The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
Citations for safety and health violations by operators of underground coal mines have increased by nearly a third since 2006, with federal mine inspectors focusing about equally on three main types of mining hazards. An NPR analysis of nearly 80,000 citations written last year found that an accumulation of combustible coal dust was the most…
Read MoreDetroit Free Press investigative reporter Jennifer Dixon uncovered government documents showing that top executives at Synagro Technologies knew of questionable spending by underlings who paid bribes to win a $1.2-billion city contract in Detroit. The report noted that federal authorities prosecuted the two underlings, who now are in federal prison; but no executives with the…
Read MoreInstitutions for developmentally disabled New Yorkers have taken a new approach to care: locked units for people who officials say have had a brush with the law, according to an investigation by Mary Beth Pfeiffer of the Poughkeepsie Journal. In Part 2 of the ongoing series, “Money Pit/Money Makers” the newspaper revealed that the state…
Read MoreThe Washington Post’s “Top Secret America” series investigates the U.S. national security and intelligence system that is “so big, so complex and so hard to manage, no one really knows if it’s fulfilling its most important purpose: keeping its citizens safe.” The project, nearly two years in the making, includes detailed interactive graphics and maps.
Read MoreTake your CAR skills to the next level by learning how to uncover the “where” in your data, and receive a great deal on ArcView geographic system information system (GIS) software in this Aug. 13-15 bootcamp. Instructors Jennifer LaFleur of ProPublica and David Herzog of NICAR will lead this intensive three-day session in Columbia, MO. …
Read MoreBy Doug Haddix, IRE training director Attorney Herschel Fink brandished a copy of a $400,000 check from the city of Detroit – payable to the Detroit Free Press for legal fees in a public records battle involving former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. While large, the payment didn’t cover the newspaper’s full costs in its aggressive investigation,…
Read MoreAn InvestigateWest investigation revealed that the same powerful chemotherapy drugs that have saved hundreds of thousands of patients’ lives for decades have at the same time taken a potentially deadly toll on the health of hospital and clinic workers who handled them. The federal government, despite knowledge of the potential risks, continues to let these…
Read MoreThe board of Investigative Reporters and Editors joins other journalism organizations in the United States to protest the U.S. State Department’s recent decision to deny a visa for Colombian investigative journalist Hollman Morris, who was selected as a Nieman fellow for the 2010-2011 year at Harvard University. Morris is among the most prominent investigative TV…
Read MoreAssociated Press reporters Jeff Donn and Mitch Weiss discovered that more than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one – not industry, not government – is checking to see if they are leaking. The oldest…
Read MoreAn on-going investigation by ProPublica and FRONTLINE traces the story of a deadly but much lesser-known BP refinery explosion in 2005. The report explains how the company’s record of cutting corners on safety to maximize profits may have led to the blast. The explosion at a refinery in Texas City, Texas killed 15 people. “The…
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