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More States Consider Automatic Criminal Record Expungement

Kristian Hernández

May 25, 2021 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

At least 11 states have enacted laws that automatically seal certain criminal records, to help people find jobs and housing without long-ago mistakes posing unfair obstacles. Pennsylvania's 2019 law has helped an estimated 1 million people. Debates and criticisms focus on safety concerns; whether to grant law enforcement officials access to sealed records; and the limits of such protections based on types of crimes and how long ago they were committed. When expungement isn't automatic, the cost and complexity of applying for help can be so daunting that few manage to win a second chance.

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With policing in the spotlight, districts search for alternatives to SROs

Meg McIntyre

May 25, 2021 |

Concord Monitor |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Plymouth, Minnesota

As New Hampshire schools debate the presence of police officers stationed in schools, one model they and other states can consider is found at Minnesota Intermediate School District 287. That district lowered in-school arrests dramatically by replacing school resource officers (SROs) with student safety coaches, trained in de-escalation tactics and crisis intervention. While some staff cite safety fears now, school officials say healthier relationships form between staff and students when help, not law enforcement, is the response to problems.

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Reimagining a Better World After George Floyd's Death

Anoa Changa Laura Rosbrow-Telem

May 24, 2021 |

Yes! Magazine |

Radio |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Two ways that communities affected by police violence and racial injustice responded to the uprising after George Floyd's murder were block-by-block organizing and participatory budgeting. The first, used in Minneapolis, provided public safety and mutual aid when neighbors formed networks to guard buildings, put out fires, mediate disputes, and deliver aid to people living through a period of unrest. In participatory budgeting, 30 cities turned over control of $400 million in public spending to communities, which set policy based on communal decisions and directed financial priorities.

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In San Francisco, Help Hits the Streets with a Crisis Response Team

Natalie Mead

May 21, 2021 |

What's Next Magazine |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

Six San Francisco neighborhoods are now served by the city's Street Crisis Response Teams, which answer 911 calls for non-violent mental or behavioral health crises without police involvement. In its first two months in one neighborhood, the Tenderloin, the team handled 199 calls without any violent incidents or any need for police intervention. That led to the expansion to five more neighborhoods. The program is modeled on Eugene, Oregon's CAHOOTS project's street medics and counselors, but with an additional "peer specialist," someone with lived experience to counsel unhoused people on the streets.

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Philly mothers of gun violence victims work to solve their children's murders

Jo Piazza

May 20, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia police fail to solve most of the city's growing number of homicides, in part because of the no-snitching street code, a byproduct of the community's lack of trust in police. But the streets do sometimes talk when the mothers of murder victims do their own detective work. A number of cases were solved because mothers turned their grief into a resolve to hunt down evidence that they turned over to the police. Their work grows out of the many support groups they have formed to help each other, and from a YouTube channel that helps them draw attention to unsolved murders.

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Baltimore's top cop in demand as cities seek consent decree advice; some locally criticize cost, pace of reform here

Jessica Anderson

May 20, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

The Baltimore Police Department was the last agency to enter into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice during the Trump administration. This is a process by which a troubled police department submits to federal oversight as a way to reform its practices and culture. Now that the Biden administration has signaled a willingness to use this tool more, police are looking to Baltimore as a model. A federal monitor cites multiple signs of progress in Baltimore. But local activists are frustrated with the slow pace of change and high costs of federal monitoring.

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These co-op restaurants didn't need to open indoor dining to survive the pandemic

Jaisal Noor

May 20, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Two Baltimore restaurants, Red Emma's and Joe Squared, show how running or starting as worker-owned cooperatives gave them pandemic-survival skills in a business climate that killed many other small businesses. By tapping into larger networks providing financing on favorable terms and other expertise, these co-ops used their workers' ingenuity to offer services that didn't depend on sit-down dining. Like many co-ops, they were able to survive the pandemic and preserve jobs where so many traditionally run businesses were not.

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How Alameda County addresses mental-health crisis response

Stephen Baxter

May 20, 2021 |

Santa Cruz Local |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

Alameda and Santa Cruz counties have fielded their own mobile teams to respond to mental health crises as alternatives to police-only responses. Aimed at reducing conflicts with police, overuse of hospitals and jails, and involuntarily commitments for short-term emergency mental health care, the services' limited hours and resources mean that the police still handle the majority of such calls. Alameda's pilot, begun in July 2020, is able to provide help to about one-third of the four dozen monthly calls it gets. Santa Cruz's volume is higher. Impacts on involuntary commitments unclear.

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How to make space

Jimmy Thomson

May 19, 2021 |

Capital Daily |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Victoria, British Columbia

Canadian cities lack the housing supply to keep up with demand and zoning laws are partly to blame. Land is designated specifically for single-family homes, which is the least efficient use of space, generates the lowest tax revenue, and contributes to more traffic and fewer public transportation options. The zoning rules are meant to prevent one problem, overly dense cities and their attendant problems, but its unintended consequence is a market that's priced most people out of it.

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People Are Using an Ancient Method of Writing Arabic to Combat AI Censors

Hakim Bishara

May 19, 2021 |

Hyperallergic |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Palestine

To get around algorithms that have flagged and removed Palestinian content, users on platforms like Facebook and Instagram are using an old version of Arabic, dating back at least a thousand years, that doesn’t have diacritical points (dots above or below letters). Converting Arabic into a dotless form in social media posts makes it much more challenging for AI machines to identify because they use a binary code to identify each letter.

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