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High radon levels existed in Ann Arbor City Hall for more than 15 years
Reports dating back to the early 1990s indicate that top city officials were aware of high radon levels in the basement of Ann Arbor’s city hall where many police officers worked for years. Measures were put in place, however, failed to eradicate the problem. The levels of radon, which is a radioactive gas that can…
Read MoreFree webinar to IRE members: Investigating aviation safety
From plane parts cracking to air traffic controllers snoozing, there’s plenty to investigate in the aviation industry. Join NPR’s Robert Benincasa to learn about tools that can help you better cover the ever-growing issues in the sky. Learn how to expore the web to track down an aircraft’s history, problems with particular aircraft models and…
Read MoreTeaching licensure violations ignored in Minnesota
More than 900 Minnesota teachers over the past five years violated licensing rules aimed at making sure children get a proper education, but state regulators are doing virtually nothing to enforce the rules, according to a Star Tribune investigation. The superintendent in North. St. Paul told co-workers in an email that she was “clueless” about…
Read MoreHaiti’s reconstruction efforts reported on by Haiti Grassroots Watch
Haiti Grassroots Watch – a collaborative journalism watchdog organization – is reporting on the recovery in Haiti following the devastating 2010 earthquake. “The effort focuses on ‘watchdogging’ the aid and reconstruction from the point of view of Haiti’s majority, at the same time as it also provides historical and political context, examines structural causes and…
Read MoreOn Shaky Ground series
A three-part investigation by California Watch uncovered “systematic failures by the state’s chief regulator of construction standards for public schools.” The series exposed lax oversight of earthquake safety certification for schools; project inspectors with poor performance records; and government rules that made it nearly impossible for schools to get the repair money they needed.
Read More2010 IRE Award winners announced
Investigations that found financial mismanagement and fraud in business and industry, cover-ups of lethal products, and failure of government to protect the public are among the works honored in the 2010 Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards. This year, there were two recipients of the top prize: the IRE Medal. The Los Angeles Times uncovered a…
Read MoreDuwamish River poses health threat to those who live nearby
The Duwamish is not just Seattle’s only river, and the original home of its first Native American people, it is now also an industrial waterway classified as one of the nation’s worst toxic waste sites and one of the few federal Superfund cleanup sites in the country to bisect a major urban area. InvestigateWest’s Carol…
Read MoreTest improvements at D.C. schools raise questions
A USA Today investigation, based on documents and data secured under D.C.’s Freedom of Information Act, found that for the past three school years most of Crosby S. Noyes Education Campus’ classrooms had extraordinarily high numbers of erasures on standardized tests. The consistent pattern was that wrong answers were erased and changed to right ones.…
Read MoreIRE Toronto workshop postponed
Due to national elections being called in Canada, the IRE Better Watchdog Workshop originally scheduled for April 30-May 1 in Toronto has been postponed. IRE will reschedule the workshop. Stay tuned for a new date and further details.
Read MoreOfficers keep jobs despite sexual misconduct charges
Three Milwaukee police officers disciplined by the department after women accused them of on-duty sexual misconduct continue to wear the badge, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Gina Barton found. One of the officers served a 60-day suspension and has since been promoted to sergeant. The other two were fired but reinstated after appealing to the…
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