The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Government (federal/state/local)
FDA’s failure to respond causes millions to be exposed to deadly bacterium.
The story of tainted medical wipes and other disposable medical supplies in our hospitals first caught the media’s attention when a child from Houston, TX apparently died from the bacterium Bacillus cereus, a cousin to Bacillus antracis, or anthrax. However, with deeper investigations done, it turns out the FDA was aware that the plant, owned…
Read MoreCSB offers top dollar for director with little experience
This report by The News Leader reveals that the Valley Community Services Board offered top dollar to a job candidate with no mental health experience. The board was facing a $1.8 million budget gap, though still wanted to pay $162,000 to hire an executive director. The proposed salary is just slightly less than “the head…
Read MoreDespite transparency laws, many New Orleans court officials spend millions behind the public’s back.
“At least $26 million a year – and likely much more – is being spent on judiciary-related offices without the public involvement required by state law, The Lens has determined after a six-month analysis of records involving 11 agencies or offices. The review included five court systems, the Public Defender’s Office, the District Attorney’s Office…
Read MoreHaitian earthquake relief reaches impasse
This report by the Haiti Grassroots Watch and two students from the “Laboratoire de Journalisme at the State University of Haiti,” seeks to identify why reconstruction has not started in downtown Port-au-Prince, the location hit hardest by the earthquake in 2010. Numerous meetings and discussions have been held, but no plan of actions seems to…
Read MoreRetirement means big payouts for some in Erie County
In this series by the Buffalo News, reporter Aaron Besecker revealed that the “highest paid local government employee in Erie County last year” was Kenneth K. Hycner, a police lieutenant who did nothing out of the ordinary except retire. This investigation reveals that several local governments in Erie County often give police officers hefty “parting…
Read MoreBPU members rack up hefty, questionable travel bills
The NBC Action News team reveals that taxpayers in Wyandotte County, Kan., are being billed thousands of dollars for out-of-state trips taken by elected members with the Board of Public Utilities. All six members of the BPU racked up hefty charges in airfare, hotels and transportation fees. A records request for the “itemized 2010 travel…
Read MoreTexas tap water turning plumbing radioactive
KHOU-TV’s Mark Greenblatt finds so much radiation in the water of Central Texas cities, that even the pipes that carry it set off Geiger counters, and citizens are afraid to drink it. Greenblatt also uncovered a 10-year old state scientific report calling the water serious health risk”, but Texas officials all but ignored it. The…
Read MoreCalifornia National Guard accused of fraud
The Sacramento Bee reporter Charles Piller reports that the California National Guard’s internal auditor has accused 100 Guard members of “collecting fraudulent or improper pay” dating back as far as 2006. The pay, totaling half a million dollars, largely accrued by “violating dual compensation and travel expense rules.” This story is the latest in a…
Read MoreNashville court clerk keeps questionable work schedule
In part one of this series of stories by WSMV-TV, reporter Jeremy Finley and the Channel 4 I-Team found that one of the highest paid elected officials in Nashville, Tenn., only works about half of the week and uses a county car to run personal errands. The team’s hidden camera caught David Torrence, the Davidson…
Read MoreLion meat, found in some US butcher shops, is unregulated. Are you eating illegally?
After PRI’s Ike Sriskandarajah found lion meat on the shelf at his neighborhood butcher and followed the trail to a dark corner of the exotic meat trade. Follow his investigation from his local butcher shop, to the harsh realities of “exotic mean with transcripts and the use of Document Cloud. Find out how “no federal…
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