The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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BP oil spill relief funds buys millions in gear
An AP investigation reveals that the millions of dollars given to coastal towns affected by the massive oil spill last year is not being used for cleanup purposes. While the crisis was still unfolding, BP “poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Gulf Coast communities with few strings attached.” AP reporters found that a small…
Read MoreWhite House visitor logs incomplete
An analysis by the Center for Public Integrity recently revealed that the visitor logs for the White House are incomplete. The logs are the “official record” of who stops by the White House and is “maintained by the Secret Service.” The investigation shows that the logs are missing many visitors, including celebrities, “lobbyists, government employees,…
Read MoreMaui nonprofit questioned after financial review shows high amount of unspent grants
The Wailuku Main Street Association, a nonprofit organization that supports and preserves small towns, has “accumulated more than $374,000 in unspent county grants.” The organization claims that it is “frugal” practices that have allowed the buildup of unspent money. Critics of the nonprofit also question why the organization isn’t required to show receipts or documentation…
Read MoreHigh radon levels existed in Ann Arbor City Hall for more than 15 years
Reports dating back to the early 1990s indicate that top city officials were aware of high radon levels in the basement of Ann Arbor’s city hall where many police officers worked for years. Measures were put in place, however, failed to eradicate the problem. The levels of radon, which is a radioactive gas that can…
Read MoreTeaching licensure violations ignored in Minnesota
More than 900 Minnesota teachers over the past five years violated licensing rules aimed at making sure children get a proper education, but state regulators are doing virtually nothing to enforce the rules, according to a Star Tribune investigation. The superintendent in North. St. Paul told co-workers in an email that she was “clueless” about…
Read MoreHaiti’s reconstruction efforts reported on by Haiti Grassroots Watch
Haiti Grassroots Watch – a collaborative journalism watchdog organization – is reporting on the recovery in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake. “The effort focuses on ‘watchdogging’ the aid and reconstruction from the point of view of Haiti’s majority, at the same time as it also provides historical and political context, examines structural causes and…
Read MoreOn Shaky Ground series
A three-part investigation by California Watch uncovered “systematic failures by the state’s chief regulator of construction standards for public schools.” The series exposed lax oversight of earthquake safety certification for schools; project inspectors with poor performance records; and government rules that made it nearly impossible for schools to get the repair money they needed.
Read MoreDuwamish River poses health threat to those who live nearby
The Duwamish is not just Seattle’s only river, and the original home of its first Native American people, it is now also an industrial waterway classified as one of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites and one of the few federal Superfund cleanup sites in the country to bisect a major urban area. InvestigateWest’s Carol…
Read MoreTest improvements at D.C. schools raise questions
A USA Today investigation, based on documents and data secured under D.C.’s Freedom of Information Act, found that for the past three school years most of Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus’ classrooms had extraordinarily high numbers of erasures on standardized tests. The consistent pattern was that wrong answers were erased and changed to right ones.…
Read MoreOfficers keep jobs despite sexual misconduct charges
Three Milwaukee police officers disciplined by the department after women accused them of on-duty sexual misconduct continue to wear the badge, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Gina Barton found. One of the officers served a 60-day suspension and has since been promoted to sergeant. The other two were fired but reinstated after appealing to the…
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