For inspiration...

Simply the best source of inspiration for news-related multimedia: InteractiveNarratives.org
For excellent infographics: browse the NY Time's Multimedia section.

And here's some fun stuff:
eBizMBA's top 10 Flash sites.
Check out this Flash developer site.
Visualizing the BP oil spill.
Mini USA's Flash-based web site.

Text Effect Inspiration: Flasheff.com