The head of Georgia's judicial oversight body urged a tough judge to drop a case involving influential lawyers and politicians without any formal complaint or motion to recuse, Johnny Edwards reports.
All in Reporting Worth Reading
Violated: How the Indian Health Service Betrays Patient Trust and treaties in the Great Plains
Native American patients in two federally run hospitals in South Dakota needlessly die while thousands more face limited access to primary care providers, long wait times for basic medical treatments and outstanding medical debt.
‘I Want to Live Like a Human Being’: Where N.Y. Fails Its Mentally Ill
A cutting-edge program to help severely mentally ill people live on their own has endangered people who were not ready, a new investigation shows. And some have died.
‘The World Moves On And You Don’t.’ Parents Who Lost Children in School Shootings Find Comfort in a Group No One Wants to Join
Mitchell Dworet and Melissa Willey have never met and don’t have much in common. Dworet, whom everyone calls Mitch, is an outgoing real estate agent from a busy part of Florida; Willey is a reserved stay-at-home mother of nine from a small town in southern Maryland. But one thing unites them: both had kids on a high school swim team, and now both of those kids are dead.
‘Crying Nazi’ Vows ‘Destruction’ of the Left after Charlottesville Killer’s Murder Conviction
Chris Cantwell was the star of a documentary about Charlottesville that aired on HBO. Then he became the "Crying Nazi" who was banned from OKCupid.
‘Death is waiting for him’
On the day he pleaded for his life in federal immigration court, Santos Chirino lifted his shirt and showed his scars.
PHOTO ABOVE: Santos Chirino’s daughter stands for a portrait in Virginia on Nov. 17. Chirino was murdered after being denied asylum and deported. Chirino’s daughter and son are awaiting their own immigration hearing.
Judge Thomas Snow watched the middle-aged construction worker on a big-screen television in Arlington, Va., 170 miles away from the immigration jail where Chirino was being held.
In a shaky voice, Chirino described the MS-13 gang attack that had nearly killed him, his decision to testify against the assailants in a Northern Virginia courtroom and the threats that came next. His brother’s windshield, smashed. Strangers snapping their photos at a restaurant. A gang member who said they were waiting for him in Honduras.
For Healthcare, Please Take a Number
When 8-year-old Adam goes to a new place, it can be exciting, almost overwhelming. A visit to a Mexican diner is more than enough to set him off. His head snaps left and right, attempting to take in the scene. His hands begin working, moving up and down excitedly until he is nearly lifting himself off the ground with his “flapping,” as his mother, Heather LeDoux, calls it.
“I have to tell him, ‘No flying at the table,’” LeDoux says. “What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to get him to be aware of how he feels in that moment.”
Adam was born with 10 fingers, 10 toes, and a clean bill of health. But from the moment she took him home, LeDoux — a first-time mother living in her hometown of Questa — was certain something was different.
Family Separations at Border Down, but Dozens Still Affected
The Trump administration separated 81 migrant children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border since the June executive order that stopped the general practice amid a crackdown on illegal crossings, according to government data obtained by The Associated Press.
Class-Action Lawsuit Alleges Deadly California Wildfire Was Caused by Pacific Gas & Electric
The utility company operating in the heart of the region devastated by the deadly Camp Fire in California was named Wednesday as the target of a class-action lawsuit, which alleged Pacific Gas & Electric bears responsibility for the "unprecedented disaster."
Attorneys representing several residents who lost everything in the tragedy said PG&E is to blame for the fire, which began Nov. 8 in Butte County. The lawsuit claims "unsafe electrical infrastructure" started the blaze.
"The fire was started by unsafe PG&E equipment . . . It becomes a tragedy that could have, and should have, been avoided had PG&E done their legal duty of safely operating and maintaining their power infrastructure," said the complaint, filed in San Francisco Superior Court.
Making President Trump’s Bed: A Housekeeper Without Papers
BEDMINSTER, N.J. — During more than five years as a housekeeper at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Victorina Morales has made Donald J. Trump’s bed, cleaned his toilet and dusted his crystal golf trophies. When he visited as president, she was directed to wear a pin in the shape of the American flag adorned with a Secret Service logo.
Because of the “outstanding” support she has provided during Mr. Trump’s visits, Ms. Morales in July was given a certificate from the White House Communications Agency inscribed with her name.
Quite an achievement for an undocumented immigrant housekeeper.
Republican Officials Had Early Warnings of Voting Irregularities in North Carolina
BLADENBORO, N.C. — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss.
The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered with him on election night at a steakhouse near Charlotte and blamed the “ballot stuffers in Bladen,” according to three people at the gathering.
Grand Jury Investigating USC Gynecologist Accused of Sexually Abusing Hundreds of Patients
Los Angeles County prosecutors have convened a grand jury to hear evidence about Dr. George Tyndall, the USC gynecologist accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients during three decades at a campus health clinic, according to two sources familiar with the case.
Don’t Call Tom Steyer a Mega-Donor
Three months after the 2016 presidential election, a still-bald Chia Pet in the shape of Donald Trump’s noggin stands on a windowsill in a downtown San Francisco office building, basking in the fog. Art books and an issue of Mother Jones lie stacked on a nearby table. Paintings hang adjacent to a “living wall” of cascading leafy green plants. A receptionist offers coffee, tea, or kombucha, apologizing for being all out of mason jars as she pours water into a glass milk bottle instead. And Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund manager turned political mega-influencer—and long-rumored maybe-someday candidate for elected office—sits in a nearby transparent conference room, ready to rant about emails.
The Gun King
John H. Richardson, writing for The Marshall Project, shares the story of a middle-class college student from the Chicago suburbs who used Facebook to sell firearms to gangsters. But was he a kingpin or a scapegoat?
Baby Antonio: 5 Pounds, 12 Ounces and Homeless From Birth
BABY ANTONIO was born homeless.
He arrived at 12:29 a.m. on a warm Thursday in August. He was purple and perfectly formed, weighing all of 5 pounds and 12 ounces. He stretched his tiny arms and legs into the air as hospital staff hovered over him to count 10 toes and 10 fingers. His skin turned from purple to a light brown, and he cried, knowing nothing about his world.
The Unseen Driver Behind the Migrant Caravan: Climate Change
Oliver Milman, Emily Holden and David Agren, writing for The Guardian, look at the environmental reasons driving the migrant caravan of Central Americans making their way north. It’s a compelling read.
Facebook Groups as Therapy
People are sharing their deepest secrets on Facebook. Does the social network understand what it’s gotten into?
How Maya Rudolph Became the Master of Impressions
The actress and comedian can move up and down the scales of race, age and gender with hilarious ease — a talent that grew from finding her place in a world where no one looked like her.
Who killed Lorenzen Wright?
Sherra Wright guided the silver Cadillac SUV through the darkness on a mild night, seven years after search and rescue dogs found her ex-husband’s body in a Memphis field.
The remains of Lorenzen Wright weighed 57 pounds. The coroner needed dental records to identify the man the Clippers had picked in the first round of the 1996 NBA draft. Five gunshot wounds were visible in the withered corpse. Two in the head. Two in the torso. One in the right forearm.
Inside the GOP’s rescue mission for Ted Cruz
The national party wasn't expecting to have to defend a well-known senator in a conservative bastion.