The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
A three-day series by students from Columbia College Chicago, in collaboration with Illinois Statehouse News, examines Illinois’ century-old legislative scholarship program. The program doled out $12.5 million during the 2007-2008 academic year. The investigation found there is “virtually no regulation of the scholarship program.” The only requirement is that applicants must live in the awarding…
Read MorePam Louwagie and Glenn Howatt of the (Minneapolis) Star Tribune have finished their three-part investigation into falling deaths in Minnesota nursing homes. According to the newspaper’s analysis, more than 1,000 Minnesota deaths were related to falls in nursing homes from 2002 through 2008, but few were fully investigated. In fact, less than 10 percent of…
Read MoreAlison Young of USA Today reports that vaccine distribution data from three states shows that thousands of doses of the H1N1 vaccine went to corporate clinics when the supply was scarce. Walt Disney World, Toyota and Norwegian Cruise lines were three such recipients. “Of the 2.42 million doses in Texas and 2 million in Florida…
Read MoreBy Daniel Gilbert Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier On Sunday, our newspaper launched an eight-day investigative series on mineral rights that draws extensively on techniques I learned at IRE’s August boot camp on computer-assisted reporting. The stories focus on landowners forced by the state of Virginia to lease their mineral rights to private companies. The companies…
Read MoreA series by the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier exposed problems with Virginia’s mineral rights leasing program. Landowners have been forced to lease their mineral rights to private companies with the promise of royalties in return. “But instead of reaching the pockets of mineral owners, the money is funneled into an opaque state-run escrow fund, where…
Read MoreA nine-month investigation by the Center for Public Integrity looks at sexual assaults on college campuses. “According to a report funded by the Department of Justice, roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But official data from the…
Read MoreTired of feeling frustrated by spreadsheets or intimidated by databases? Or maybe you’ve mastered basic computer-assisted reporting skills and are ready to dive into mapping. Intensive IRE boot camps can help you hone new skills to produce more compelling stories and make yourself invaluable in your newsroom, all in a few days of practical training.…
Read MoreThe New England Center for Investigative Journalism found that 13 of the 21 companies awarded federal stimulus contracts from the Massachusetts Transportation Highway Division failed to disclose serious pollution or workplace safety penalties leveled against them, as is required by law. Together, these companies have received $54 million dollars of federal money. As a result…
Read MoreAn investigation by Daniel Chacón of The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.) found that the “Colorado Springs Police Department’s tracking of dozens of take-home government-owned vehicles is so incomplete no one can say if officers are using them to respond to emergencies, commuting or personal errands.” The police department was not aware of the issue until…
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