Introducing the 2026 IRE Conference Fellows!
In a 2-part series for MSNBC.com, Bill Dedman details the investigations into detainee abuses at Guantanamo. “[F]ormer leaders of the Defense Department’s Criminal Investigation Task Force said they repeatedly warned senior Pentagon officials beginning in early 2002 that the harsh interrogation techniques used by a separate intelligence team would not produce reliable information, could constitute…
Read MoreGeoff Dutton of The Columbus Dispatch dissected unusual property deals worth more than $11 million involving Middle Eastern buyers who paid far above the list price on expensive houses. The catch: “the sellers must agree to immediately refund the difference between the asking price and the sale price“. Neighbors and real-estate experts fear that the…
Read MoreABC 15 investigator Abbie Boudreau looks at the murder of Don Bolles murder 30 years after his car was bombed. Bolles died 11 days later. With new evidence and questions about the killing of Don Bolles, ABC 15 calls into question whether an innocent man, Max Dunlap, was framed for one of Arizona’s most infamous…
Read MoreAs the election nears, it’s nice to see a collection of state-level campaign finance stories, since most of the attention is on the federal races. Among the recent examples is a St. Louis Post-Dispatch piece on electric utility donations to state lawmakers and a story on gubernatorial donors related to the Trans-Texas Corridor in the…
Read MoreDavid Glovin and David Evans report on “Tests that Fail” for the December issue of Bloomberg Markets. Their story exposes egregious faults in the $2.8 billion academic assesment industry. Regularly, the largest testing companies make errors in grading and scoring exams – from mistakenly failing over 4,000 aspiring teachers on the national Praxis exam to…
Read MoreIn a piece for MotherJones, CIR correspondents Sara Shipley Hiles and Marina Walker Guevara reveal how the St. Louis-based firm, Doe Run, expanded its operations abroad at a time when it was facing increasing scrutiny and regulation in the United States, milking money from its Peruvian operation while claiming it couldn’t afford to finish its…
Read MoreMichael Fabey of Aerospace Daily & Defense Report writes that the Air Force’s planned defense system meant to protect the US against a repeat of 9/11-type aviation attacks is 2 years behind schedule and millions over budget. In the meantime, the US relies on NORAD Contingency Suite – the interim system put in place immediately…
Read MoreDavid E. Kaplan and Kevin Whitelaw released Part One of a series in U.S. News & World Report on how reformers are trying to remake the U.S. intelligence community. In this week’s issue, Whitelaw presents the first in-depth portrait of the secretive National Counterterrorism Center, which acts as the hub for foreign and domestic intel…
Read MoreIn a four-part investigative series, Ryan Gabrielson of the East Valley (AZ) Tribune exposes rampant misconduct in the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD), the largest junior college district in the US. The Tribune reviewed audits from the last five years which revealed rampant fraud – including theft of money and property, falsified enrollment records…
Read MoreIn a series by Salon.com and the Center for Investigative Reporting, Will Evans exposes a money trail that leads from the pockets of judges to coffers of prominent Republicans – including the President. “At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president…
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