The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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Aviation accidents on the rise in U.S. Army
Over the past decade, there has been a marked increase in the number of Army aviation accidents, according to a report by Michael Fabey of Aviation Week. In the first year of the Bush administration’s “global war on terror,” fatalities increased by 875 percent — from 8 in 2000 to 78 in 2001. This trend…
Read MoreThe murky world of online gambling
A joint project by The Washington Post and 60 Minutes explores the world of online gambling. The industry clears $18 billion annually, but exists in murky legal territory. One group of online poker players had to take it upon themselves to unearth a $20 million cheating scam. But they could not turn to U.S. officials…
Read MoreMexico under siege
An extensive series by The Los Angeles Times details the war on drugs underway in Mexico. Since January 2007, it is estimated that 6,285 people have died in the efforts to curb the drug trade — a number greater than the total U.S. fatalities in the Iraq War. The series explores the war as it…
Read MoreIndia: Driven to compete
Steve Eder of The Toledo Blade reports that the embattled U.S. auto industry is facing yet another threat — India. In a three-part series, The Blade shows how India’s automakers are ramping up plans to sell their cars globally. The project, which included interviews with auto executives, parts suppliers, engineers, politicians and peasants in India’s…
Read MoreCertain majors find large clusters of student athletes
USA TODAY looked at the majors of more than 9,000 junior and senior athletes in football, baseball, softball, and men’s and women’s basketball and found high rates of concentrations of athletes in certain majors at 83% of schools. Some schools had several “clusters” and more than half of the clusters are what some analysts refer…
Read MoreJournalists threatened as Mexico’s drug war grows
William Booth of The Washington Post reports that journalists are finding themselves at increased risk as violence escalates in Mexico’s drug war. On November 13, Armando Rodríguez, a reporter for El Diario in Ciudad Juarez, was murdered in front of his home. Earlier in the month, the decapitated head of a drug dealer was placed…
Read MoreMcCaffrey profits from the business of war
A report by David Barstow of The New York Times reveals how Barry McCaffrey, a retired four-star Army general, has parlayed his stature and influence into lucrative opportunities, including a consultancy for a military contractor interested in supplying forces in Iraq with armored vehicles. Since 9/11, McCaffrey has “made nearly 1,000 appearances on NBC and…
Read MoreObama found support in Oklahoma’s urban precincts
Oklahoma voters gave Republican Sen. John McCain one of his largest margins of victory over Democrat Barack Obama in the presidential election earlier this month. But an analysis of precinct results from across the state by The Oklahoman shows Obama claiming heavily populated urban areas and pockets of support in eastern Oklahoma. McCain outpolled Obama…
Read MoreUnapproved prescription drugs covered by Medicaid
An Associated Press analysis of federal drug data shows the U.S. government has spent over $200 million since 2004 on drugs that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. In some instances, these unapproved medications have been linked to deaths. While Medicaid is not supposed to cover unapproved drugs, the FDA does…
Read MoreU.S flex-fuel fleet fraught with problems
A 16-year long federal program to build a fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles for the government has been riddled with problems, according to a report by Kimberly Kindy and Dan Keating of The Washington Post. “Under a mandate from Congress, federal agencies have gradually increased their fleets of alternative-fuel vehicles, a majority of them ‘flex-fuel,’ capable…
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