The IRE office will be closed from December 25th to January 5th.
Government (federal/state/local)
CO’s 5th largest school district hid millions while cutting student services
“Over the last three years, Denver’s fifth largest school district has cut its budget by more than $56 million, eliminated bus routes and cut more than 200 jobs and middle school sports.” “But a three-month investigation by FOX31 Denver raises serious questions regarding the district’s finances, its budget process and whether all those cuts were…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Crime inside NFL stadiums, Boeing supply chain outsourced, NRA freebies
The Sacramento BeeGuns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.” The Denver PostDenver’s 911 call review shows a pattern of problemsIn…
Read MoreATF storefront sting led to thousands of dollars stolen and a machine gun on the streets
In an attempt to bust criminal operations in Milwaukee by purchasing drugs and guns from felons the ATF set up a storefront sting. However, “the effort to date has not snared any major dealers or taken down a gang. Instead, it resulted in a string of mistakes and failures, including an ATF military-style machine gun…
Read More“Star” El Diario reporter’s murder case remains unsolved
“Choco was the first journalist to fall victim to the turf war between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels that engulfed the state of Chihuahua from 2007 to 2011. He was not the last. In July, the special prosecutor for crimes against journalists in Mexico testified that 67 journalists had been killed in that country since 2006.…
Read MoreGun laws, state by state
“President Obama has indicated a move towards strengthening federal gun control measures, but the reality is that the majority of gun legislation in the US is enacted at the state level. That has brought broad variations across the country, with states taking different approaches to issues ranging from sales, permits, licensing, self-defense and carry laws.”…
Read MoreBloomberg Administration Proposed, then Dropped, Database of Residents Needing Evacuation and Aid
WNYC reports that “in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed a registry that would allow disaster responders to know where to find people most urgently in need of aid. But he does not appear to have followed through.”
Read MoreWhere Congress stands on gun control
In the aftermath of the Newtown tragedy, President Obama on Wednesday will announce new national gun control measures. He has already urged members of Congress to do the same. ProPublica has created an app that lets you take a comprehensive look at where lawmakers stand on guns, as well as political spending and voting history.
Read MoreDuring federal gun ban, data show drop in high-capacity magazines
According to a Washington Post analysis, during the 10-year federal ban on assault weapons, the percentage of firearms equipped with high-capacity magazines seized by police agencies in Virginia dropped, only to rise sharply once the restrictions were lifted in 2004. In Virginia, the Post found that the rate at which police recovered firearms with high-capacity…
Read MoreCorporate PACs update donations after backing losers
Bloomberg News reports that corporate political action committees, such as those of Boeing and General Electric, waste no time in donating to winners of congressional elections after previously placing money on losing campaigns. Bloomberg reports that “at least eight corporate PACs that contributed to the losing candidate gave to the victor in the month following the…
Read MoreWhen children accidentally shoot siblings, parents rarely prosecuted
After a couple of recent cases invovling children accidentally shooting their siblings after finding loaded weapons in the house, Minnesota Public Radio analyzed state court data and found that prosecuting parents for leaving guns around kids is rare, but not unprecedented in Minnesota. MPR found that since 2001, 85 such cases have been prosecuted.
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