The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Government (federal/state/local)
American Divide: The Immigration Crackdown
The Columbus Dispatch, in a four-part investigative series, explores the consequences in communities across the nation as states pass anti-immigration laws. The newspaper teamed with its Spanish-language weekly newspaper to produce the series, American Divide/The Immigration Crackdown. The report is available in both English and Spanish.
Read MoreThe War Within
Bob Woodward of The Washington Post details how the Bush Administration dealt with the failing Iraq strategy beginning in 2006. Woodward’s book “The War Within” is based on interviews with over 150 participants, classified documents, and taped conversations with President Bush, and “reveals that the administration’s efforts to develop a new Iraq strategy were crippled…
Read MoreEmails reveal Palin’s interest in trooper’s penalty
Former public safety commissioner, Walter Monegan, shared emails with The Washington Post that reveal that Gov. Sarah Palin “harshly criticized Alaska state troopers for failing to fire her former brother-in-law and ridiculed an internal affairs investigation into his conduct,” report The Post‘s James V. Grimaldi and Karl Vick. Palin has requested the investigation into possible…
Read MoreThe battle within
A report by Erin Emery and David Olinger of The Denver Post shows that soldiers are being sent back to Afghanistan and Iraq despite the fact that they are battling both physical and mental ailments. “Facing demands unprecedented in the history of the all-volunteer force, the Army has deployed soldiers with slings and crutches and…
Read MoreFinancial crisis impacting students, schools
A New York Times report shows that the financial crisis in the United States is having an impact on schools and students across the nation. With home foreclosures mounting, a record number of students returning for school are homeless or qualify for subsidized or free lunches. “As 50 million children return to classes across the…
Read MoreRoad repairs slower in minority neighborhoods
Keegan Kyle, Grant Smith and Ben Poston of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analyzed more than 11,000 pothole fixes in the city of Milwaukee and found that the city repaired potholes at a slower rate in minority neighborhoods in the first half of the year. Using SPSS, the analysis found that minority areas on the north…
Read MoreSpending on contractors in Iraq on the rise
According to federal documents, “This year, spending on contractors, who protect diplomats, civilian facilities and supply convoys, is projected to exceed $1.2 billion,” reports Peter Eisler of USA TODAY. This represents a 13% increase in spending since 2007. The increase is attributed, in part, to the fact that the focus in Iraq has shifted from…
Read MoreDemoted to Private
Seattle Post-Intelligencer investigative reporter Eric Nalder showed that political patronage, the zeal to privatize, and a failure at background checks led to disaster for taxpayers and military families. Three services gave 8,000 military houses and billion-dollar contracts to a company headed by a politically-connected Texan involved in a messy bankruptcy and a Connecticut property manager…
Read MoreMedical records breached despite privacy law
Clark Kauffman of The Des Moines Register reports that in the past five years, 38,000 Americans, including 267 Iowans, have complained of medical-privacy violations under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. More than half of those complaints nationally have been disposed of with no investigation. Until last year, no one nationally ever was prosecuted…
Read MoreNo-bid contract for concert producer costs taxpayers
Reporter Mike McAndrew of The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) used interviews, emails, contracts and other documents to show that the operators of New York’s State Fair contrived the justification to award a lucrative no-bid contract to a national concert producer. The reporting pokes holes in the reasons cited by public officials when they circumvented state law…
Read More