The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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Suburban growth taxes water supply
In a series for the The Daily Herald (Elgin, IL), Patrick Garmoe reports on the threat of water shortages in the several Chicago counties in the coming years due to suburban growth placing stresses on natural resources. “McHenry County’s Groundwater Resources Management Plan predicts the county’s population growth, and corresponding surge in water demand, will…
Read MoreFaulty escape tunnel blamed for miners’ deaths
The Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail‘s Ken Ward Jr. reports that a federal-state probe has found out why two coal miners died in a January fire at a Massey Energy mine in Logan County, W.Va. Contrary to federal law, the Aracoma Alma No. 1 Mine’s primary escape tunnel was not totally blocked off from a conveyor belt…
Read More“The Long Shadow of 9/11”
The Las Vegas Review-Journal is running a series entitled “The Long Shadow of 9/11” in which they’ve localized the big-picture security issues facing the nation. The stories include an examination of how local police have poured vast resources into anti-terrorism policing; how the FBI has sent national security letters to casino-hotels to access guest information;…
Read MoreStudent data from financial aid forms shared with FBI
Jonathan D. Glater of The New York Times reports that, as part of post-9/11 counterterrorism efforts, that Federal Education Department shared personal information obtained on student loan applications with the FBI. “Under the program, called Project Strikeback, the Education Department received names from the F.B.I. and checked them against its student aid database, forwarding information…Neither…
Read MoreAviation deaths down but accidents increasing for Army
Michael Fabey of Aerospace Daily reported that while aviation-related deaths have decreased, serious accidents have seen a dramatic increase in 2006 over the past three-year period. Analysis of the Army’s aircraft records database revealed this trend. “The largest increase, percentage-wise, has been in the number of incidents involving unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – which only…
Read MoreSex offenders loosely monitored in Delaware
Andrew Tangel and Mike Chalmers of The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal found that sex offenders in the state of Delaware have been inadequately monitored. By mapping “the addresses of more than 1,200 moderate- and high-risk sex offenders, 1,900 child care centers and 350 public and private schools“, Tangel and Chalmers found hundreds of instances where…
Read More“Back-scratching” brings big breaks for Florida companies
St. Petersburg Times reporter Sydney Freedberg, with CAR analysis from Connie Humburg and research from Carolyn Edds, investigated the dealings of the Orlando-based Enterprise Florida — “a public-private partnership that helps determine where incentive money gets spent to create jobs in the state” — and found questionable dealings. Their “investigation shows that a corporate seat…
Read MoreSteroid abuse in NFL
Using federal court documents filed in the case against Dr. James Shortt, Charles Chandler of The Charlotte Observer uncovered an alarming case of steroid abuse in the NFL. Shortt prescribed a dangerous combination of preformance enhancing drugs to members of the Carolina Panthers without regard for the potential ill effects on the players. “Medical records…
Read MoreMiami housing agency fraud continues
In a recent installment of the on-going series “House of Lies,” the Miami Herald’s Debbie Cenziper and Larry Lebowitz uncovered more corruption in the Miami-Dade Housing Agency. Oscar Rivero had become a favored developer for the local housing authority – collecting millions, yet building nothing. “Today, the land where Rivero promised dozens of homes for…
Read MoreMemorial Medical Center Investigation
A five-part series by Jeffrey Meitrodt of the Times-Picayune details the situation that unfolded at Memorial Medical Center following Hurricane Katrina, including allegations of the murder of 4 eldery patients at the hands of Dr. Anna Pou and 2 nurses. This series appears as part of the Times-Picayune’s coverage of “Katrina: One Year Later.”
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