Maricopa County’s and Arizona’s handling of the death penalty have been questioned for years. A 2016 report cited the county as one place with a history of “overzealous prosecutors, inadequate defense and a pattern of racial bias and exclusion.”

ProPublica

Arizona’s Largest County Frequently Pursues the Death Penalty. It Rarely Secures That Sentence.

In nearly 350 death penalty cases Maricopa County prosecutors pursued over 20 years, just 13% ended in a death sentence. The numbers indicate the n...

#News #Arizona #DeathPenalty #Crime #Law

Seven years after North Dakotans voted to amend the constitution and create an ethics commission, state officials are claiming the agency cannot actually impose penalties for ethics violations.

ProPublica

North Dakota Ethics Commission Has No Authority to Punish Officials Violating Ethics Laws, State Leaders Argue

Voters created an ethics watchdog agency seven years ago. But officials keep pushing to weaken it, even as North Dakotans are filing a record numbe...

#News #NorthDakota #Ethics #Law #Vote #Government

Since Trump took office, immigration officials have more than quadrupled the number of 287(g) agreements with law enforcement agencies across 40 states, giving local officers authority to function as deportation agents in jails and the streets.

ProPublica

Local Police Join ICE Deportation Force in Record Numbers Despite Warnings Program Lacks Oversight

ICE officials tout an unprecedented expansion of its 287(g) Program, driven by agreements that allow local officers to function as deportation agen...

#News #ICE #Immigration #Trump #Police #Deportation

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Through scandals, failed state inspections and even the illegal use of seclusion to punish children, Richard L. Bean remained in his perch as the superintendent of the juvenile detention center that bears his name. Only three board members had the power to remove him. Yet for decades, those positions have been held down by his closest friends and allies.

ProPublica

How the Head of an Embattled Tennessee Youth Detention Center Held on to Power for Decades

Richard L. Bean remained in his perch as the superintendent of the juvenile detention center that bears his name despite scandals, investigations a...

#News #Tennessee #Children #CriminalJustice #Prison

Texas Lawmakers Pull Funding for Child Identification Kits Again After Newsrooms Report They Don’t Work — For the second legislative session, lawmakers have withdrawn funding for a company selling kits that promise to help find missing kids after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported there’s no evidence to support that claim.

ProPublica

Texas Lawmakers Pull Funding for Child Identification Kits Again After Newsrooms Report They Don’t Work

For the second legislative session, lawmakers have withdrawn funding for a company selling kits that promise to help find missing kids after ProPub...

#News #Texas #Law #Children #Safety #Budget #Government #Policy

We obtained records showing how a DOGE staffer with no medical experience used AI to identify which VA contracts to kill. His tool concluded that more than a thousand deals were each worth $34 million, when in fact some were for as little as $35,000.

ProPublica

DOGE Developed Error-Prone AI Tool to “Munch” Veterans Affairs Contracts

We obtained records showing how a Department of Government Efficiency staffer with no medical experience used artificial intelligence to identify w...

#News #AI #DOGE #Veterans #Health #Healthcare #Government

Texas’ understaffed agricultural, restaurant and elder care sectors rely on workers who are undocumented. “If you got serious about applying [E-Verify], you would create even worse problems” with labor shortages, said a former GOP state lawmaker.

ProPublica

Texas Talks Tough on Immigration. But Lawmakers Won’t Force Most Private Companies to Check Employment Authorization.

Texas’ conservative Legislature has again and again refused to mandate that most private businesses use E-Verify. Experts say that Republican res...

#News #Immigration #Texas #Labor #Business #Law #USPolitics #GOP

Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter. (Published Jan. 2025)

ProPublica

A Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias. This Is What He Found.

Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t te...