The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
Investigative Reporters and Editors will present a half-day census workshop Oct. 4 during the SPJ national convention in Las Vegas. Full details are online at http://www.spj.org/c-halfday.asp. USA TODAY database editor Paul Overberg and IRE training director Doug Haddix will lead the in-depth sessions. You’ll leave with story ideas, a better understanding of how to use…
Read MoreA review of federal tax records by Christopher Baxter of The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) found that now-former leaders of a nationally prominent nonprofit with close and growing ties to Easton, Pa. improperly used nearly $1.9 million from the group’s tax-free coffers for personal expenses between 2003 and 2008. The Nurture Nature Foundation, headquartered in…
Read MoreA report by R. Jeffrey Smith of The Washington Post reveals that OneUnited Bank “received special treatment that went beyond what the Treasury Department or the bank and its political supporters have previously disclosed.” Despite multiple internal warnings, Congress and regulators “broke with customary practices” to award the bank federal bailout funds. The story includes…
Read MoreTwo photographers for the Mexican daily newspaper El Diario de Juarez were shot Thursday by unidentified gunmen outside the newspaper offices. Luis Carlos Santiago, a 21-year-old recently-hired photographer, was killed; and another photographer interning at the paper was injured. The assistant editorial director of El Diario, Pedro Torres Estrada has called the attack one against…
Read MoreA loophole in state and federal laws has made it easy for some attorneys to take advantage of Illinois residents struggling to keep their homes, according to an investigation by the Chicago Tribune. In 2006, Illinois and other states passed legislation that banned charging upfront fees for loan modifications. But the law doesn’t apply to…
Read MoreA violent Milwaukee youth who was a leader in a notorious street gang got breaks from the juvenile court system that kept him on the street were he committed new crimes, an investigation by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter John Diedrich revealed. The newspaper reported in July that miscommunication between federal and state authorities later resulted in…
Read MoreHonolulu Star-Advertiser reporter Rob Perez found that owners of million-dollar historic homes on Oahu were getting major property-tax breaks without meeting a key requirement of the exemption program — that the homes be visible from public streets. He also found that the city did not verify the owners’ required statements that the pre-exemption level of…
Read MoreMichael J. Berens, of The Seattle Times, uncovered hundreds of deaths inside state-licensed adult family homes indicating neglect or abuse, but the deaths were not reported to the state or investigated. Adult homes areless-regulated, less-expensive elder care options found in dozens of states. The Times reported that deaths indicating neglect occur at strikingly higher rates…
Read MoreAn investigation by Laura Burke of the Texas Observer revealed that female employees account for most of the perpetrators of sexual abuse in Texas’ juvenile facilities. Relatively few investigations and convictions have been made, and some attribute this to the perception that sexual abuse perpetrated by women is considered relatively harmless, and often consensual. As…
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