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Lack of lawyers leaves Georgia teens fearing lifelong harm from minor cases
Hundreds of kids from poor families are pushed through the court system without legal counsel, according to The Guardian US. The Southern Center for Human Rights found that in 2012 more than 680 kids went through the Cordele, Georgia circuit courts for juvenile offenses. And while a very small number had a private lawyer, only…
Read MoreThe Two Elk Saga: How one man’s dream became state, federal nightmare
WyoFile is featuring a special investigative series, “The Two Elk Saga,” by former Los Angeles Times correspondent and regular WyoFile contributor Rone Tempest. Wyoming has a long history of uncritically embracing, then giving public money to, dubious and expensive energy projects. The proposed $2 billion DKRW Advance Fuels — coal-to-liquids — plant near Medicine Bow…
Read MoreSealed court files obscure rise in electronic surveillance
Every year, the federal government makes thousands of requests for court-ordered electronic surveillance, often without a warrant. And long after the investigations that spawned them have ended, the vast majority of these legal proceedings are sealed indefinitely from public view—unlike nearly all other aspects of American judicial proceedings. The Wall Street Journal surveyed 25 of…
Read MoreAttorney General emails detail discussions before botched Oklahoma execution
In the weeks leading up to a botched execution, an Oklahoma assistant attorney general referred to defense attorneys’ warnings that the execution could go awry as “hysterical speculation,” records released to the Tulsa World show. Assistant Attorney General John Hadden also wrote in a March 21 email that he was “not eager to answer a…
Read MoreHouston police barely investigated almost two dozen homicide cases
Eight Houston Police Department detectives have been disciplined for failing to properly investigate more than two-dozen homicide cases spanning almost a decade. The victims were as young as 11 months old. They were nearly all black or Hispanic. They were walking along the sidewalk or just answering their door when they were killed. When news…
Read MoreMost Wyoming legislators pass one or zero bills
Of the Wyoming Legislature’s 90 members, only 28 lawmakers got one bill passed in this year’s legislative session, according to a Casper Star-Tribune analysis. Thirty-nine didn’t succeed in getting any bills passed. Fourteen didn’t sponsor anything. But passing bills is only one way to measure a lawmaker’s effectiveness. “There are a lot of legislators who…
Read MoreExperts: County supervisor’s charity use violated state, federal laws
San Diego County Supervisor Bill Horn said he bought a charity decades ago for $25, called it the Basic Faith Foundation and used it to hold money from real estate deals. Horn said he gave the interest to Christian missionaries in Mexico and South America. inewsource dug into the Basic Faith Foundation and into Horn’s…
Read MoreElderly, mentally ill and children trapped in broken court system
Thousands of Ohio’s most vulnerable residents are trapped in a system that was created to protect them but instead allows unscrupulous guardians to rob them of their freedom, dignity and money. Even judges who oversee the system acknowledge that it is broken, that it has ripped apart families, rendered the mentally ill voiceless, and left…
Read MoreFatal V-22 Crash Tied by Marines to Pressure to Succeed
The V-22 Osprey’s deadliest accident stemmed partly from “undeniably intense” pressure to show progress for the new tilt-rotor aircraft, according to the U.S. Marine Corps commandant. While the accident happened more than 13 years ago, the lessons cited in the December letter, obtained by Bloomberg News under the Freedom of Information Act, may apply to…
Read MoreTrials of spinal surgery option Infuse were too little, too late
Three years after back surgery, Grace Nestler-Bramm learned that a drug designed to repair her spine was causing new bone to wrap around it and compress nerves. In March, the Cedar Grove resident became one of nearly 1,000 people who are suing Medtronic, the company that markets Infuse — a number certain to grow. A…
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