Our Reporting

October 16, 2020

Influential literacy expert Lucy Calkins is changing her views

In a major shift, the controversial figure in the fight over how to teach reading now says that beginning readers should focus on sounding out words, according to a document obtained by APM Reports.

October 14, 2020

Will Doug Evans face accountability?

Prosecutors across the country rarely face consequences for misconduct.

October 14, 2020

S2 E20: Curtis Flowers

During three years investigating the Curtis Flowers case, we’d talked to nearly everyone involved: lawyers, witnesses, jurors, family members, investigators, politicians, and many, many people around town. But there was one person we hadn’t yet interviewed — Curtis Flowers. That is, until one day in early October, a few weeks after he’d been cleared of all charges. For the final episode of Season 2, we at long last talk to the man at the center of it all.

September 28, 2020

More than 40 states have sent their most vulnerable kids to facilities run by a for-profit company named Sequel. Many of those kids were abused there.

A yearlong investigation led by APM Reports finds the company took in some of the most difficult-to-treat children while keeping costs low in pursuit of profit and expansion. The result was dozens of cases of physical violence, sexual assault and improper restraints. Despite repeated scandals, many states and counties continue to send kids to Sequel for one central reason: They have little choice.

September 28, 2020

How Sequel wins business from California

Nonprofit operations in Utah and Wyoming allow the company to earn money treating its kids.

September 11, 2020

Judge dismisses lawsuit against DA Doug Evans

The suit had asked a federal court to prevent Evans’ office from dismissing jurors because of their race.

September 4, 2020

Charges against Curtis Flowers are dropped

The Mississippi man who was tried six times for the same crime and whose case was the subject of Season 2 of the APM Reports podcast In the Dark sees his two-decade saga come to an end.

August 14, 2020

How the post office is performing in key battleground states

Explore first-class mail on-time performance in battleground states.

August 12, 2020

Postal delivery scores in five battleground states are missing targets as mail voting increases

Large cities in key states — Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee — have sub-par delivery records; a former deputy postmaster general estimates tens of thousands of mailed ballots will be at risk for late delivery.

August 6, 2020

Many kids struggle with reading – and children of color are far less likely to get the help they need

A false assumption about what it takes to be a skilled reader has created deep inequalities among U.S. children, putting many on a difficult path in life.

July 29, 2020

On the Navajo Nation, college students navigate a curfew and digital dead zones

The pandemic is making getting through college harder for students on the wrong side of the digital divide. In rural Arizona, when campuses closed, some students couldn’t log on from home, because they had no access to the internet. A local sheriff flew laptops and hotspots to community college students on the Navajo Nation.

July 29, 2020

Some colleges that weathered the Great Depression and two world wars won't survive Covid-19

The long tradition of students attending small, residential liberal arts colleges around the country was already shaky before the pandemic. Students are choosing less expensive options and more practical degrees. Experts warn that 10 percent of American colleges — about 200 or more institutions — are on the verge of going under. The pandemic is accelerating that trend.

July 29, 2020

A Florida university plans to reopen with a mandatory screening app, fewer people in classrooms, and a pilot study of virus-sniffing dogs

Colleges and universities are under pressure to reopen, but bringing students back on campus safely means dealing with dizzying logistics. As the virus surges in Miami, a large commuter campus gets ready.

July 23, 2020

A national forewarning: Wisconsin's high absentee volume and ballot errors

Voters there missed the fine print and the elections staff was overwhelmed. As November nears, a by-mail vote surge — due to virus safety — will spotlight the ballot counting in other presidential battleground states with slim voting margins.

July 15, 2020

How Washington, D.C., mishandled its response to the coronavirus

In a city with some of the most glaring health disparities in the country, District officials were slow to help Black residents deal with the pandemic.

June 30, 2020

What happened at Minneapolis' 3rd Precinct — and what it means

Faced with angry, violent protesters after George Floyd’s death, Minneapolis city leaders made the unprecedented decision to abandon a police station. It marked not only the further erosion of the department’s relationship with the community, but perhaps the beginning of a shift in American policing.

June 18, 2020

After boy's death, Hennepin County finally severs ties with troubled facilities

County officials had kept kids in out-of-state residential treatment centers despite reports of abuse.

June 17, 2020

Atlanta cop who killed Rayshard Brooks had prior controversial shooting

Officer Garrett Rolfe was involved in a questionable and bizarre 2015 incident.

June 11, 2020

Episode 6: Delta State

College football is practically a religion in Mississippi. And for the players, it's life. As Covid-19 upended their world, the teammates at Delta State struggled to find structure and purpose for an off-season like no other.

May 28, 2020

Episode 5: Geno

As the coronavirus swept into the Mississippi Delta, a judge in the small city of Indianola decided to release every inmate she had in jail. That is, every inmate except one.

May 26, 2020

11 highlights from our investigation into the dangers of lead pipes

Current and former EPA scientists say the Trump administration is pushing rule changes that could leave Americans exposed to lead in drinking water.

May 21, 2020

Episode 4: Watermelon Slim

In the middle of a pandemic, with so many people suffering alone, it seemed an appropriate time to hear from a Delta blues singer. Enter Watermelon Slim.

May 15, 2020

Michigan reaches settlement in landmark right-to-literacy case

The governor won't contest a court ruling that found students have a constitutional right to learn to read and agrees to more funding for Detroit schools.

May 14, 2020

Episode 3: The Hospital

The doctors and nurses at Greenwood Leflore Hospital braced for the pandemic, sectioning off their ICU and preparing for an influx of patients. Then the virus struck one of their own.

May 6, 2020

Episode 2: Parchman

How do you self-isolate when your home is a single room that you share with 107 men? That's what inmates at Mississippi's infamous Parchman prison have been wondering for six weeks. They've watched the number of coronavirus cases tick up in the counties around them, and with it, their fear.

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