The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Extra Extra
Injury reports from Florida’s theme parks yield little information
A two-part series by Scott Powers of The Orlando Sentinel explored personal injury litigation against the big Florida theme parks, showing what happens when visitors get hurt and then sue. The findings show ride-related lawsuits at Walt Disney World, SeaWorld, Universal Orlando and Busch Gardens rarely shed light on whether the rides actually hurt anyone.…
Read MoreLead poisoning remains a risk for Chicago children
Matthew Hendrickson wrote a three-part series showing how Chicago children continue to be harmed by lead poisoning at alarming rates because of bureaucratic missteps — from kids being screened late to frustrated inspectors not having correct street addresses when tracking down those most at risk. Hendrickson also tested soil samples and found troubling amounts of…
Read MoreFelon operates ineffective foreclosure rescue trusts
For an investigation of foreclosure rescue schemes, the San Diego Union-Tribune analyzed all quitclaim deeds filed in San Diego County between January 2007 and October 2008. The investigation led reporter Eleanor Yang Su to Apocalypse and Amerisian trusts, which are ran by convicted felon Edmundo Rubi. According to the article, “In some operations, homeowners quitclaimed…
Read MoreAnalysis examines the aging of federal judges
Tisha Thompson at WTTG-Washington, D.C., found more than one-third of federal judges are at least 70 years old, the age at which the majority of states require their judges to retire. One judge is more than 101 years old and still hearing a full case load. Thompson created an interactive Web site with state-by-state comparisons…
Read MoreJuvenile center supervisor used staff doctor to get painkillers
A 10-month investigation by producer Lauren Sweeney and reporter Melissa Yeager at WINK-Fort Meyers helped change policy at Florida’s Department of Juvenile Justice. A worker at a juvenile justice center for kids with drug abuse and mental problems blew the whistle on his supervisor for obtaining a prescription for powerful painkillers from the staff doctor. Two separate…
Read MoreCriminals as mortgage brokers
Cary Spivak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel found that hundreds of loan brokers in Wisconsin have criminal records, including ex-drug dealers, armed robbers and a killer. In his latest installment of the ongoing “Easy Money” series, Spivak mined state and court records to find that many of these license holders have gone on to defraud…
Read MoreBankTracker crunches numbers from FDIC reports
An analysis of bank financial statements by the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University and msnbc.com, sheds new light on just how dangerous conditions have become in many banks across the nation. Information is available on the BankTracker site and a related msnbc.com story by Bill Dedman.
Read MoreChild Protective Services fails children in Fresno County
Following a disturbing pattern of child deaths, Brad Branan of The Fresno Bee investigated the Fresno County Child Protective Services. “Among California’s 20 biggest counties, Fresno County is one of the worst when it comes to meeting standards for child protection, The Bee found in an analysis of state data. The county’s Child Protective Services…
Read MoreDNA evidence exonerates another Ohio prisoner
In the latest developments from the The Columbus Dispatch series “Test of Convictions,” a Columbus man was declared innocent and freed from prison after serving 25 years. He is the second inmate to be tested and released as part of the ongoing investigation of inmate DNA testing. Ohio lawmakers are introducing a bill with sweeping…
Read MoreTulsa County siren coverage is spotty in areas
As many as 24,800 Tulsa County residents live in areas not reached by outdoor tornado sirens, a Tulsa World analysis found. Many of those residents live in the county’s remote north or southwestern sections where farms have yet to give way to residential developments. Included with the story are searchable databases listing all the tornadoes…
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