The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Extra Extra
Issues of border security
Reporters from the Arizona Daily Star have put together an extensive investigation into the issues surrounding US-Mexico border security. Their multimedia investigations looks into the issues of why sealing off our borders will not work. “The Star sent a six-member reporting team on a three-week trek from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico…
Read MoreHigh cost of US subsidy bailouts for cotton farmers
In an extensive investigation into cotton farming and US subsidies, reporters Dan Chapman and Ken Foskett with CAR specialist Megan Clarke of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution take a look at the impact of this “multibillion-dollar entitlement” program on farming here and abroad. They also look at how “farmers game the system to evade subsidy limits, and…
Read MoreTexas sex-offender registry plagued with problems
In a two-part series Emily Ramshaw of The Dallas Morning News reports on the state of Texas’ sex offender registry, which is ladden with inaccuracy. Some experts blame an ever-increasing database without the manpower to maintain the information. “ The result? Vigilant parents and community groups are relying on faulty or incomplete data to protect…
Read MorePolk County supervisors play favorites with grant money
Bert Dalmer of the Des Moines Register has written about a grant program in Polk County, Iowa that “smacks of vote-buying, according to one government watchdog group…The money - $1.5 million, given from the beginning of 2004 to the present — originates from gambling profits at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona.” Regulations controlling…
Read MoreSF Police spied on jounalists to find source of internal leak
A.C. Thompson of SF Weekly reports on a scandal within the San Franciso Police Department, “a cloak-and-dagger investigation that may have transgressed the department’s own rules - and definitely torched the careers of a pair of ethical police officers who dared to air their criticisms of the SFPD.” Following the 2003 leak of an internal…
Read MoreQuality cardiac care correlates with wealthier counties in US
A story by Robert Benincasa and Jennifer Brooks of the Gannett News Service shows that the best cardiac care is typically found in higher-income counties. “Using data provided by hospitals to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and covering the period of October 2004 through September 2005, GNS rated the nation’s hospitals on…
Read MoreDallas school credit card abuse includes misuse of federal grant funds
In a follow-up to an earlier story on credit card abuse within the Dallas Independent School District, Kent Fischer and Molly Motley Blythe of The Dallas Morning News report that the money used to pay for many of the questionable purchases came from federal grants. “The Dallas Independent School District, already battered by a spate…
Read MoreFederal Campaign Consultants
The Center for Public Integrity used federal campaign data to show that “in the 2004 federal races, more than $1.78 billion flowed through a professional corps of consultants whose influence plays an important, though largely unexamined, role in the unrelenting escalation of campaign spending.” John Perry and Agustin Armendariz did the data analysis for the…
Read MoreUS flight schools admitting foreign nationals without proper clearance
Brian Ross and Eric Longabardi report for ABC News that foreign student pilots are still finding their way into American flight schools despite strict regulations set in place following 9/11. “Under the program, no foreign national can receive flight training in the United States without approval from the Transportation Security Administration.” But the policy is…
Read MoreAbuse of law rampant in NY’s village and town courts
A series by William Glaberson of The New York Times exposes the gross abuse of power by “part-times justices” across the state of New York. The New York Times did a one-year investigation of these town and village courts presided over by judges who have no legal pedigree – including some with no more than…
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