The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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Project identifies top lenders at center of financial meltdown
A project by the Center for Public Integrity delved into the financial crisis by analyzing 7.2 million subprime loans made from 2005 through 2007. The analysis revealed 25 lenders responsible for nearly $1 trillion in subprime lending during that time. Their reporting uncovered “that at least 21 of the top 25 subprime lenders were directly…
Read MoreInvestigation reveals charities’ inflated finances
The Arizona Republic has spent a year investigating a network of 22 charities with ties to a Phoenix televangelism ministry. Nearly all the charities are part of the Combined Federal Campaign, which is the largest workplace charity drive in the world. The series reveals how much donors may not know about the charities they give…
Read MorePaper investigates Philly’s flawed tax board
Mark Fazlollah and Joseph Tanfani of the Philadelphia Inquirer examined the city’s flawed Board of Revision of Taxes. The board, among other things, allowed backdoor tax cuts that cost the city millions. According to the article, “Decades of such deals and persistent mismanagement by the BRT have left Philadelphia with one of the most unfair…
Read MoreHospital pulls advertising, bans paper from campus
“Hackensack University Medical Center has pulled advertisements from North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, and has banned the newspaper from hospital property following publication of a story about its governing board,” reports Mary Jo Layton of NorthJersey.com. The article addressed questionable practices of the hospital’s board members and trustees.
Read MoreGrand jury indicts bakery leader in murder of Chauncey Bailey
The San Francisco Chronicle and The Chauncey Bailey Project report that Yusuf Ali Bey IV, leader of the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, was indicted by an Alameda County grand jury. “Prosecutors are likely to bring the case with special circumstances – allowing them to seek the death penalty against Bey IV, 23. He allegedly…
Read MoreGirl’s death leads to scrutiny of police department
The Fayetteville Observer investigated a police department’s mishandling of a child abuse case. The department’s actions ultimately led to its loss of felony arrest powers, scrutiny from the Cumberland County district attorney and a grand jury probe of corruption. The death of 3-year-old Anijah Burr had never been reported and was kept hidden behind a…
Read MoreAirports with high rates of bird strikes pinpointed
National Public Radio combined the Federal Aviation Administration’s wildlife-strike reports with airport activity figures to calculate airport “strike rates,” an industry measure that is not publicly available and that standardizes bird strikes according to the amount of traffic at an airport. They also provided an interactive map for Web users to find out strike rates…
Read MoreNew teachers twice as likely to teach in poor D.C. neighborhoods
“Students in the region’s poorest neighborhoods are nearly twice as likely to have a new or second-year teacher as those in the wealthiest, a Washington Post analysis has found. The pattern means some of the neediest students attend schools that double as teacher training grounds.” University of Virginia economist James Wyckoff described this trend as…
Read MoreCities and county failed to inspect fire hydrants
An investigation by Matt Dixon of The Villages Daily Sun (The Villages, Fla.) revealed that fire hydrants in Sumter County have not been regularly inspected. A request for maintenance records by the paper revealed that none existed. Municipalities county-wide had been under the impression that the county was responsible for the maintenance of fire hydrants. …
Read MoreNewspaper reveals problems with narcotics-related warrants
Wendy Ruderman and Barbara Laker of the Philadelphia Daily News report that, “Again and again, supervisors in the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Field Unit signed off on cookie-cutter applications for search warrants, which are now the subject of an expanding FBI and police Internal Affairs Bureau investigation.” The article is part of “Tainted Justice,” a series…
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