum, James Perry and Andra Hayes 
KPRC-TV (Houston) 
Investigation documents that at least seven inmates in Houston’s county jail died because medical attention was not available.

Television, smaller markets

Mike Jacobs and Ray Lapine 
WTMJ-TV (Milwaukee) 
A story investigates school bus accidents and finds drivers with long histories of traffic violations.

John McPherson and Jill Kalstrom 
WESH-TV (Orlando) 
A story revealing that the county was illegally burying hazardous waste in a landfill licensed for dirt and construction debris.

Lee Coppola 
WKBW-TV (Buffalo) 
An undercover investigation into the operation of a local business school that showed how federal and state laws were being broken with the admission of unqualified students and alteration of attendance and employment records.

Radio

Jeff Rainford 
KMOX (St. Louis) 
A story about how doctors with revoked licenses from other states or histories of malpractice suits could continue to practice on unsuspecting patients in Missouri.

Books

David E. Kaplan and Alec Dubro 
Addison Wesley (publisher) 
Yazuka 
Investigates the powerful Japanese organized crime sydicate.