Social issues
Mentally troubled students overwhelm schools
The Star Tribune reports that one boy’s struggle with “Mr. Angry” highlights a growing dilemma: Thousands of kids with mental problems rely on schools for care. Gianni is one of thousands of students afflicted with serious mental health problems who are flooding into Minnesota schools because they have nowhere else to go. Their complex needs…
Read MoreExtra Extra Roundup: Drug cartels, unjustified shootings, unseen farm worker harassment
Unjustified | Newsday“Report reveals how cop shot unarmed man – and kept his job.” Secret files reveal how pay-to-play works in N.J. | The Star-Ledger“A special report by The Star-Ledger exposes how one politically connected engineering firm parlayed campaign donations into millions of dollars in public contracts, all the while keeping the scheme hidden from the…
Read MoreIn Debate Over Military Sexual Assault, Men Are Overlooked Victims
A New York Times article states that in a debate that has focused largely on women, this fact is often overlooked: The majority of service members who are sexually assaulted each year are men.
Read MoreOregon program has $576,000 budget and restores gun rights to three people
An Oregon program designed to help those with mental health histories restore gun ownership rights currently operates with a $576,000 budget and has restored those rights to just three people, according to an investigation by The Oregonian. The program comes from federal money — the result of lobbying efforts by the National Rifle Association —…
Read MoreTexas family planning department had millions left in budget as clinics closed for lack of funds
The Texas Observer reports that the s tate health department left approximately $2.3 million of its family planning funds unspent while clinics across the state closed because of lack of money. As a result, tens of thousands of women lost access to reproductive care. The unspent funds happened at a time when, according to previous Observer reporting,…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: Faltering courts, the curse of fertilizer, nuclear byproduct, stranding the mentally ill
Faltering Courts, Mired in Delays | The New York Times“The Bronx courts are failing. With criminal cases languishing for years, a plague of delays in the Bronx criminal courts is undermining one of the central ideals of the justice system, the promise of a speedy trial.” The Curse of Fertilizer | National Geographic Magazine“Runaway nitrogen…
Read MoreParolee GPS ankle monitors: Major flaws found in vendor’s system
“The electronic ankle monitors California used for several years to monitor more than 4,000 high-risk sex offenders and gang members were so inaccurate and unreliable that corrections officials said that the public was ‘in imminent danger,’” according to the Los Angeles Times’ investigation.
Read MorePenalties and prosecution light as illegal gun market thrives in Minnesota
Over the last decade, federal prosecutors pursued only eight domestic gun-trafficking cases in Minnesota, according to court records examined by the Star Tribune. Federal law enforcement officials say their limited presence in the state and significant constraints in federal law present serious obstacles to cracking down on illegal gun trafficking. Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: A ruling’s tainted legacy, a botched signature and corporate catch shares
The New York TimesRuled a Threat to Family, but Allowed to Keep Guns“Advocates for domestic violence victims have long called for stricter laws governing firearms and protective orders. Their argument is rooted in a grim statistic: when women die at the hand of an intimate partner, that hand is more often than not holding a…
Read MoreMinnesota public schools struggle with staggering costs of special education
According to a report from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a sharp rise in students diagnosed with major disabilities is forcing many Minnesota schools to take difficult and at times divisive new steps to tailor classrooms to the disabled students’ needs, no matter how expensive that gets. Even as overall school enrollment declined over the past…
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