There’s been a lot of good journalism this week. Here are just a few of the stories we’ve liked and think you might find interesting, too.
How Chicago-area municipalities are paying for #MeToo cases. Since 2008, there have been more than 400 cases of sexual harassment and abuse allegations in local fire and police departments, park districts and schools. Approximately half of those cases have resulted in more than $55 million in settlements, verdicts, legal fees and various other costs. Read the story from Better Government Association, NBC Chicago and Telemundo.
Mexico City will have a new deal for traffic camera violations. ProPublica Illinois reporter Melissa Sanchez has been writing about the city of Chicago’s ticketing and debt collection practices and how they disproportionately affect low-income and minority drivers. So we thought this story from Mexico City was intriguing. Officials there say that they’ll phase in community service for camera violations. Read the story from Animal Politico.
A deeply reported investigation of the Trump administration’s labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, examines his stint as the top federal prosecutor in Miami and his handling of a serial sex abuse case involving the wealthy and politically connected hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein. Read the story from Miami Herald.
Despite unsafe conditions in certain public housing complexes, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development still gave them passing grades. Thirty percent of Chicago’s public housing properties failed inspections in 2017, but none did just two years earlier. It’s part of a broken system in which “persistently unsafe properties routinely pass their inspections, and decent ones fail.” Read the story from ProPublica and The Southern Illinoisan.
Children are still being separated from immigrant parents at the U.S.-Mexico border. Although the Trump administration said it had halted its “zero tolerance” policy, reporting from ProPublica’s Ginger Thompson shows the administration is still separating families at the border. Read the story from ProPublica.
What have you read? Email us at [email protected].
