From Shawn Musgrave for the Boston Globe, concerns about the privacy of law abiding motorists whose whereabouts are tracked by the expanding reach of law enforcement technology. An excerpt from the article: “… high-tech license readers, now mounted on 87 police cruisers statewide, scan literally millions of license plates in Massachusetts each year, not only checking the car and owner’s legal ...
From Forrest Wilder of the Texas Observer, the story of an aggressive federal immigration policy that fills the cells of privately run prisons. An excerpt from Wilder’s report: “Instead of simply detaining undocumented immigrants who have done nothing more than cross the border and sending them out of the country or releasing them, the U.S. government would now file criminal charges and ...
Journalist and author Brad Tyer moved to Montana for the picture-postcard scenery, looking for pristine waters where he could set down a canoe. What he found was entirely different. From the book: “I gradually began to gather that the Clark Fork [River] wasn’t quite what I thought it was. The river I had shadowed on my drive in had long ...
From VTDigger in Vermont, the story of a project that would lure foreign investors with the prospect of US residency – on hold after running into trouble with Vermont authorities. An excerpt from the article by Nat Rudarakanchana and Anne Galloway: “Last spring, state officials became aware that a key participant in the project recently stepped down from a leadership role in ...
From Madeline Ostrander, reporting for The Nation, the story of California’s Cap-and-Trade program, and whether it will be fair to communities suffering from the state’s worst air pollution. Excerpts: “California has been nearly alone in its efforts to curtail greenhouse gases, after attempts to pass federal climate legislation collapsed in Congress in 2010 and several states abandoned plans to pursue ...
From Leah Samuel for PublicSource, the story of “Lottery Losers” and broken promises to use a substantial portion of Lottery proceeds for programs that assist the elderly. An excerpt: “Lottery ticket sales have increased by five percent over the past five years, according to the Pennsylvania Lottery. But funding has decreased overall for county agencies that are supposed to receive lottery proceeds, resulting ...
From Rome, Jason Berry reports for GlobalPost on the battle between the Catholic Church leadership, and the nuns in the United States. In a series of reports entitled, “A New Inquisition: The Vatican’s Investigation of American Nuns,” Berry reports that the Bishops investigating US nuns have poor records on sex abuse cases and that disinformation permeates the Vatican crackdown. From his series: ...
From Sunland Park, New Mexico, a series by Kent Paterson of Frontera NorteSur on the uneven efforts to reverse years of neglect and environmental degradation of border town areas known as “colonias.” In Part One, Paterson reports on critically needed flood control measures that are improving conditions near affluent subdivisions, while the poverty-stricken Anapra neighborhood of Sunland Park waits its ...
Leading up to the 2012 elections, Facing South, the online journal of The Institute for Southern Studies, investigated energy politics in North Carolina, producing dozens of reports. Among their findings: the negative impact on home values from gas drilling in communities dependent on well water, the dangers that fracking poses to workers, and efforts by utilities to pass expensive costs of new nuclear reactors on to consumers. Because ...
From Sarah Hadley and Sujin Kim of IowaWatch, a two part series on the unsustainable growth of landfills in the state. An excerpt from part one: “More than half of what Iowans dump into landfills could have been recycled or composted. In some areas, that amount is as high as 75 percent, landfill operators said. An IowaWatch investigation revealed that ...