When Kimberly France, a descendant of free African-American pioneers, first approached Toni Craig to help piece together her family’s history in a southern Illinois community called Africa, Craig wasn’t sure she was up for it. Craig already had spent years assembling and telling the stories of the community of Africa, which is located 120 miles…
The Missouri legislature’s determination in its 2021 session to undo the “will of the people” on Medicaid Expansion, a measure passed statewide in 2020 by Missouri voters, is nothing new. Over the years, Missouri’s legislature has rejected or watered down the “will of the people” on their votes for gun restrictions, collective bargaining, renewable energy,…
Police misconduct records are either secret or difficult to access in a majority of states – 35 of them plus Washington, D.C. But the breeze of openness is blowing. Seven big states have opened records in recent years – California, New York, Illinois, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon and Maryland. Now 15 states have laws that allow these records…
From new chat sites, to Facebook knock-offs, to print and radio, right-wing organizers are finding new ways to spread their message after being banned from social media following the failed Jan. 6 insurrection against the US government. Common messages in the media are that Donald Trump supporters weren’t responsible for the insurrection and that the…
Halfway through her first term, Chicago’s Black mayor told reporters that she would give preference to Black and brown journalists doing two-year anniversary pieces, declining interviews with some white political reporters in the city. The blowback to the policy was immediate for the first-time mayor, although criticism came predominantly from white reporters and the white…