Best #MuckReads we read this week.
A Gunfight in Guatemala, ProPublica/Foreign Policy
The amazing story of a Guatemalan reformer, and the gunfight he survived on the way to the gymA Gunfight in Guatemala
Enrique Degenhart tried to clean up Guatemala’s immigration service. His story is part of a nation’s extraordinary fight against corruption.
In the rural West, residents choose low taxes over law enforcement, Reveal
In Josephine County, Oregon, residents “enjoy the lowest property tax of any country in Oregon,” but at what cost? Those cut-rate taxes have left its sheriff’s department frustrated and exhausted and stretched so thin it can barely keep up with the calls it receives, according to this investigation. Now, the town is grappling with the consequences.
Title I: Rich School Districts Get Millions Meant for Poor Kids, U.S. News and World Report
Rich schools are getting millions in Title I money.Title I: Rich School Districts Get Millions in Federal Money Meant for Poor Kids
How Title I, the federal government’s largest K-12 program, increases the inequality it was created to stop.
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act – better known as Title I – is a federal program designed to address education funding inequity, but it’s not doing a very good job, this investigation found. In fact, “20 percent of all Title I money for poor students – $2.6 billion – ends up in school districts with a higher proportion of wealthy families.”
How an industry helps Chinese students cheat their way into and through U.S. colleges, Reuters
Chinese students at U of Iowa had ringers, called “gunmen” in China, take their exams.Look inside cheating industry.This industry helps Chinese cheat their way into & through US colleges
A cheating ring at the University of Iowa demonstrates the damage being done by a booming Chinese cottage industry to the U.S. higher education system.
The University of Iowa is investigating at least 30 students – primarily Chinese nationals – accused of using “ringers to take their exams,” but the school is not alone. In fact, according to this investigation, the situation at the Iowa City university offers a glimpse inside the robust industry of cheating services aimed at Chinese students hoping to graduate from foreign colleges.
Gunfire is Reversing the Great Migration in Chicago, The Trace
Gunfire is reversing the Great Migration in Chicago.Gunfire is reversing the Great Migration in Chicago
In a 14-year span, the city’s African-American population plummeted by an estimated 200,000.
Between 2000 and 2014, Chicago’s black population fell by an estimated 19 percent – or nearly 200,000 people. One reason for the drop is the growing concern over the rising gun violence and shrinking opportunity in the community. The Trace looks at how the demographics in Chicago, once a city of opportunity for black people, are changing as gun violence increases.
Sixty Million Car Bombs: Inside Takata’s Air Bag Crisis, Bloomberg
How Takata’s failures led to lethal products and the biggest auto recall in history.
The recall of Takata airbags – the largest in U.S. history – “could affect more than 100 million vehicles around the world.” The recall is so massive, this investigation found, that it will take at least three years “to make enough airbags to replace the defective ones,” leaving millions of drivers at risk of serious – and possibly fatal injury.