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Many mangrove restorations fail. Is there a better way?

Katarina Zimmer

July 22, 2021 |

Knowable Magazine |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Guinea-Bissau

Mangrove forests are known to be excellent storers of carbon and hosts of biodiversity, but they are also able to protect communities on coastlines from storm surge. However, many of the projects to restore these forests fail because they are rushed or planted in the wrong places. Scientists argue that organizers should focus on natural regrowth or “ecological mangrove restoration,” a science-based approach, which has been used in Indonesia and Guinea-Bissau.

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Outgunned: Why California's groundbreaking firearms law is failing

Robert Lewis

July 21, 2021 |

CalMatters |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Two decades ago, California became the first state to create a system to track and seize guns from people no longer legally permitted to possess a gun. Thousands of guns have been seized. But the database of gun owners now barred from gun possession because of a violent offense, a serious mental illness, or a restraining order has ballooned and many people slip through the cracks of a system "mired in chronic shortcomings." Local police often fail to support the system and the state's investigation bureau is understaffed.

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The Car Crashes That Go Undetected

Laura Bliss

July 15, 2021 |

Bloomberg CityLab |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

The Vision Zero program many cities use to reduce traffic deaths depends on data to inform where to target safety measures like redesigned streets and speed limits. But, when significant numbers of crashes, particularly involving pedestrians and bicycles, go missing in the data, the interventions miss the problems. Racial disparities in unreported crashes or unresponsive police mean that the problems are compounded in under-served areas. Data improvements in D.C., San Francisco, and other cities aim to fill the gaps so that the benefits of Vision Zero can extend to places where they're needed most.

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He's 11. By his mom's count, he's had 30+ interactions with armed officers at school.

Melanie Asmar

July 12, 2021 |

Chalkbeat |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Denver, Colorado

Denver's school board responded to the 2020 racial justice protests by removing the police officers who were stationed in certain middle and high schools. But the police or the district's growing force of armed guards get called thousands of times per year to the schools, including "child in crisis" calls. Their response can escalate tensions and unnecessarily criminalize behavioral problems that could be helped through other means. The schools are exploring ways to use the money they saved on "school resource officers" to improve counseling services and give teachers realistic alternatives.

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Illinois Has a Program to Compensate Victims of Violent Crimes. Few Applicants Receive Funds.

Lakeidra Chavis Daniel Nass

July 09, 2021 |

The Trace |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Illinois

As one of the oldest programs of its kind, the Illinois Crime Victim Compensation Program was created in 1973 to reimburse victims of crime and their families for their out-of-pocket expenses, such as funeral and medical costs. An analysis of nearly 15,000 claims filed from 2015 to 2020 shows that only 1 in 50 people who reported a violent crime ever applied for aid, and of those who did only 40% received any aid. A laborious application and documentation process compounds a lack of notice to the public of the program's existence to result in a program that has failed in its primary mission.

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Incarceration after COVID: how the pandemic could permanently change jails and prisons

Shereen Siewert Rob Chappell

July 07, 2021 |

Wausau Pilot and Review |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wisconsin

Across Wisconsin, the pandemic pushed prisons and jails to work quickly to lower their numbers of prisoners, in some cases accelerating reforms that had been planned apart from virus containment. Incarceration hit a 20-year low in December 2020 through a variety of mechanisms, including issuing citations instead of arresting; limiting arrests for parole violations or on old warrants; and using electronic monitoring. Some jails saw fewer coronavirus infections, as well as population numbers averaging much lower than before. But a backlogged court system has reversed some of the gains.

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Criminal justice changes in Virginia prompt debate over how prosecutors are funded by the state

Antonio Olivo

July 06, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Fairfax, Virginia

Fairfax County, Virginia, boasts the state's most ambitious program to divert cases from criminal prosecution to treatment courts, including for drug offenses and involving veterans. But all of the work by prosecutors to deliver a more therapeutic form of justice ends up penalizing the county under the state's formula for funding of prosecutor offices, which rewards felony convictions. Because the true workload isn't reflected in the funding, Fairfax has faced staffing shortage, leading to conflicts with the police over inaction on certain cases. The state has begun a lengthy study of the issue.

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How Montana ag producers are building topsoil, drought resilience and profits

Emily Stifler Wolfe

July 06, 2021 |

Montana Free Press |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Montana

Faced with the effects of climate change, in Montana, some farmers are turning towards organic or regenerative practices, a form of farming that includes thing like crop rotation, and using fewer pesticides. It’s a switch from conventional farming, which usually involves mono crops, heavy use of pesticides, and genetically modifies seeds, producing thehighestt yield. A technique that has led to soil erosion. Nationally, farmers are turning towards regenerative farming which builds the topsoil, meaning it is better for the land and the environment.

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Millions of People With Felonies Can Now Vote. Most Don't Know It.

Nicole Lewis Andrew Rodriguez Calderón

June 23, 2021 |

The Marshall Project |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Nevada

Thirteen states restored the right to vote to millions of formerly incarcerated people in the years leading up to the 2020 elections. An analysis of four of them—Nevada, Kentucky, Iowa, and New Jersey—shows the new rights were rarely exercised, ranging from 4% to 23% of newly eligible voters actually registering. None of the four states required prison, parole, or elections officials to notify eligible voters. Those and other information gaps and barriers teach instructive lessons as the 2022 elections approach.

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‘It liberated me': The fight for Calgary's supervised drug-use site

Hamdi Issawi

June 22, 2021 |

The Sprawl |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Calgary, Alberta

In less than three and a half years, Safeworks, the only supervised drug-use site in Calgary, saved thousands of people from opioid-overdose deaths and helped users for whom abstinence-based treatment didn't work. The government of Alberta deemed the site a scene of "chaos" and ordered it closed once two new sites open. Safeworks supporters oppose the disruption in harm-reduction work that move would bring, considering how critical personal relationships built on trust are to this kind of service.

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