Thread by @joey_cranney

It’s easy to treat the media as a punching bag. But look to the nation’s local newsrooms. For little money or recognition, reporters in 2023 stood up to power brokers who tried to bully them into silence, exposed corrupt officials and even saved lives. Proof, from every state:

In Alabama, @aldotcom exposed a jail where staff were accused of depriving a mentally ill man of his false teeth — letting him starve for days — and dumping him naked in an isolation unit, where he froze to death. al.com/news/2023/02/m…

In Alaska, police rarely criminally charge men accused of strangling women, despite the state’s public commitments, @kylehopkinsAK reported. Two women were found dead at an ex-mayor’s property; no one charged. adn.com/alaska-news/cr…

In Arizona, @TucsonStar found a church described as a cult by more than a dozen former members that is recruiting heavily on a college campus. tucson.com/news/local/sub…

In Arkansas, @josephtflaherty revealed a mayor’s cozy deal with a firm that was in line to get a contract from the municipal airport commission. arkansasonline.com/news/2023/mar/…

In California, in at least eight police shootings, Los Angeles police fired live ammunition at the same time as non-lethal bullets, killing five people, @kevrector & @brittny_mejia reported. latimes.com/california/sto…

In Colorado, @DavidMigoya revealed a flaw in a special panel’s process for how they evaluate a judge’s performance before making recommendations to voters: The group doesn’t consider how often a judge’s decisions are reversed. denvergazette.com/premium/colora…

In Connecticut, school officials have restrained and secluded students thousands of times, causing dozens of injuries, @AlexPutterman reported. Black students were disproportionately subjected. ctinsider.com/news/article/c…

In Delaware, a woman accused of begging in restaurants was jailed for a year before a judge released her, @Ber_Xerxes reported, more than 10 times longer than the maximum sentence for the original charges. delawareonline.com/story/news/loc…

In Florida, @Blaskey_S revealed that the Miami’s mayor’s net worth increased five-fold during his first term as he used his public office to court technology and real estate companies. miamiherald.com/news/local/com…

In Georgia, @ajc found investors who bought Atlanta homes in bulk, driving up prices, putting homeownership out of reach for many and disproportionately affecting Black communities. ajc.com/american-dream…

In Hawaii, top emergency officials were off island during Maui’s deadly wildfires and said they were caught by surprise by the blaze despite years of warnings from researchers, @CivilBeat reported. civilbeat.org/2023/08/mauis-…

In Idaho, girls at a troubled teen facility reported being sexually assaulted, physically abused and harassed, but state officials never took disciplinary action, @Wilsoncriscione reported. invw.org/2023/10/01/rap…

In Illinois, a Chicago detective used questionable tactics to get a teenager to confess to a crime he did not commit, @ChipMitchell1 found after @WBEZ sued for video of the interrogation and had an expert analyze the footage. wbez.org/stories/interr…

In Indiana, students across the state are secluded and restrained thousands of times each year, @wfyi reported, despite laws meant to curb the practice. wfyi.org/news/articles/…

In Iowa, an insurance company that offered a lifeline to rural residents who were losing coverage has ties to a London businessman whose past raises questions of whether the company can actually pay claims, @LetsJett reported. desmoinesregister.com/story/news/inv…

In Kansas, police in a rural county raided the local newspaper's office and the publisher's home, a flagrant 1st Amendment violation. Stricken with stress, the paper's 98-year-old co-owner died the next day. marionrecord.com

In Kentucky, a boy died after being publicly shamed, put in isolation and then placed in a deadly chokehold by officials who were supposed to care for him, @JasmineADemers reported. lpm.org/investigate/20…

In Louisiana, after officials dumped a group of juveniles at a former Death Row ward at Angola, teens there said they’ve been held in isolation for hours at a time, denied treatment and pepper sprayed, @jmderobertis & @rjamesfinn reported.
theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/ne…

In Maine, railways are plagued by poorly maintained lines, unreported accidents and secrecy around the hazardous materials transported through the state, @_kayneufeld found after poring over thousands of pages of safety studies and inspections. pressherald.com/2023/10/08/fre…

In Maryland, The Archdiocese of Baltimore dismissed a celebrated reverend after @BaltimoreBanner revealed that he had paid $200,000 to quietly settle allegations of fraud and sexual assault. thebaltimorebanner.com/community/reli…

In Massachusetts, welfare officials diverted $15 million in federal benefits — meant for thousands of children with disabilities or those who’ve suffered the death of a parent — into the state’s coffers, @BostonGlobe reported. bostonglobe.com/2023/07/11/met…

In Michigan, @BridgeMichigan revealed that the former house speaker secured a $6.8 million grant for dam repairs on a lake where one of his aides lives, even though 65 other lakes were in worse condition. bridgemi.com/michigan-gover…

In Minnesota, child protection officials returned a 6-year-old boy to his mother even though she had lied to caseworkers, failed drug tests, committed crimes and stalked the boy’s foster parents, @kare11 reported. Ten days later, she murdered her son. kare11.com/article/news/i…

In Mississippi, @MSTODAYnews & @propublica revealed how the state jails hundreds of people, often the mentally ill, each year without charging them with a crime. propublica.org/article/they-n…

In Montana, a state university came under federal investigation after failing to “respond appropriately” to threats, including a death threat, received by the Queer Straight Alliance, @KeilaSzpaller reported. missoulian.com/news/state-reg…

In Nebraska, a single county, population 17,000, accounts for a third of the state's civil asset forfeitures, @nataliaalamdari reported, where police often seize cash from motorists who never are charged with a crime. flatwaterfreepress.org/using-loophole…

In Nevada, taxpayers are footing the bill for Cadillacs, Audis, Teslas and other luxury vehicles for some of the area’s highest-paid govt. employees, who get to keep the cars when they leave office, @ArthurMKane reported.
reviewjournal.com/investigations…

In New Hampshire, a casino owner and former state lawmaker came under federal investigation on charges that he and his wife used a federal pandemic loan to pay themselves rent and buy race cars, @annmarietimmins reported. concordmonitor.com/Sanborns%E2%80…

In New Jersey, after an industrial fire @northjersey investigated where dangerous chemicals are stored in the state and found hazards are often tucked near residences with seemingly little thought to the risk they bring.
northjersey.com/story/news/202…

In New Mexico, after the U.S. Forest Service set fires that destroyed 430 homes, federal officials acted so slowly that only a small percentage of people have been able to move into temporary housing, @PatLohmann reported. lcsun-news.com/story/news/202…

In New York, prison officers were accused of sexually abusing adult inmates in about 150 cases, including women across multiple facilities who identified the same assailant, @ChrisBragg1 reported. buffalonews.com/news/local/cri…

In North Carolina, homeowners associations in North Carolina, with little oversight, filed to foreclose more than 5,500 homes since 2018, some for debts as little as $500, @theobserver reported. charlotteobserver.com/news/state/nor…

In North Dakota, @IMidwest detailed the fight from a tiny farming town, population 23, against the government’s efforts to challenge local regulations around water pollution. investigatemidwest.org/2023/11/17/wha…

In Ohio, a child services agency dismissed allegations against a foster parent who was later convicted of sexual abuse, @limanews found after obtaining text messages. limaohio.com/top-stories/20…

In Oklahoma, a judge scrolled Facebook and texted while presiding over the trial for a 2-year-old’s death, @nolan50ok found after obtaining security footage from the courtroom. oklahoman.com/story/news/202…

In Oregon, the secretary of state resigned after @sophiegreenleaf revealed that she did private work for an embattled cannabis company while her office audited the state’s regulation of the industry. wweek.com/news/2023/05/0…

In Pennsylvania, a dozen Philadelphia judges double as landlords and have failed to follow tax and building laws — the same rules they’re supposed to enforce — at their own rental properties, @PhillyInquirer reported. inquirer.com/news/philadelp…

In Rhode Island, a wealthy candidate for Congress ended his campaign after he tried to kill a story revealing that he broached a romantic relationship with a student while serving as a college professor, @WPRITV reported. wpri.com/target-12/don-…

In South Carolina, officials have allowed farmers to fertilize more than 3,500 fields with sludge from factories and sewage plants that scientists are increasingly finding toxic chemicals in, @thestate reported. thestate.com/news/local/env…

In South Dakota, Native American children make up about three-quarters of those in the state’s foster system, despite being just 13% of the state’s population, @MakenzieHuber & @AnnieTodd96 reported. southdakotasearchlight.com/tag/the-lost-c…

In Tennessee, a juvenile detention center says it complies with laws that prohibit putting kids in seclusion because kids there go into seclusion “voluntarily,” @PaigePfleger reported.
propublica.org/article/knoxvi…

In Texas, a school district is changing its student discipline practices after an investigation confirmed @dallasnews reporting that administrators punished a girl who thought she overheard a school shooting threat. dallasnews.com/news/education…

In Utah, Ute children test poorly in schools after decades of public education system failures rooted in a history of assimilating the Tribe’s children in federal boarding schools, @CourtneyLTanner reported. sltrib.com/ute-education/

In Vermont, an independent investigation substantiated claims of abuse at a children’s home that stretched 60 years, leading to settlements with around 90% of the accusers, @vtdigger reported.
vtdigger.org/2023/09/08/ind…

In Virginia, a plastics plant repeatedly released chemicals into the environment and violated federal pollution laws, but drew only minor fines from state regulators, @luca_a_powell reported. richmond.com/business/local…

In Washington, Seattle schools are more segregated now than they were in the 1980s, when the city bused students outside their neighborhoods in an integration effort, @dahliabazzaz reported after creating a first-of-its-kind database. seattletimes.com/education-lab/…

In West Virginia, only 17 of the inquiries into 52 deaths at state jails from last year have been completed, @mtnstspotlight reported. mountainstatespotlight.org/2023/02/09/wv-…

In Wisconsin, a nonprofit with only one employee received nearly $1.3 million in no-bid school district contracts, while falsely listing top education officials as its leaders, @WPR reported. wpr.org/wisconsin-gop-…

In Wyoming, a state senator was accused of using intimidation or bullying tactics, leading the senate to strip his committee assignments and calls for a formal investigation, @CSTribune reported. trib.com/news/state-reg…

And it’s not just 2023! Here are roundups of the years in local journalism for the last five years:

2022:
2021:
2020:
2019:
2018: rb.gy/cyovuw
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Sorry, Missouri! I didn't forget about you ...
In Missouri, ​​almost every government official in a tiny, largely unknown town just outside Kansas City is linked to the developer of a proposed entertainment district, @Kacen & @katie_reports reported. kansascity.com/news/politics-…