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

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

    October 16, 2020 |

    USA Today |

    Text |

    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

    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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  • A Broken Bond: How New York Judges are Getting Around Bail Reform Audio icon

    October 12, 2020 |

    New York Focus |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, New York, New York

    A key part of New York state's bail system reform legislation gave judges the ability to use alternative forms of bail designed to be more affordable to more people. But, by giving judges broad discretion, the law left large loopholes that judges have used to undercut the law's purpose. In addition to the two standard forms of bail – payment in cash or a nonrefundable fee to a bail bonds company – the law allowed for cost-free or refundable-deposit bonds that judges either have avoided using or have turned into a new costly obligation, leaving thousands to sit in jail pending trial.

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  • How Oakland Got Real About Equitable Urban Planning

    October 08, 2020 |

    Reasons to be Cheerful |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

    Oakland is making an effort to make city planning more equitable to include the needs of communities of color. "Esential Places" is the second iteration of a program that started off as "Slow Streets" and was criticized by local residents for catering to "white and moneyed interests." The initial attempt was informed by survey respondents who were overwhelmingly white and rich. Meetings with community members in distressed neighborhoods resulted in different traffic challenges and pedestrian needs. The shift in policy planning has led to safer intersections with no collisions at previously dangerous sites.

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  • A world without avalanche closures

    October 07, 2020 |

    Jackson Hole News & Guide |

    Multi-Media |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Snoqualmie Pass, Washington

    A failed bridge construction project in the 1960s in Wyoming to mitigate the impacts of avalanches inspired Washington state to complete a similar project fifty years later. The project included an elevated bridge that allows snow from slide paths to pass beneath the roadway, which ends up saving losses of economic activity due to road closures. While the construction can be expensive, Wyoming is looking to see if a similar solution can be applied to their own mountain passes.

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  • Locals Question the Relevance of First Solar Power Plant in Soroti

    October 03, 2020 |

    Aica |

    Photojournalism |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Uganda, Soroti

    Four years later after a solar grid was installed in Uganda, residents of nearby villages are wondering when they will get some of that power. The 10-megawatt facility, which cost $19 million to build, was expected to provide electricity to about 40,000 homes, schools, and businesses in the area. However, almost all households in the 10 surrounding villages still use firewood for cooking. The lessons learned from this renewable energy project could help inform others as the country looks to power more parts of the country with solar panels.

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  • Fighting Wildfires With Fire

    September 30, 2020 |

    Wall Street Journal |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States

    The absence of an active "fire culture" in the American West has contributed greatly to the scale of catastrophic wildfires fueled by decades of aggressive fire-suppression tactics. In Florida, Australia, and pockets of experimentation in California, ancient practices of controlled burns – frequent low-intensity burns – minimize the buildup of dead-tree fuel on the ground. Such human-set fires have been known to go out of control. And their smoke can be a health hazard. But Native American and other indigenous cultures have shown the overall benefits of letting forests burn.

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  • The Obama Justice Department Had a Plan to Hold Police Accountable for Abuses. The Trump DOJ Has Undermined It.

    September 29, 2020 |

    ProPublica |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    One of the most powerful tools used to reform policing practices, widely credited with restoring public faith in such troubled departments as the Los Angeles Police Department, is called a consent decree. The U.S. Justice Department sues cities where police abuses are seen as rampant. Then, under the watchful eye of a judge and independent monitor, the department agrees to a package of reforms. Under the Trump Justice Department, though, the tool has gone unused in new cases. In existing cases, the government has become passive, allowing cities to flout their agreements without consequence.

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  • In Rio, Mapping Gunshots Can Backfire

    September 29, 2020 |

    Bloomberg CityLab |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro

    Crime-tracking mobile apps give millions of Brazilians crowdsourced data on urban violence, alerting people to dangerous places and filling gaps in government data on shootings, robberies, and other risks. But apps such as Fogo Cruzado (“Crossfire”) and Onde Tem Tiroteio (“Where There's a Shooting”) offer statistically crude glimpses of crime, distorted by media and racial biases that one expert blames for myths about the risks people actually face.

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