The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
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Nursing home residents’ trust funds lack oversight
“Thousands of residents in U.S. nursing homes and other long-term care institutions have had their personal savings raided or mismanaged after relying on the facilities to safeguard the money in special trust fund accounts, a USA TODAY investigation shows. At least 10 of the thefts have exceeded $100,000 from a single nursing home account.”
Read MoreThe Hidden War Against Gay Teens
Private Christian schools are exploiting local laws to raise money while expelling kids for the crime of being not straight, Rolling Stone reports.
Read MoreThe Obama Administration and the Press
U.S. President Barack Obama came into office pledging open government, but he has fallen short of his promise, according to a Committee to Protect Journalists story. Journalists and transparency advocates say the White House curbs routine disclosure of information and deploys its own media to evade scrutiny by the press. Aggressive prosecution of leakers of…
Read MoreNightmare in Maryville: Teens’ sexual encounter ignites a firestorm against family
Daisy Coleman, new to town and a cheerleader, was 14. Matthew Barnett, a 17-year-old football player and the grandson of a longtime politician, was 17. The evidence pointed overwhelmingly toward rape, the Kansas City Star reports. There was even a video. Yet, two months later, the Nodaway County prosecutor dropped the felony cases against the youths,…
Read MoreSome N.J. private schools for disabled students cashing in on taxpayers
A two-month Star-Ledger investigation found Somerset Hills and schools like it operate in a twilight zone of the state education system, under a unique set of rules that allows them to spend taxpayer money in ways few would tolerate of public schools.
Read More15 Years Later, Where Did All The Cigarette Money Go?
Fifteen years after tobacco companies agreed to pay billions of dollars in fines in what is still the largest civil litigation settlement in U.S. history, it’s unclear how state governments are using much of that money.
Read More3 shots, 3 kills? SEALs rescue in 2009 not so tidy
After U.S. Navy SEAL snipers conducted a dramatic rescue in 2009 that freed a cargo ship captain being held by pirates, $30,000 disappeared from a lifeboat, triggering an investigation that questioned the integrity of the commandos.
Read MoreN.Y. tax checkoff funds for cancer research sit idle
Since 2005, New York taxpayers have donated $1.8 million through their income tax returns to aid the fight against prostate cancer, but researchers have yet to see a dime.
Read MoreThe Soaring Cost of a Simple Breath
Asthma — the most common chronic disease that affects Americans of all ages, about 40 million people — can usually be well controlled with drugs, if one can afford them, the New York Times reports. But being able to afford prescription medications in the United States often requires top-notch insurance or plenty of disposable income,…
Read MoreAmmonium nitrate sold by ton as U.S. regulation is stymied
Despite being banned in countries such as Afghanistan, China, Colombia, Germany, Ireland and the Philippines, the potentially explosive fertilizer ammonium nitrate can be purchased pure and by the ton in the United States, according to the Dallas Morning News. An investigation by the newspaper found that “for more than a decade, U.S. efforts to tighten controls over…
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