 90% of collected tax money in Silicon Valley goes to transportation projects in their communities

 RapidFTR, an app created by Jorge Just, photographs, records and shares information about lost children has reduced the time it takes to reunite families from over six weeks to just hours.

 Veiller sur mes parents is a French app created for postal workers to visit subscribers’ parents living far away on a weekly basis.

 Staff in gun shops across Colorado are trained to look for signs of mental distress in customers

I enjoyed almost every story I listened to or read on the SolutionsU website. First and foremost, I appreciated the Veiller sur mes parents application that not only supports safety among elders and comfort for their families, it supports postal workers in France. In the nineties, delivering letters accounted for 70% of the state post service’s turnover; in 2020, it is expected to be less an 20%. Being from a small town, my family’s mantra is to shop local and support small businesses. Although the post service isn’t necessarily a small business, it’s a local venture that employs hundreds of thousands in France. As for the article on the Silicon Valley, I question how the three Bay Area cities were able to pass the new taxes implemented? How did the government influence participation from citizens? Was there a dispute whether the taxation implementation was fair? The public health article discussing the alliance between gun shop workers and doctors to prevent firearms by suicide was one of my favorite reads. These efforts a primarily practiced in Colorado, a state that has one of the highest suicide rates, however, 80% of all suicides are by firearms. I wonder when the rest of the country will follow in its footsteps?

Although it took some to acclimate to this website, that articles I read were well written, succinct and extremely interesting. I obtained a vast amount of information and learned about topics that I normally wouldn’t have. I pretty good at keeping up with the news that pertains to our country’s politics and breaking news, but I never wander into the realm of global, scientific or technological news. After navigating through this website, I can definitely see it as a news vehicle I will continue to use.

The Seattle Times published an article called, “2 Seattle middle schools focus on attendance, see scores climb.” I was interested in this story because growing up, my parents always harped on the idea of perfect attendance in school. Even when I was feeling under the weather, they would somehow manage to convince me to go to school anyway. Reading that there is a positive correlation between class attendance and good test scores make it all worthwhile.

All in all, I enjoyed this assignment by navigating through a news vehicle with such a vast array of topics and articles. I would encourage anyone and everyone to utilize this service and to learn something new!

What are three to six key points or impressions that you will take away from these stories?

Write a 200-word reflection that engages, analyzes, critiques, expands upon, and/or questions what you read or listened to.

Share your reflections on your experience reading, watching or listening to the solutions journalism stories. Did you learn new information; gain new understanding; see things with a different perspective than you had in the past? Did the stories reinforce an idea or thought you'd previously had? Did you meet new people, or learn about opportunities you were previously unaware of? 

Were there other stories this week that you’d like to give an “honorable mention” -- that you enjoyed, but were not your top choice to share?

What else would you like to share?