From Kiera Butler for Mother Jones, the story of high quality – but expensive – seeds planted in Africa by 4-H club members, funded by the USDA and corporate sponsor DuPont. Will African farmers get hooked on DuPont’s “Pioneer” seed? If so, who will pay? Read more. [Reporting sponsored by The Park Foundation.] Photo credit: Peter DiCampo ...
From David J. Krajicek for The Crime Report, a groundbreaking investigation of the many thousands of wrongful convictions for crimes such as robbery – cases that have been overlooked because advocates focus on suspects who face the death penalty or life in prison. One woman spent seven years in prison for an Arizona bank robbery — until the real robber was found. “If it can happen ...
From Ezra Fieser for 18 Degrees North: A report on suspects who are shot and killed by police in the Dominican Republic. Human rights researchers say 15 percent of all homicides there are committed by law enforcement officers. Watch the report here. [Reporting sponsored by The Reva and David Logan Foundation.] ...
From Adu Koranteng for New Crusading Guide Newspaper and Modern Ghana News: It’s banned, but practiced by fishermen in Ghana who are desperate to make a living. They kill fish with poisons such as DDT; the fish are later sold in markets. One local man told Koranteng: “We have seen them do it in the night but you cannot go ...
From Kenneth Englade, the account of the failure of military to exact justice in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians – including six children – at the hands of a U. S. Marine squad. Read more. [Reporting sponsored by The Park Foundation.] ...
From Ana Radelet for The Connecticut Mirror: For eight years – until the law changed under Obamacare – state regulators in Connecticut never rejected Aetna’s requests to raise health insurance rates. Read more. [Reporting sponsored by The Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation.] ...
From Rone Tempest, a follow-up to his investigation of a failed Wyoming energy project and the waste of taxpayers’ money invested in it. Now Tempest has learned the federal government has demanded a refund of $5.7 million. The energy project was suspended “due to apparent serious mismanagement or misuse of funds.” Read the full story at www.wyofile.com. ...
For the Indian Country Today Media Network, Stephanie Woodard monitored enforcement of voting rights reforms for historically disenfranchised Alaska Natives. Alaska Natives had won a language assistance lawsuit and had organized early voting – better suited for subsistence hunters and fishermen who cannot plan trips to distant voting locations on Election Day. The result: turnout soared. But at the Pine ...
From Peggy Orchowski for The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education Magazine, the story of Hispanic students who want to pursue graduate degrees in engineering but are frustrated by the preference given to international students – in the form of research and teaching positions that underwrite the costs of their education. “Latino students have to learn how to find their own ...
From Marcus Stern and Sebastian Jones, the story of tankers filled with volatile crude oil extracted through fracking operations in North Dakota, traveling by rail through Canada and the U. S. Five shipments of crude have exploded during the past two years. The railroad cars are old and defective, wooden rail structures are crumbling, and 47 residents of a Canadian ...