The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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Paper trail of questionable management plagues New Jersey medical school
An article by Josh Margolin and Ted Sherman of The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger uncover new scandals at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). After a long legal battle with the University, the Star-Ledger obtained documents which “paint a picture of a state institution in which high-paid administrators chased state grants they…
Read MoreSago Anniversary
On the anniversary of the Sago Mine explosion, The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette continues to probe safety issues behind the blast that killed 12 miners. Ken Ward Jr. reports that “the Sago disaster might not have happened if regulators and the coal industry had heeded the warnings… from a series of other lightning-induced explosions in the…
Read MoreForeclosing the American Dream
An ongoing series by Jeff Roberts, David Olinger, Greg Griffin and Aldo Svaldi of The Denver Post “examines why the state’s foreclosure rate leads the nation and how it is affecting Coloradans, their communities and the economy.” A computer-assisted analysis revealed a problems in neighborhoods where builders acted as lenders.
Read MoreContributions might violate city ordinance
In a computer-assisted analysis of campaign contributions, Matt Stiles and Chase Davis of The Houston Chronicle found that elected officials might have accepted contributions in violation of a city ordinance. The ordinance prohibits “donations from contractors with business before the City Council.” Their analysis shows that more than $30,000 was contributed by prohibited donors. ,After…
Read MoreCampaign finances flow to those in power
Jonathan D. Salant of Bloomberg News reports on the shift in corporate campaign contributions following Democratic wins in the November elections. “During the campaign, the world’s second-largest maker of commercial airplanes [Boeing] backed Republican Senator Jim Talent of Missouri with a maximum $10,000 campaign contribution from its political-action committee. Just 17 days after his defeat,…
Read MorePublic money for Port of Seattle funds private profits
In a 3-part series, Ruth Teichroeb and Kristen Bolt of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer report on how the Port of Seattle officials have brokered “generous no-bid deals with a company hired to run publicly owned facilities on the central waterfront, have failed to closely monitor those contracts, and have shouldered all of the financial risk for…
Read MoreDistricts culture of cheating rampant for decades
In a follow-up to an investigation by The Philadelphia Inquirer, reporters Melanie Burney and Frank Kummer found that the culture of cheating on standardized test in New Jersey’s Camden school district dates back to the 1980s. Camden School Board President Philip E. Freeman “said recent internal investigations, including of allegations of grade changing in two…
Read MoreMillions squandered by Miami-Dade Housing Agency
In another installment to The Miami Herald’s “House of Lies” investigative series, reporter Debbie Cenziper exposes the actions of the former director of the Miami-Dade Housing Agency, which squandered millions of dollars over the past five years in insider deals, mismanagement and corruption. In a follow-up story, Cenziper and reporter Scott Hiaasen report on a…
Read MoreMine safety
The Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette and reporter Ken Ward Jr. continued an ongoing series on coal mine safety with a story about coal dust violations and an article that explains that investigators do not always pinpoint the cause of coal-mining disasters.
Read MoreLaw opens boardroom doors
Jill Riepenhoff and Doug Haddix of The Columbus Dispatch used U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission proxy statements to examine the boards of directors of 30 companies based in central Ohio. They found huge increases in compensation and an increase in directors serving on multiple boards since the 2002 passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Companies defend…
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