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"Murders by firearms have increased dramatically in the state since 2000, when there were 499 gun murders, according to data from Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Gun murders have since climbed 38 percent — with 691 murders committed with guns in 2011," according to an investigation by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting.
"ATF agents running an undercover storefront in Milwaukee used a brain-damaged man with a low IQ to set up gun and drug deals, paying him in cigarettes, merchandise and money, according to federal documents obtained by the Journal Sentinel." Read the Journal Sentinel's full investigation here.
"And despite a newly filed search warrant detailing a text message that may link one of the original suspects to the theft, nobody has been charged with the crime."
Over the last decade, federal prosecutors pursued only eight domestic gun-trafficking cases in Minnesota, according to court records examined by the Star Tribune. Federal law enforcement officials say their limited presence in the state and significant constraints in federal law present serious obstacles to cracking down on illegal gun trafficking. Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones, whom President Obama has nominated to lead the ATF, said the agency has gone “a long time without the resources it needs to really be healthier.” The ATF’s Minnesota office has among the fewest inspectors in the nation to watch over the state’s 2,600 licensed gun dealers — about one inspector for every 330 dealers —even though its records show that illegal trafficking among licensed dealers is a top source of weapons found in crimes.
The Star Tribune tells the story of how one cheap semi-automatic handgun was stolen, and then used in three violent crimes in Minneapolis. The long and shadowy circulation of handguns like the Hi-Point often confounds police and can elude gun control laws.
The New York Times
Ruled a Threat to Family, but Allowed to Keep Guns
“Advocates for domestic violence victims have long called for stricter laws governing firearms and protective orders. Their argument is rooted in a grim statistic: when women die at the hand of an intimate partner, that hand is more often than not holding a gun.”
Bloomberg
OECD Enables Companies to Avoid $100 Billion in Taxes
“With little outside attention, it also plays a pivotal role enabling global corporations such as Google Inc. (GOOG), Hewlett- Packard Co. and Amazon.com Inc. to dodge taxes by shifting profits into offshore subsidiaries, costing the U.S. and Europe more than $100 billion a year.”
The Bay Citizen
Catch shares leave fishermen reeling
“Sweeping the globe is a system that steadily hands over a $400 billion ocean fishing industry to corporations.”
The Denver Post
Colorado system for investigating ski accidents raises concerns
“Despite having only informal accident-investigation training, as well as potential conflicts of interest, ski patrollers and their reports are often relied on by local law enforcement agencies when they respond to calls on the mountains, The Denver Post found after reviewing Colorado accidents and lawsuits.”
The Austin American Statesman
Texas all over the map when it comes to drones
“Even as both Texas senators in Washington were joining a filibuster that raised questions this month about the Obama administration’s policy on drone strikes on U.S. soil, the prevalence of the small unmanned aircraft in their own state was growing — and similarly fraught with political and privacy implications.”
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Botched signature on paratransit bid takes taxpayers for $8.6 million ride
“Taxpayers will shell out nearly $8.6 million more than they should on rides for Milwaukee County residents with disabilities over the next three years. The reason: a botched signature on a bid.”
The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah lawyers: Historic ruling’s legacy at risk
“On Monday, Gideon v. Wainwright — often heralded as one of the most important legal rulings in the history of the United States — turns 50. But its anniversary, experts say, is no cause for celebration. Gideon’s legacy has been battered and bruised nationwide, and certainly in Utah.”
The Oregonian
Medical marijuana: Pot-infused products gaining lucrative niche, but Oregon doesn't track businesses
“Pot-infused products are a growing, lucrative market in places where medical marijuana is legal, currently 18 states and Washington, D.C. Yet states often overlook cannabis-infused products in their medical marijuana programs, industry experts say. Oregon does not regulate or even track businesses that make or sell such products.”
The Star Tribune
A gun at 14, then a senseless killing
Two young lives are swept away in Minneapolis by a relentless flow of illegal firearms.
Reuters
A rural housing program city slickers just love
Reuters finds that from Ewa Beach, a comfy resort community just outside Honolulu, to Silicon Valley to Washington, D.C., homebuyers are enjoying a strange perk: no-money-down home loans guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A USDA program was set up decades ago to ensure that low-income rural folk could get access to financing for a new home, but as Reuters found, tens of thousands of the loans have gone to homebuyers in areas deemed urban by the Census Bureau, and many more to people in “mixed” areas. Further, many of the loans have gone to borrowers who don’t meet eligibility requirements in terms of income and credit-worthiness. The upshot: This tiny program has ballooned in recent years as a sweet deal for homebuyers, homebuilders and lenders alike – and delinquencies are rising.
An investigation by KING TV in Seattle reveals the federal government has been quietly scaling back a nationwide ballistics network that was once heralded as a high-tech tool to fight gun crime. The television station’s Trail of the Gun investigations previously uncovered thousands of “crime guns” in Washington State that were not subjected to routine ballistics tests that link those guns to unsolved crimes.
"Since 2003, at least 299 people deemed too dangerous or otherwise unfit for a gun-carry permit were able to obtain them on appeal to the sheriff or a judge, a Star Tribune analysis shows." Read the investigation here.
In its continuing series of investigative reports on gun crimes, Seattle’s KING TV found that police departments have not only been taking firearms off the streets with gun buyback events – some departments have been putting more firearms into circulation.
The Sacramento Bee
Guns rule street in west Lemon Hill neighborhood
“Between January 2007 and November 2012, no other similarly sized area in Sacramento County had more reports of two categories of gun crimes: assault with a firearm and shooting into an occupied dwelling or vehicle.”
The Denver Post
Denver's 911 call review shows a pattern of problems
In nearly 240 of the calls reviewed for performance, police officers never received crucial scene information from the dispatchers or call takers. This included situations where they failed to notify officers that suspects were armed and had been violent in the past.
KIROTV
Crime inside NFL stadiums hidden from police
A months-long investigation by KIRO-TV in Seattle (CBS/Cox Media Group) found that many local police departments are helping the NFL’s cause, by either failing to create crime reports or underreporting incidents that occur in the stands and nearby parking lots during football games.
The Omaha World-Herald
Sheehy steps aside after phone records reveal 2,300 calls to 4 women
“A monthlong investigation by The World-Herald uncovered a secret life during that travel, involving 2,300 phone calls to four women, other than his wife, during the past four years.
The Dallas Morning News
Chronic Condition
“Parkland Memorial Hospital is the nation's largest healthcare facility ever forced into federal oversight to remedy patient-safety dangers. How did the landmark Dallas County public hospital reach this precipice? The problems have been years in the making.”
The Seattle Times
Boeing 787’s problems blamed on outsourcing, lack of oversight
“Company engineers blame the 787’s outsourced supply chain, saying that poor quality components are coming from subcontractors that have operated largely out of Boeing’s view.”
Mother Jones
To Recruit Cops, the NRA Dangles Freebies Paid for by Gun Companies
“Free memberships and insurance, steep discounts on gear. How could an officer say no?”
The Los Angeles Times
A fatal toll on concertgoers as raves boost cities' income
Struggling local governments welcome large music events staged by L.A.-based promoters, but reports reveal a tragic pattern of drug overdoses.
Austin American-Statesman
Crime lab backlogs weighing down court system
A mounting backlog of samples awaiting testing at the Austin Police Department crime lab is causing unprecedented delays in the resolution of criminal cases, preventing some from going forward for at least six months and stressing an already bustling county judicial system, documents obtained by the American-Statesman show.
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