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Type Investigations
Millions of TikTok Users Watched Maya and Sebastian Vanish Into the Night. Now the Children Have Emerged to Tell Their Painful Story.
A video that went viral on TikTok last fall showed 15-year-old Maya and 11-year-old Sebastian, siblings from Santa Cruz, California, pleading and screaming in protest as three strangers cornered them in a garage, picked them up, and forced them into a black SUV. “You’re kidnapping me!” Maya cried as she struggled in vain to get away.
I Was Forced Into Reunification Therapy to Bond With My Emotionally Abusive Father. The Next 3 ½ Years Were Hell.
When their parents divorced in 2011, Ashton Goff and his little brother lived primarily with their mom. Ashton disliked visiting their dad, Michael D., and Delaware’s child-welfare agency found that Michael had emotionally abused him. Then, in 2016, Michael turned the tables. He claimed that his ex-wife had poisoned...
“A Courtroom Is a Really Lousy Place to Decide Science”
This article is copublished with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. In 2017, as lawyers for prisoners in Ohio sought to spare their clients from lethal injection, they challenged one of the state’s key witnesses: Daniel Buffington. As he had done elsewhere, the Florida-based pharmacist had...
3 Years After George Floyd’s Death, Are Local Police as Diverse as Their Communities?
Nearly three-quarters of more than 100 law enforcement agencies across much of the U.S. don’t reflect the racial makeup of their communities, data supplied by the departments to Lee Enterprises and Type Investigations shows. As part of a seven-month investigation by Lee and Type Investigations, agencies were ranked based...
Her Son Said Her Ex Sexually Abused Him. Then She Lost Custody.
In the summer of 2020, when he was 12, the boy told his therapist something he’d never told anyone else. For years, Robert claimed, his stepdad had sexually abused him. The therapist alerted the San Diego County child welfare agency, which launched an investigation. The county sheriff opened an inquiry, too. Thomas Winenger, the only father figure Robert had ever known, began assaulting him when he was only 7, Robert told a forensic social worker in October 2020. Winenger would pin him down, cover his mouth, and force him into acts he found “disgusting,” he said. Sometimes, he said, Winenger recited Bible verses during the attacks, claiming the devil was in Robert’s heart.
How Seattle Police Put Bikes at the Forefront of Protest Clashes
The skies were charcoal and the sidewalks slicked with rain as Seth walked to a demonstration in downtown Seattle. It was Saturday, May 30, 2020. That week marked the start of months of protests against police brutality and racism in the city and around the country. Then a Seattle resident,...
New Baby Bonds Bill Seeks to Help Kids Who Lost Parents to COVID
As the federal COVID emergency ended nationwide, a group of COVID survivors and elected officials gathered on Thursday to push for a stronger safety net for thousands of children who lost parents and caregivers to COVID-19 in New York. Standing in front of THE CITY’s MISSING THEM memorial in Elmhurst,...
Extreme Heat Will Take an Unequal Toll on Tribal Jails
This story was produced in partnership with Grist and is co-published with ICT. In any given year, thousands of people are incarcerated in dozens of detention facilities run by tribal nations or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Often left out of research on climate and carceral facilities, the tribal prisoner population is one of the most invisible and vulnerable in the country.
The Backstory: Bobbi-Jeanne Misick
In this conversation, we talk to Bobbi about what inspired her investigation, how she obtained the habeas corpus petitions, and her difficulty getting information from government agencies. Paco Alvarez: What initially inspired your investigation? And what were the first steps you took?. Bobbi-Jeanne Misick: Probably the year before I started...
How the FBI Used ‘Cop City’ Protests to Snoop on Activists in Chicago
This article was produced in partnership with Grist, a nonprofit media organization covering climate, justice, and solutions. Subscribe to their weekly newsletter here. Last summer, a “Chicago Against Cop City” Twitter account was created and began sharing information about a campaign unfolding some 700 miles away. Its first tweet, posted on July 18, promoted a talk at a community bookstore on Chicago’s west side featuring activists involved in the ongoing effort to protect a public park and forest in Atlanta, Georgia. The speaking event — one of several the activists conducted across the country that year — was designed to raise awareness about the planned conversion of 85 acres of urban forest into a police training center that activists have dubbed Cop City.
The Backstory: The Research Team
In this episode of the Backstory, we sit down with members of Type’s research team: Managing Editor Maha Ahmed, Assistant Editor Nina Zweig, and Don and Doris Shaffer Researcher Emma Davis. Maha, Nina and Emma walk us through Type’s fact-checking process, talk about the toughest investigations they’ve had to...
Why Do People Keep Dying in the Harris County Jail?
Like all teenagers, Fred Harris longed for freedom. At 18, he was small: 5 feet tall, 98 pounds. He also acted much younger than his age, which meant other kids bullied him. His mother, Dallas Garcia, told The Appeal and Type Investigations, “[He] didn’t understand, like, just extremely how different he was.”
When Force-Feeding Is Torture
This story was produced with support from the Fund for Constitutional Government. Mohammad Salameh isn’t going anywhere. Two straps crisscross his abdomen, pinning his shoulders to the chair. Each ankle has its own restraint, and another strap is buckled across his thighs. His handcuffed wrists rest in his lap. His body is limp. A week earlier, Salameh was so weak that when guards came to remove him from his cell, he couldn’t walk to the door. (He got a disciplinary ticket for this “offense.”) Still, as the force-feeding is about to begin, three men dressed in black riot gear encircle him. They grasp Salameh’s head and shoulders as the physician assistant inserts a nasogastric tube into his nostril. Then the PA puts a carton of nutritional supplement and some sterile water into a feeding bag. The fluid starts flowing into Salameh’s body.
Alaska’s Fisheries Are Collapsing. This Congresswoman Is Taking on the Industry She Says Is to Blame.
HOMER, Alaska — The late 1990s and early 2000s were boomtimes for halibut fishermen in Alaska. Over 80 million pounds of the flatfish were being harvested annually. Deckhands could earn $250,000 a season. The small boat harbor in the southcentral city of Homer, known as the “halibut capital of the world,” was bustling.
The Backstory: Fazil Khan and Liz Donovan
Since the beginning of the pandemic, thousands of children in New York City — disproportionately those who are Black, Hispanic, and Asian — have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, nearly double the national rate. In their newest article, “The Pandemic Robbed Thousands of NYC Children of Parents. Many Aren’t Getting the Help They Need,” produced in partnership with The City, Columbia Journalism Investigations, and City Limits, reporters Fazil Khan and Liz Donovan investigated the city’s response to the influx of grieving children, and spoke to immigrant families who said they aren’t getting the help they need.
Woman Jailed for Collecting 4 Ballots in Arizona Sparks Fear of Voting in Majority Latino City
This story was produced with support from the Fund for Constitutional Government. The small city of San Luis is tucked away in the far corner of Arizona, closer to Mexico than to any major U.S. city. The community is nearly 95% Latino and tight-knit — the type of place where you know your neighbors and their parents and cousins.
The Pandemic Robbed Thousands of NYC Children of Parents. Many Aren’t Getting the Help They Need.
This story was produced in collaboration with THE CITY, Columbia Journalism Investigations, Type Investigations and City Limits as part of “MISSING THEM,” THE CITY’s COVID memorial and journalism project. Do you know a child who has lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19? Tell THE CITY more here. If you know someone who died due to COVID, share their story here or email memorial@thecity.nyc.
San Quentin’s Rolling Lockdowns Are Not Keeping Anyone Safe
This story is part of the Inside/Out Journalism Project by Type Investigations. After more than a year of ongoing COVID-19 lockdowns at San Quentin State Prison, where I am incarcerated, I longed to get back to normal. In April 2021, I took the Moderna vaccine. In May of that year, I moderated a COVID-19 vaccine information session to convince others to take the vaccine. Epidemiologist Kim Rhoads and Dr. Peter Chin-Hong came to San Quentin, sat at a table on the lawn, and answered questions about the vaccine.
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