The Return of the U.S.’s Oldest Drag King
By Celeste Hamilton Dennis , Shereen Marisol Meraji , Leah Donnella , Jess Kung , B.A. Parker , Courtney Stein , Christina Cala , Xavier Lopez , Dalia Mortada , Veralyn Williams , Lori Lizarraga Listen to the full episode on Code Switch. For decades now, drag queens have captured the national imagination. Drag kings,…
Read MoreOn Our Watch
On Our Watch is an investigative podcast from KQED, you can listen to the second season now on the KQED website. When correctional officer Valentino Rodriguez first stepped behind prison walls, he wasn’t just starting a job, he was joining a family. What he didn’t know was that he was now bound by an unwritten…
Read MorePolice Pilot New Tactics for People With Dementia as Advocates Urge Compassion
by Holly McDede This story was originally published by KQED on January 18, 2024 Gloria Brown was worried when she saw her husband raking leaves in the street outside their home in the city of San Mateo, bringing traffic to a halt. Arthur Brown had been diagnosed with dementia a couple of years before, and…
Read More‘Blood for money’: The patients forced to turn to racketeers in Nigeria
Nigeria’s blood supply system is ‘broken’, pushing desperate patients and families to source dangerous alternatives. by Iqra Salah (’23) This story was originally published by Al Jazeera on January 6, 2024. Ibadan, Nigeria – A wave of red corrugated roofs welcomes visitors to the city of Ibadan in southwest Nigeria. Inside the 200-year-old city’s centre, incessant…
Read MoreWe Regret to Inform You
When police kill someone, they have to notify the family. Some officers are using that moment for something else. This audio story was originally published by Reveal on November 11, 2023. Bruce Praet is a well-known name in law enforcement, especially across California.…
Read MorePennsylvania’s fracking boom is hurting its oldest residents
This story was originally published by Grist on November 6, 2023. (Pictured above: Mary Ellen McConnell stands over her kitchen table. Scott Cannon/Grist) In 1976, Mary Ellen McConnell, a “concrete city kid,” moved from Bethesda, Maryland, to the verdant hills and river valleys of Clearville, Pennsylvania. She fell in love with rural life and settled…
Read MoreSurvivors from California’s Period of Forced Sterilization Denied Reparations
by Cayla Mihalovich. This story was originally published in KQED on November 1, 2023. Pictured above: Sharon Fennix at her home in Antioch on Sept. 29, 2023. While incarcerated in 2006, a doctor performed a procedure on Fennix called an endometrial ablation. The doctor did not inform Fennix that the procedure would damage her uterine…
Read MoreHave this talk with your parents now to reduce heartache later
By Leqi Zhong Pictured above: Josie Adler, 80, molds a mask in a pottery class in Berkeley, California. She says she prefers to live life “one day at a time” and hasn’t spelled out a plan for her final years. This story was originally published by CNN on August 28, 2023. Berkeley, California CNN — In the…
Read MoreLosing control: When San Jose police confront people in mental health crisis, why do they end up hurting them so often?
A first-of-its-kind investigation finds that huge proportions of the people officers beat, tase, shoot and kill are mentally ill or intoxicated By ROBERT SALONGA | rsalonga@bayareanewsgroup.com, HARRIET BLAIR ROWAN | hrowan@bayareanewsgroup.com and LISA PICKOFF-WHITE, KQED | This story was originally published by The San Jose Mercury News on October 8, 2023. Pictured above: In this…
Read MoreLack of transportation strands seniors in rural Kansas, a worsening problem as the country ages
Above: Floyd Coleman, right, helping Mark Daldegan inside Liberal Senior Center’s minivan outside of Dillons. By Andrew Lopez This story was originally published by KMUW Wichita Public Radio on August 9, 2023. Listen to the audio story here. Senior citizens who want to live in the same rural towns where they grew up face a…
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