GARY, Indiana — After months of work, West Side Leadership Academy became the site of something rare: a movie premiere that felt like a homecoming. Monday night brought an exclusive early look at Michael, the upcoming biopic tracing Michael Jackson’s rise, with a focus on his roots in Gary. In attendance were Michael’s brothers Jackie […]
Gary
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Public Services, Redevelopment
Gary Is Betting Faster Graffiti Removal Can Stop It From Spreading
Bright pink and soft blue bubble letters stretch across the brick façade of the now-closed New Angel of Faith Missionary Baptist Church. The graffiti spreads across the building’s red brick and glass block windows, facing south toward Fifth Avenue, where cars and trucks rumble along the one-way street. Graffiti has long been a familiar sight […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Larry Hoover’s Federal Sentence Commuted. How Have Chicago Streets Changed?
Larry Hoover, founder of a notorious Chicago street gang who has spent the past three decades in solitary confinement in federal prison, was granted clemency by President Donald Trump on Wednesday — but his legal troubles are far from over. Hoover’s six life-term federal sentences have been commuted to time served, but he will serve […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Living in Industry’s Shadow: How Black Communities Are Left Behind by EPA Cuts
From Gary, Indiana’s steel mills to the oil refineries of Beaumont, Texas, and the toxic waste sites in San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point, Black communities across the country are living with the harsh realities of industrial pollution. As the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations are rolled back, efforts to address these toxic hazards in these areas […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
EPA Rollbacks Mean More Pollution, Less Justice for Black Communities
For a quarter of a century, a Black neighborhood in Beaumont, Texas, where Chris Jones lives has been the subject of two federal civil rights investigations by the Environmental Protection Agency that explore the role of race in his community’s disproportionately high levels of air pollution. In San Francisco, Kamillah Ealom’s neighborhood has been the […]
Posted inInside Capital B
From Mailers to Meetups: How Capital B Brought Our Local Journalism Offline
Capital B’s local newsrooms in Atlanta and Gary, Indiana, are very different, but share some DNA. The reporters, editors, and engagement teams who power our journalism live in the areas we cover — many with lifelong ties and deep roots. They know firsthand how important it is to meet neighbors where they are with stories […]
Posted inAir Pollution, Health, Maternal Health
Toxic Air and a Maternal Mortality Crisis in America’s Steel Town
This series was produced as part of the Pulitzer Center’s StoryReach U.S. Fellowship. Kimmie Gordon sat in her car, watching the sky darken as she waited for her 15-year-old son, Kaleb, to finish football practice. It is one of five sports her teenager plays despite living with chronic asthma. Over an hour stretched on, but […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice
Pollution Is Driving Today’s Reverse Great Migration
This is the fourth installment of a yearlong Capital B series on the country’s current Black migration, the most significant movement of Black people in the U.S. in 50 years. It was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Environmental and Epistemic Justice Initiative at Wake Forest University. ENGLEWOOD, CHICAGO — Deborah Payne’s […]
Posted inInside Capital B
Capital B Names Gary Editor
Capital B is heading to Gary, Indiana, and we’re thrilled to announce that Javonte Anderson will lead our newest local newsroom as Gary editor. Anderson is a Gary native and started his career at his hometown newspaper, the Post-Tribune, which covers northwest Indiana. There, Anderson displayed early talents for shoe-leather reporting and vivid writing. He […]