IRE Journal
George Polk Award winners
The following members received George Polk Awards: David Barstow of The New York Times for “Message Machine”; Richard Behar for “China Storms Africa” in Fast Company; Adam Davidson of National Public Radio and Alex Blumberg of “This American Life” for “The Giant Pool of Money”; M.L. Elrick and Jim Schaefer of the Detroit Free Press…
Read MoreSocial networking tools bolster coverage of young drug informant’s murder
By Julia Luscher Thompson Tallahassee(Fla.) Democrat When 23-year-old confidential informant Rachel Hoffman was murdered in a botched drug sting, her story begged to be told, especially to young readers. But young people aren’t reading the daily Tallahassee Democrat as often as they once did, so we had to find a way to bring the story…
Read MoreMeasuring crime in Tulsa schools
By Gavin Off, Tulsa World I drive by an elementary school on my way to work every day. More than once there’s been a police cruiser idling in the school’s parking lot with lights flashing and the officer standing nearby. Although those incidents never involved a major crime, on several occasions this year the Tulsa…
Read MoreKoziol, first president of IRE, dies at 74
Ron Koziol, a co-founder of Investigative Reporters and Editors and a member of the Arizona Project team, died Saturday, June 13, of congestive heart failure. He was 74. Koziol was a longtime police reporter at the Chicago Tribune. In 1975 he helped found IRE, and he was a member of the group of reporters who…
Read MoreReporting uncovers Taser abuse by Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The investigation is about the use of Tasers by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the national police force with a storied history that does most of the front-line policing in the Western provinces of British Columbia and Alberta. In the latest installment, we analyzed the 2008 data that we compiled from information from the force’s…
Read MoreAnalysis finds out-of-state travel expenses after Penn. governor ban
We found Pennsylvania state employees spent more than $1.3 million on out-of-state travel last year after the governor banned such travel. How did you get started? (tip, editor assignment, etc.)This was simply a case of the reporter doing a public records check to see whether the travel ban was being followed. Based on past stories…
Read MorePostal Service pays $1.2 million for mansion
At a time when the U.S. Postal Service is experiencing a financial crisis, it purchased a $1.2 million mansion in South Carolina to relocate an employee. The employee, who applied for the new job — a mid-level manager position — qualified for the purchase under the Postal Service’s relocation policy. It turns out this was…
Read MoreInfant death investigations
“Saving Babies: Exposing Sudden Infant Death” was a 14-month project using mortality records maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Analysis of 40,000 mysterious infant deaths over a 12-year period disclosed chaotic procedures police and coroners use to investigate unexpected deaths that usually are diagnosed as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. The project went…
Read MoreNo clean air testing at schools
Dozens of public and private schools opened in recent years in areas where government records show students could be exposed to air tainted by high levels of industrial pollution. While environmental regulations typically require builders to examine the effect that a structure might have on the surrounding ecosystem, in most states, school officials are not…
Read MoreJoe Mahr: Towing tales from St. Louis
A private towing company now under federal investigation used a specially created unit of off-duty St. Louis police officers to tow cars during the city’s major Mardi Gras festival. Officers repeatedly towed cars parked outside of a towaway zone set up for the festival each of the past two years. The towing company failed to…
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