Two cousins from Illinois arraigned for planned attack on suburban Armory
Posted on April 21, 2015
A March 27 Chicago Tribune story by Jason Meisner, Erika Wurst and Geoff Ziezulewicz profiles a pair of cousins-turned-terror-suspects from suburban Illinois who were foiled in their plan to attack the Joliet Armory. Weaving together court records and other documents, interviews with the suspects’ family members and acquaintances, excerpts from the suspects’ private conversations and more, the piece paints a portrait of the suspects that tackles the issue of homegrown terrorism in a multidimensional way. Check out the story package here.
— By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
Nationwide federal agency tag-team leads to crackdown on gang activity in Utah
Posted on April 20, 2015
“Project Wildfire,” a collaborative, nationwide effort between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, resulted in the arrest of 18 Utah-based gang members, according to an April 8 article by Bob Mims of the Salt Lake Tribune and published on SLTrib.com. Read the full story of how a national security initiative resulted in a quantifiable impact on state crime here.
— By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
Colorado resident with American citizenship detained by ICE due to ID mix-up
Posted on April 20, 2015
An April 20 article by Nancy Lofholm for the Colorado Independent tells the story of Bernardo Medina, a 21-year-old from Gunnison, Colorado, who got stuck in a bureaucratic labyrinth with Immigration and Customs Enforcement due to a state ID card-related issue. But, Lofholm writes, ICE says Medina brought the detention on himself via a fraudulent citizenship-related claim.
Read the full story here.
— By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
Western Pa. veteran suicide spurs questions about safety of VA mental health treatments
Posted on April 9, 2015
The recent suicide of a Marine Corps veteran from Brentwood, Pennsylvania, has inspired his father, a former politician in Allegheny County, to push for an investigation into a possible link between veteran suicides and VA-prescribed mental health drugs, writes Adam Smeltz of Trib Total Media. Read the full article, which does a great job of localizing the issue of military suicides by contextualizing it through a local lens and marrying DoD data with insights from regional and national sources, here.
— By Jennifer-Leigh Oprihory
