The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Blog
A investigation by Walt Bogdanich and Nicholas Phillips of The New York Times found that the federal Railroad Retirement Board has not held a formal meeting in over two years. The board oversees the retirement and disability benefits for railroad workers. “Operating out of public view, with little scrutiny from Congress and even from its…
Read MoreSome Georgia schools made astonishing improvements when their failing students were re-tested, according to an analysis of testing data by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The highly unusual turnarounds raise questions about the integrity of the testing and the accuracy of the scores, experts said. The state is now investigating.
Read MoreJohn McCain’s campaign headquarters sold blackberry phones chock full of internal information, according to a report by Tisha Thompson of Fox 5 (Washington, D.C.). The campaign was trying to sell off old office inventory from its Arlington, Va. campaign offices, with everything from computers to file cabinets offered for bargain basement prices. They also sold…
Read MoreIan Demsky of The News Tribune in Tacoma, Wash. found that nearly a third of the voters in Pierce County cast their ballots for Democratic president-elect Barack Obama and Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi. The article includes maps of the areas that went for Obama and Rossi and the county’s results of both races.
Read MoreA series in The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) raises serious questions about the effectiveness of the North Carolina probation system. The report reveals that, since 2000, 580 people have killed in North Carolina while under probation officer supervision. Outdated computer systems make it difficult to track new offenses by probationers. Problems, such as growing…
Read MoreMiramax studio and Idealogy production company are in talks with Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. to acquire the movie rights to the Arizona Project Series. IRE owns the copyright to the series, published in 1977. Talks began after IRE was contacted several months ago regarding the possibility of a film being produced that would tell…
Read MoreA report by Christine Willmsen and David Heath of The Seattle Times shows that $7.6 million worth of earmarks pushed through by prominent members of Congress — including senators Hillary Rodham Clinton, Charles Schumer and Alren Specter — have kept troops equipped with an inferior chemical-warfare protection product. “Clinton, who is poised to become secretary…
Read MoreThe News Journal’s three-part series on Delaware’s volunteer firefighters exposed slow response times, manpower shortages, archaic rules and lopsided funding formulas, as well as potential solutions and alternatives to the current system. The package includes an interactive map with operation and financial data on the 60 volunteer companies in the state.
Read MoreUSA TODAY’s Blake Morrison and Brad Heath have published a package of stories using government data to examine the air quality of American schools located near industrial plants. They found that thousands of schoolchildren are exposed to dangerous levels of carcinogens, metals and other chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency has never run these models and…
Read MoreThe seventh installment of The Washington Post‘s “Forced Out” series explores how a longtime city council member and former U.S. Housing and Urban Development official was paid millions of dollars for a series of housing projects marred by double-billing and dubious deals. In one case, the developer received $25 million from U.S. HUD to help dozens…
Read More