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Posts by Alena Rehberger
Extra Extra Monday: Segregated schools, the long wait for death certificates, new details in botched Okla. execution
Drunk behind the wheel again: For one man, 12 DUI arrests | The News Journal (Wilmington, DE) Despite a series of laws over the years that criminalized drunken driving for repeat offenders and made prison time mandatory, James R. Fisher has been arrested 12 times for driving under the influence since 1991. The 55-year-old’s latest arrest,…
Read MoreLargely invisible tank cleaning industry awash in risk
“If rivers, rails and roads are the arteries of America’s surging petrochemicals industry, tank and barge cleaners are its kidneys, purifying containers so they can return to refineries and to energy and chemical companies across the nation to be refilled,” the Houston Chronicle reported. “But government health and safety experts don’t know much about these…
Read MoreLong wait for death certificates makes tracking overdose deaths difficult
“A death isn’t officially ruled an overdose until the state medical examiner’s office says so, usually after an autopsy and tests to confirm the presence of drugs in the person’s body. And getting those results can take months or even years, a Patriot Ledger review of death certificates on file in Quincy, Weymouth and Braintree…
Read MoreFatally flawed: Truth gets buried under broken rules
“In a five-part series launched Saturday, the Charlotte Observer reveals that N.C. medical examiners routinely fail to follow crucial investigative steps, raising questions about the accuracy of thousands of death rulings. The living face the consequences. Widows can be cheated out of insurance money. Families may never learn why their loved ones died. Killers can…
Read MoreNarrows Marina boat launch: Dark, deadly and unregulated
“A News Tribune investigation found that at least eight cars have plunged into the water at the Narrows Marina boat launch over the past 17 years. Four of 11 occupants were killed. Another was left permanently disabled,” the News Tribune reported. The accidents involved different types of people, from thieves outrunning the cops to an…
Read MoreIHSA tournament profits tumble as employee salaries rise
“Even as pack-the-house players like Derrick Rose, Jabari Parker and Marcus Jordan led their teams to state titles in recent years, the Illinois High School Association has seen revenues and profits from its marquee state boys basketball tournament plummet,” the Chicago-Sun Times reported. “Between 2006 and last year, profits from the tournament fell by 29…
Read MoreObscure law is freeing county mental patients
A Seattle Times investigation has found that people like Gregory Benson are now released on technicalities from King County hospitals — without treatment or monitoring — on average every other day. During a recent 10-week period, at least 35 people deemed by the county to be imminent threats to themselves or others were released after…
Read MoreYarnell Hill Fire: System failed to alert hundreds to evacuate
Emergency evacuation calls during the Yarnell Hill Fire were delayed 21 minutes as dispatchers struggled to overcome technological problems, new records obtained by The Arizona Republic and 12 News show. Even then, only 79 calls went through, meaning hundreds of households in Yarnell and Peeples Valley were never notified, the records show. The new information…
Read MoreRecords shape story of Pinyon Pines killings
The 449 pages of court records obtained by The Desert Sun document evidence that convinced a 19-member grand jury to indict Robert Pape in the deaths of Rebecca “Becky” Friedli, her mother, Vicki Friedli and her mother’s partner, Jon Hayward. Becky Friedli’s remains were found in the wheelbarrow. The shot, then burned remains of Vicki…
Read MoreDenver parking revenue, tickets on the rise, analysis finds
Denver is raking in significantly more money from parking tickets than it did just five years ago — largely because of added meters, overnight downtown parking hours, technology that speeds up ticketing and hiked street-sweeping fines. A Denver Post analysis of parking-citation data found that collections from tickets and penalties reached $30.5 million last year.…
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