The early bird deadline for 
It's time for the NICAR 2026 T-shirt contest!
The movie “The Informant!,” which opens at theaters tonight, is based upon the IRE-honored book by Kurt Eichenwald. The book was a finalist in the book category in the 2000 IRE Awards.
Read MoreBy Andy Curliss, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) Our running investigation has focused on former Gov. Mike Easley of North Carolina. We have revealed numerous instances of unreported gifts, favors or other perks provided to the governor while he was in office and shown how many of those people who made the gifts benefited…
Read MoreReporters Jay Price, J. Andrew Curliss and Joseph Neff of The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) broke the story of how former Gov. Mike Easley and his wife Mary accepted a $137,000 discount on a coastal lot from a developer who had gotten key permits from the Easley administration. The story continued a string of…
Read MoreAn investigation by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University (NECIR-BU) shows that regulators in Massachusetts have been slow to discipline problem mortgage brokers and lenders compared to other New England states. “Between January 1, 2007 and June 1, 2009, The Massachusetts Division of Banks took its most stringent actions against less…
Read MoreCharles Duhigg of The New York Times reports on states’ negligence in enforcing clean water laws. In West Virginia, tests found tap water containing “arsenic, barium, lead, manganese and other chemicals at concentrations federal regulators say could contribute to cancer and damage the kidneys and nervous system.” When companies disclosed that they were pumping illegal…
Read MoreBy Doug Haddix IRE training director There’s nothing wrong – and everything right – with rehearsing interviews, especially those that must be done by phone, according to Manny Garcia, executive editor of El Nuevo Herald in Miami, Fla. Sometimes, a reporter has only a minute or two to make a pitch by phone, given obstacles…
Read MoreRandy Ludlow of The Columbus Dispatch revealed “a loophole in an Ohio policy allowed thousands of undocumented immigrants to register cars and get license plates even though many did not have valid Social Security numbers or car insurance.” He reported that Ohio officials delayed a crackdown on illegal immigrants registering their vehicles with fraudulent power-of-attorney…
Read MoreEven as the biggest non-profit affordable housing agency in Tacoma, Wash. spiraled deeper into debt, forcing more than a dozen layoffs and property foreclosures, its executive director continued to be paid in full. In the latest development of his ongoing coverage into the Martin Luther King Housing Development Association’s meltdown, The News Tribune’s Lewis Kamb…
Read MoreMilwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Raquel Rutledge exposed flaws in Wisconsin’s taxpayer-financed child care system – and the case workers, supervisors and politicians responsible for costing taxpayers millions. In a two-part series, Rutledge looked at the case of a woman who collected nearly $3 million in taxpayer money while running a questionable operation. For a decade,…
Read MoreG.W. Schulz of California Watch found widespread waste and mismanagement of homeland security grants awarded to agencies throughout the state of California. Schulz reviewed thousands of pages of documents from state monitoring reports and found scores of problems and questionable purchases.
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