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■ EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

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Cole grew up in Burlington, Iowa.

His father worked for the county government,

and his mother was a nurse.

His father worked regular hours,

came home every evening,

and supported his family.

For Cole,

this became his earliest model

of what an adult man should be.

He naturally assumed that one day,

he would build a home much like his father’s.

Today,

he has a wife and a daughter.

He studied journalism at university.

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■ LOCAL NEWSPAPER YEARS

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After graduating from university,

Cole joined a local newspaper.

He covered the police,

the courts, accidents,

and local government.

In 2006,

he was assigned to report on

an industrial accident in the state.

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■ TURNING POINT

— THE IOWA ARMY AMMUNITION PLANT EXPLOSION

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On June 12, 2006,

an explosion occurred

at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant,

killing two workers.

The plant announced that

the explosion had been

an accident during routine work.

Cole continued investigating

after the initial statement was released.

During his investigation,

he found records indicating that

explosives marked for disposal

had been given new lot numbers

and returned to use as finished products.

If rejected material had been reused

simply to meet a deadline,

it amounted to corporate crime.

If a politician had protected the company,

it amounted to corruption

and a cover-up.

Cole then investigated the possibility

that the lot numbers had been changed

deliberately from the beginning.

If so,

it raised the possibility

of a government-level operation

designed to remove the explosives

from ordinary records.

Cole was unable to establish

the full scope of such an operation.

What he found were

several records and connections

pointing toward that possibility.

Case details:

→ REFERENCE

“2006 Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Explosion”

Shortly afterward,

Cole was removed from the accident assignment

and transferred to the editorial department’s

records and archives section.

Within the newspaper,

the transfer was treated

as a routine personnel decision.

To Cole, however,

it was clear that

this was no ordinary transfer.

He continued investigating independently

after the transfer,

but the article was never published

in the newspaper.

Eventually,

he left the newspaper

and joined the tabloid publication

where he now works.

He remains there today

as a reporter.