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Behind the Story: How the Chicago Sun-Times helped bring a nephew of Mayor Richard M. Daley to justice in a 10-year-old homicide
By Paul Saltzman, Chicago Sun-Times On Jan. 31, 2014, a nephew of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in a death a decade earlier. Richard J. “R.J.” Vanecko admitted doing exactly what an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times had revealed in early 2011 he did — and what police and…
Read MoreMore Marines from Calif. base have died back home than in the war-torn Middle East
Since 2007, 28 Marines from the base in Twentynine Palms in southern San Bernardino County, Calif. have died in off-duty vehicle accidents, a rate higher than at other Marine Corps bases. The Desert Sun examined each of these deaths during a yearlong investigation of non-hostile military fatalities in the desert. The paper analyzed thousands of pages of…
Read MoreUpdated HAZMAT database available from NICAR
Now current through March 2014, the Hazardous Materials Incident Reports data contains information on unintentional releases of hazardous materials during transportation in air, over water, on highways and on railroads. Available fields include the route, city and state in which the incident occurred, as well as detailed information about where the materials were headed and how they…
Read MoreExtra Extra Monday: States grapple with child-abuse deaths, Tenn. plans secret executions, N.Y. confronts aging gas lines
Tennessee plans executions in secret | The Tennessean The state of Tennessee doesn’t want you to know how it will kill the condemned. It doesn’t want you to know who will flip the switch, sending a lethal dose of pentobarbital through the veins of death row inmates. And it doesn’t want you to know how…
Read MoreRestraining orders foreshadow domestic violence deaths in Rhode Island
Restraining-order applications, as well as no-contact orders based on criminal complaints, have foreshadowed the violent deaths of at least 11 Rhode Islanders since 2000 — including the stabbing deaths of two abusive men slain by fearful women in self-defense. During this period, such orders, and the allegations of abuse that accompany them, preceded at least…
Read MoreShootings involving combat veterans raise questions of police training
Gene Vela was supposed to graduate in May with a master’s degree in global policy studies. It would have been a milestone for Vela, who was among the first U.S. Marines involved in the initial invasion of Iraq. Vela, 30, battled post-traumatic stress disorder in the Marines and after leaving the military, and his struggles…
Read MoreTennessee inmate execution details kept secret
The state of Tennessee doesn’t want you to know how it will kill the condemned. It doesn’t want you to know who will flip the switch, sending a lethal dose of pentobarbital through the veins of death row inmates. And it doesn’t want you to know how it obtained that pentobarbital — which isn’t available…
Read MoreChinese green energy firm has possible links to Italian criminals, Sicilian Mafia
The story of Suntech’s fall links China to Italy, Germany, London and Wall Street, passing through some of the world’s leading tax havens and ending up — Dolce Vita fashion — in some of the most luxurious spots in Rome. It’s a tale about the nexus of offshore financial secrecy and Italy’s onshore culture of…
Read MoreBalancing privacy and gun rights against public and patient safety
Before he turned 21, Blaec Lammers had seen the inside of mental health facilities at least seven times. One of those visits stemmed from following an employee for two hours at the Bolivar Wal-Mart wearing a Halloween mask and wielding a butcher knife. None of that stopped that same supercenter from selling the 20-year-old a…
Read MoreMaryland prison system releasing violent criminals early after completing work and education programs
After Gregg Thomas pleaded guilty in 2004 to killing a teenager, a Baltimore judge ordered him to serve 15 years in prison. He was out in less than 10, and by last week he had been charged in the shooting ambush of off-duty Baltimore Police Sgt. Keith Mcneill. The shooting, which left Mcneill in critical…
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