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Changes, updates to the conference schedule

Changes and updates to the printed schedule are noted below.  Schedule for Book Signings Friday, 10:40 a.m.,  Diana Henriques  “The Wizard of Lies”  Saturday, 9:30 a.m.,  Michael Grabell  “Money Well Spent? The Truth Behind the Trillion-Dollar Stimulus, The Biggest Economic Recovery Plan in History” Saturday, 9:30 a.m.,  Josh Meyer  “The Hunt for KSM: Inside the…

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How to get data from government agencies for any beat

By Chelsea Sheasley@csheasley You want to submit a public records request. Where do you start? How do you ask? What if you’re denied? Mike Donoghue, forty-year veteran of The Burlington Free Press, and Ellen Gabler of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel shared their tips and experiences during “The Ask: Requesting and Negotiating for Data.” Donoghue’s top…

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Free tools to tackle almost any task, from data wrangling to photo editing

By Chelsea Sheasley@csheasley What’s the best thing a reporter can tell their editor about new data tools? They’re F-R-E-E. Anthony DeBarros, senior database editor at USA Today and Matt Stiles of NPR’s news applications team shared their top picks for the latest free tools at IRE 2012’s “Free tools panel.” “Free can be very, very…

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Other blogs to follow: Gannett at IRE

Gannett sent more than 60 journalists from the companies’ various media outlets to attend this year’s conference. Those journalists are sharing their insights on Gannett @ IRE, which includes interviews with speakers and general insights from the conference.  Here are some posts from Thursday: World of Data session I was amazed by how quickly Tisha Thompson…

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Tips to prepare for the conference

For the latest up-to-date information about panels, speakers, and special events at the conference, please visit our conference web pages. Hotel InformationThe conference is taking place at the Boston Marriott Copley Place, 110 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA, 02116. RegistrationConference registration opens Wednesday at 4 p.m. and will re-open Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. Registration remains…

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Behind the Story: Disproportionate lending by race discovered with data

Photo credit:Joanne Lawton/Washington Business Journal It’s one thing to say African American entrepreneurs are recovering from the economic downturn slower than white entrepreneurs, it’s another to explain why.  That’s what Washington Business Journal reporter Bryant Switzky did using a database from the Small Business Administration and other datasets related to the Community Reinvestment Act. “The…

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University of Iowa Hospitals sharing patient information with fundraisers

“Clark Kauffman of The Des Moines Register reports that the University of Iowa Hospitals is giving patient names and specific patient-treatment information to a fundraising organization that solicits donations for the hospital through written appeals signed by physicians.” “The hospital is also engaged in what it calls “wealth screenings of patients” as part of an…

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Millions spent on high-end routers for small, rural areas

“Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette reporter Eric Eyre found that the state of West Virginia used $24 million in federal stimulus money to purchase more than a thousand “enterprise-class” Internet routers at $22,600 each even though the West Virginia Office of Technology warned that the routers were “grossly oversized. “The report states that the high-end routers were…

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National tutoring program rampant with fraud

In a three-part series, the Star Tribune has found that a billion-dollar federal tutoring program is rife with fraud and mismanagement. The program, officially known as Supplemental Educational Services, is one of the lesser known and little scrutinized portions of No Child Left Behind. The investigation found that it has been lightly regulated by the…

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Join more than 1,000 colleagues at IRE Boston next week

More than 1,000 people are registered to attend the IRE Conference in Boston next week, and it’s not too late for you to join them. While early-bird registration has closed, you can register at the conference. Things kick off with a free half-day session on election coverage on June 13, the pre-day on June 14, and…

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