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Decades of Data Suggest Racial Profiling is Getting Worse, Not Better

Mike Sherry Mary Sanchez

October 28, 2020 |

Flatland |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Missouri

In 2000, Missouri passed one of the nation's first and most comprehensive laws aimed at ending racial profiling by police in traffic stops. But racial disparities have grown worse since then, with Black drivers far more likely than white drivers to be stopped and searched. The law relies on data collection to air the problem, which in turn was supposed to spur more reforms. But the state's lackluster efforts to enforce the law and lack of follow through on other reforms has turned the annual data gathering into "little more than exercises in futility."

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Yale Spends, Tests More; Practices Vary

Laura Glesby

October 27, 2020 |

New Haven Independent |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Haven, Connecticut

In New Haven, colleges and universities are taking different approaches to COVID-19 testing. Some, like Yale, test students more than once a week. Others are sample testing clusters of students, whatever the method its helping some universities prevent outbreaks and learn what works, and what doesn't.

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Booking homeless Portlanders into jail is endless, expensive cycle that arrests don't curb, but housing does

Molly Harbarger Melissa Lewis

October 25, 2020 |

The Oregonian |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Portland, Oregon

Temporary housing providing drug treatment and other services to people experiencing homelessness appears to cut the chances that people arrested in Portland on minor charges will cycle repeatedly through the criminal justice system. In 2019, 250 people living in transitional housing were booked into jail, versus nearly 3,700 people still living on the streets. The rearrest rate for people living on the street is 87%, but 30 points lower for people with housing. Portland officials have been slow to provide alternatives to arrests and jail since a report in 2017 that most arrestees in Portland are homeless.

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To reclaim ancestral land, all Native Hawaiians need is a $300,000 mortgage and to wait in line for decades

Agnel Philip Rob Perez

October 24, 2020 |

Honolulu Star-Advertiser |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Hawaii

A 100-year-old program provides virtually free land for Native Hawaiians to build their own home or buy one from a developer. Despite a $1/year land lease and low taxes, the program has failed to promptly provide affordable housing to lower income applicants. Many of the 23,000 applicants have been on a waitlist for decades because the focus on building subdivisions means that low-income Native Hawaiians don’t qualify for the mortgages. Advocates say scrapping the subdivision model and focusing on housing that meets the needs of lower-income applicants, such as condominiums, will reduce wait times.

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What this West African village's Ebola fight can teach the U.S. about COVID-19

Emily Baumgaertner

October 23, 2020 |

Los Angeles Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Sierra Leone, Dirty Box Junction

When news of COVID-19 arrived in the West African Village of Dirty Box Junction, community members and local government were ready to act due to lessons learned from mistakes made during the Ebola outbreak of years earlier. The village along with the rest of sub-Saharan Africa immediately enacted measures – state of emergencies, mandatory screenings, and contact tracing, to name a few – that have kept their case count low, while the U.S. continues to see cases and deaths increase.

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Unlike Vermont, New Hampshire state police don't collect racial data for arrests

Alyssa Dandrea

October 18, 2020 |

Concord Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Hampshire

New Hampshire's official response to nationwide protests of racial bias in policing lacks a critical element: a statewide database showing the race of drivers and passengers in police stops and arrests. Unlike neighboring Vermont, which since 2014 has kept a data-informed eye on racial disparities in policing, New Hampshire officials say they cannot afford to integrate such data from local agencies. Instead, those local agencies are now under a legislative mandate to report what they track to their communities. Advocates say statewide analysis would better inform police training and policies.

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COVID-19 delays, but doesn't stop Albert Lea, Minnesota, from replacing lost hospital services

Lyle Muller

October 16, 2020 |

IowaWatch |

Podcast |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Albert Lea, Minnesota

During the coronavirus pandemic, leaders and administrators of small hospitals have learned through their failures about the limitations of their facilities. While some of these hospitals have relied on streamlining and efficiency to maximize the quality of care, it has impacted their ability to react to less predictable events.

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The Tricky Business Of Coronavirus Testing On College Campuses

Elissa Nadworny Madeline K. Sofia Lauren Migaki Rebecca Ramirez

October 16, 2020 |

NPR |

Podcast |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Illinois

When the University of Illinois reopened during the coronavirus pandemic for on-campus student instruction, efforts focused on a fast and frequent mass testing program for staff and students. Although the case numbers were higher than officials had anticipated, researchers were able to learn how the virus was spreading amongst students and implement mandatory lockdowns and hire more contact tracers as a result.

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Florida took thousands of kids from families, then failed to keep them safe.

Pat Beall Daphne Chen Michael Braga Josh Salman

October 16, 2020 |

USA Today |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Florida

Alarmed that child-welfare officials failed too often to prevent abuse within families, Florida responded six years ago with a crackdown that reversed official policy favoring preserving families if possible. But removing far more children from their homes backfired with an overwhelmed foster-care system unable to detect more child abuse in foster homes. Children were sent to homes with foster parents who were known to pose child-abuse risks. The state failed to hire enough caseworkers and failed to address the family problems that led to the abuse in the first place.

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Snowsheds are just one part of Rogers Pass' extensive avalanche program

Tom Hallberg Bradly J. Boner

October 14, 2020 |

Jackson Hole News & Guide |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Rogers Pass, British Columbia

Snowsheds are just one tool in Canada’s arsenal to combat the impacts avalanches can have on their complex road systems. Snowsheds are aboveground tunnels where snow can travel over it and into the river, thereby reducing the number of road closures to cleanup the aftermath and allowing thousands of drivers to continue on their journeys. This idea is being explored by state officials in Wyoming as a way to improve their avalanche-mitigation tactics.

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