The presentation of the 2009 Philip Meyer Journalism Awards will take place at the 2010 CAR Conference in Phoenix. The awards recognize the best uses of social research methods in journalism and are named in honor of Philip Meyer, author of "Precision Journalism" and retired Knight Chair in Journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Don't forget to enter your best work by Oct. 31, 2009.

By Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, senior reporters, ProPublica

In examining the California Board of Registered Nursing, we found widespread problems. Most troubling, perhaps, is that the board took more than three years, on average, to investigate and discipline errant nurses. When we compared the board’s performance to its peers in other large states, we found that several handled the process in a year or less.

By Ron Campbell Orange County Register

Orange County restaurant king John Gantes was a very wealthy man with 110 restaurants. And then, quite suddenly, he was bankrupt. His declared net worth sank from $215 million at the end of 2007 to a negative $374 million in mid-January 2009 – a $600 million reversal of fortune in little more than a year.

Tipsheets from the IRE Conference in Baltimore are now available. IRE members can download them free from the Resource Center (use the search terms " "2009 IRE Conference (Baltimore, Md.)") or order a CD with the entire collection for $15, plus $5 shipping. Pre-order your audio CD: IRE members can also purchase professional audio recordings of conference panels. IRE members who did not attend the conference can purchase the audio CD for $20 plus $5 shipping.

Welcome to the new online site for The IRE Journal. Here you will find timely posting of our popular Member News feature, some Web-only content and links to other features. This site will work in sync with the print Journal, now published quarterly. Much of the Web site content will be open to all site visitors to provide a look at what our members and this organization are all about. (Access to the full PDF version of the Journal still requires membership or a subscription).

Join IRE and NICAR in Phoenix for the 2010 Computer-Assisted Reporting Conference. The annual event, which offers hands-on training, panels on the latest trends and insight into cutting-edge developments, will be hosted by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University from March 11-14.

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 World has chronicled arrests at schools. In January, police arrested an 18-year-old man found with a stun gun, two samurai swords and six knives in his car in a high school parking lot.

David Cay Johnston, author and journalist, and Leonard Downie Jr. of The Washington Post won seats on the IRE Board of Directors at the 2009 IRE Conference in Baltimore. (See voting results online)

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 went to Phoenix following the murder of reporter, and fellow IRE founder, Don Bolles. The team’s mission was to complete the investigation Bolles was conducting into organized crime and land fraud.

Find out about ways to build and fund the future of investigative journalism through the development of state and regional centers.