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Hunger on Campus: Western's systems fail to meet student need

Cameron Sires Mallory Kruml Kenneth Duncan

August 15, 2021 |

The Front |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Bellingham, Washington

A third of surveyed college students experience food insecurity, the rate is even higher at Western Washington University. To address the issue that university has unfolded a number of responses; food pantries, meal donations, community gardens, and state assitance, among others.

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Alaska failed to obtain DNA samples from 21,000 people accused of crimes, contrary to state law

Kyle Hopkins

August 11, 2021 |

Anchorage Daily News |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

Alaska put itself at the cutting edge of rape investigations in 2007 by passing a law requiring the collection of DNA samples from people arrested for a variety of crimes. The system is meant to aid in solving rapes, homicides and other crimes, and prevent serial offenses. But the state now admits that 1 in 4 qualifying cases never have a DNA sample collected, often because police either didn't know or didn't care about the requirement. Investigators are trying to collect samples from more than 20,000 old cases while improving procedures going forward.

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Since when is being a teenager a crime?

Eda Uzunlar

August 07, 2021 |

Reveal |

Illustrations |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Wyoming

Neighboring states of Wyoming and South Dakota take starkly different approaches toward youth who get in trouble. Side-by-side comic panels follow two real cases through each system. A South Dakota teen gets help that steers her off a destructive path. A Wyoming teen gets punished, and ends up in a downward spiral of more trouble and more punishment. Both states once had relatively high youth incarceration rates. Now only one of them, Wyoming, does: the second-worst in the U.S., and three times the national average.

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When Disaster Strikes

Taylor Perse

August 05, 2021 |

Eugene Weekly |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Cleveland, Ohio

Disaster preparedness in the form of close inter-agency coordination and communication helped Cuyahoga County, Ohio, protect its unhoused population from COVID-19 to a greater extent than Lane County, Oregon. Although Cuyahoga (Cleveland) is larger, with more resources, its effective responses still offer a model to Lane County (Eugene), where a scattered approach and homeless-camp sweeps proved counterproductive. In Cleveland, hotels were quickly enlisted to house people, reducing crowding in shelters by half and street homelessness by 30%. Its largest men's shelter ended up with a low infection rate.

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Marsy's Law was supposed to help victims. In Jacksonville, it shields police officers.

Uriel J. García

August 03, 2021 |

The Tributary (Jacksonville Journalism Collective) |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Jacksonville, Florida

A Florida constitutional amendment enacted in 2018 called Marsy's Law protects crime victims' rights, including the right to privacy when public-records laws would otherwise reveal victims' identity. But the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office has interpreted a court decision to justify erasing from public records the names of police officers who shot or killed people, on the grounds that the police should legally be considered crime victims. Marsy's Law has been enacted in 14 states. Critics say it was not meant to undermine police accountability, but they have been unable to enact corrective legislation.

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Federal monitors cost millions, with disputed results. Seattle's police watchdog was a case in point.

David Nakamura

August 02, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Federal consent decrees install court-appointed monitors to oversee reforms agreed to by a police department and the U.S. Justice Department after federal officials have found a department violates people's civil rights. In Seattle, a long-running monitor program oversaw great improvement in the police department's use of force. But the project turned so acrimonious that the monitor called the department a failure and the department said the monitor lacked accountability and a sensible yardstick to measure success. The Biden administration has revived the program nationwide but is studying ways to fix it.

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9 Potential Solutions to Keep Chicagoans Safer From Fires

Cecilia Reyes Madison Hopkins

August 02, 2021 |

Better Government Association |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Many cities have experienced tragic deaths in rental apartments, but Chicago's poor record in this realm is compounded by officials' refusal to concede systemic problems. So, to follow up on an earlier report about those problems, reporters compiled a list of nine effective policies and which other cities use them. In each of the areas, Chicago has failed to adopt policies that in other places have made fire safety a priority, starting with routine inspections, effective enforcement of regulations, and licensing and tracking of landlords to more easily spot scofflaws.

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Mental illness driving homeless 'disaster'

Mary Clarkin

August 02, 2021 |

The Active Age |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Topeka, Kansas

Community mental health centers have been strained in Kansas ever since the state changed its approach to mental health treatment by reducing hospital beds in the 1990s. The intended shift to a community mental health approach didn’t go as planned, and as a result, available inpatient behavioral health beds have drastically decreased, leaving more people in hospitals and often on the streets.

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Meet the People Burning California to Save It

Emma Cott Caroline Kim Elie Khadra

July 29, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Sonoma, California

Prescribed burns are an ancient method of preventing more destructive, out-of-control wildfires. They fell into disuse for decades, worsening today's wildfire risks. California and federal forestry officials want to "treat" 1 million acres per year by 2025 with tree- and brush-clearing and prescribed burns. But they are running far behind that pace as government resources get consumed by the need to fight wildfires. Private crews could expand the capacity to conduct prescribed burns, but financial liability and other barriers must be removed first.

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Have Colorado educators cracked the code to digital diversity?

Nick Budnick

July 26, 2021 |

Pamplin Projects |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Colorado

Across the country enrollment in online charter schools is disproportionately white, except in one state- Colorado. In Oregon, the opposite is true. This article compares what factors differentiate the state of Colorado versus the state of Oregon in terms of enrollment in charter schools along racial lines. Some differences include a larger diverse population in the state of Colorado, alternative schools that target at-risk students, and a larger team devoted to overseeing charter schools.

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