The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
“Investigative reporter A.J. Lagoe, with WRIC TV8 in Richmond, Va, uncovers widespread fraud in Virginia’s court-appointed attorney system. Criminal defendants are lying about their assets in order to qualify for a free lawyer and all too often getting away with it thanks to a loophole in Virginia law.” “Now a man profiled in the 8News…
Read MoreCourtesy of The Columbus Dispatch When Jill Riepenhoff and Mike Wagner began researching credit report errors in 2010, virtually everyone they spoke with knew someone who had been affected. Although the industry lacks an official outlet for consumers to dispute credit claims, the reporters’ nationwide FOIA requests returned nearly 28,000 files from the Federal Trade…
Read MoreGoogle Crisis Response created this interactive map showing weather, emergency shelters and power authorities. As the East cost braced for Hurricane Sandy, data journalists across the country were working in realtime to spread the news. We gathered some of the interesting interactive coverage and data visualizations we found from around the web. Have a suggestion…
Read MoreThere is only one more week until the Nov. 2 postmark deadline for the Philip Meyer contest, and we want to see your work. The Philip Meyer Journalism Award recognizes stories that incorporate survey research, probabilities and other social science tools in creative ways that lead to journalism vital to the community. Established in 2005,…
Read MoreThere’s been talk of a couple books IRE put out back in the early 90’s titled 101 (and later 100) Computer-assisted reporting stories. Sadly, there’s only one copy of each here at the home office, both of which we’d like to keep for our archives. However, all of the story questionnaires that are featured in…
Read MoreA USA TODAY examination shows that thousands of “green” builders win tax breaks, exceed local restrictions and get expedited permitting under a system that often rewards minor, low-cost steps. Meanwhile, companies that make “green” products and materials are profiting handsomely as the building boom takes off.
Read MoreTransparency Watch is an occasional series from IRE tracking the fight for open records. If you have a story about a quest for public records you’d like to share, email us at web@ire.org. This past summer, I reported for The Oregonian on the issue of child labor on farms, specifically the health and safety risks of such work and…
Read MoreIn this in-depth investigation of a $25 billion national settlement between five of the United States’ largest banks and forty-nine states and the District of Columbia, ProPublica uncovers that the state of Florida was keeping $300 million meant to help needy homeowners on the brink of foreclosure. ProPublica’s investigation uncovers that Florida’s attorney general had not revealed…
Read MoreIn August, reporter Kate Martin of the Skagit Valley Herald analyzed salary data for mayors across Washington state and ended up with a story about mayors from small towns in her coverage area — Mount Vernon and Anacortes — who had salaries on par with mayors from cities several times larger. In reporting the story,…
Read MoreMark Lagerkvist of New Jersey Watchdog reports that the State of New Jersey is suing itself over a possible release of records to the website. Lagerkvist reports that on Oct. 15, the state attorney general filed a motion seeking to stop the state Government Records Council from reviewing files, which on Aug. 31 had ordered state…
Read More