For millions in the South, an impending storm could become unforgettable. “I can’t stop watching the forecasts,” said Shemekia Stringer, speaking by phone Thursday afternoon as she moved through near-empty aisles at a Walmart in Southaven, Mississippi, just outside of Memphis, Tennessee. “I’m trying to make sure we’re fully prepared. In my area, the map […]
Public Safety
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Safety
Calls for Justice Grow After ICE Shooting of Minneapolis Mom
Jacob Davis suspected that nothing positive would come from the Trump administration’s announcement on Tuesday that it had deployed some 2,000 federal agents to the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota. One day later, Renee Nicole Good was dead. The mother of three was in her car when a U.S. Immigration and […]
Posted inHBCUs, Higher Education, Public Safety
Black Colleges Enhance Security in Response to Bomb Threats
This story is a collaboration between Capital B and Open Campus. HAMPTON, Virginia — Just weeks into the start of the fall semester, Nick Jones was walking back to his Hampton University dorm when he got an alert that the campus was on lockdown. “Yo … should I be outside?” he thought to himself, but really, he was […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Public Safety
Virginia Man Accused of Planting Pipe Bombs Before Jan. 6 Faces Federal Charges
Federal law enforcement has made its first arrest in connection to the planting of two pipe bombs outside the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the Democratic and Republican national committees, officials announced last week. After a nearly five-year search, Brian J. Cole Jr. has been identified as a suspect. Cole was allegedly seen in surveillance footage […]
Posted inGun Violence, Politics & Policy, Public Safety
After DOJ Pulls Millions for Public Safety, Nonprofits and Neighborhoods Step In
JACKSON, Mississippi — Sharon Brown seemed destined from birth to be a changemaker in her hometown. She grew up reading old newspaper clippings about her mother and aunt protesting for women’s rights in the 1960s, and watching them help neighbors with whatever they could — from child care to groceries. Years later, her mother urged […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Gun Violence, Partner Content, Public Safety
A Trace Analysis of 150 U.S. Cities Shows One of the Greatest Drops in Gun Violence — Ever
This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here. Gun violence is trending downward for more than three quarters of cities with the most shootings, according to a new analysis by The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub. For more than half of […]
Posted inHBCUs, Public Safety
Deadly Homecoming Weekend Prompts HBCUs to Rethink Campus Safety Plans
BOWIE, Maryland — Bowie State University junior Tamia McClorin remembers people running after a shooting near campus during her first homecoming two years ago. It’s an image she can’t forget. “I literally saw a guy that was shot and just lying in the ditch. … I was just freaking out,” McClorin recalled. “It was literally […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Juvenile Justice, Partner Content, Public Safety
Juvenile Detention Centers: No School, No Fresh Air and Isolated
This story was originally published by MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Subscribe to their newsletter here. In the hours after 17-year-old David was locked in housing unit H, voices filtered into his cell. The sound came from multiple places at once: the seams of the door, the vent by the ceiling, the walls themselves. They knew he’d just […]
Posted inHigher Education, Public Safety
HBCU Lockdowns Lifted After Day of ‘Terroristic Threats’
Several Historically Black Colleges and Universities across the country have lifted lockdowns after a series of threats. Early Thursday morning, Hampton University and Virginia State University said they received terrorist threats. Later, the list grew as Alabama State University, Clark Atlanta University, Southern University in Louisiana, and Bethune-Cookman in Florida reported threats. Spelman College ordered […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Partner Content, Public Safety, Violence Against Women
For Black Women,‘Diddy’ Verdict is a Reminder of Justice Denied
Originally published by The 19th A raucous scene unfolded outside the New York City courthouse where a jury Wednesday acquitted Sean “Diddy” Combs of the most serious charges — sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy — against him during a six-week trial in which witnesses painted the rap mogul as a monster who preyed on vulnerable […]