Some of the best #MuckReads we read this week. Want to receive these by email? Sign up to get this briefing delivered to your inbox every weekend.
Rape, Drugs, Disorder Shake California's Homes for Troubled Youth (ProPublica/California Sunday Magazine)
My latest @ProPublica investigation with @CalSunday how one of CA's largest group homes for troubled kids came undone http://t.co/hNixw2Q81R
— Joaquin Sapien (@jbsapien) April 2, 2015"For more than a year, officers had been grappling with problems at the home, one of California's largest residential facilities for emotionally damaged kids. They had repeatedly returned runaways. They had coaxed suicidal teens off rooftops. There were reports of fights, drug use, children having sex with adults. In a single week in the spring, Davis police responded to 74 calls. On May 29, though, there had been a report of a different order: An 11-year-old girl at the home claimed that boys from the facility had raped her. Two boys had been arrested. After months of unraveling, the home had come undone."
Warren Buffett's mobile home empire preys on the poor (Center for Public Integrity/Seattle Times)
Selling wedding rings to keep a home you've paid for twice over - for Warren Buffett's profit http://t.co/QX0PBxLEyv@bymikebaker#muckreads
— Daniel Wagner (@wagnerreports) April 3, 2015"More than a dozen Clayton [Homes] customers described a consistent array of deceptive practices that locked them into ruinous deals: loan terms that changed abruptly after they paid deposits or prepared land for their new homes; surprise fees tacked on to loans; and pressure to take on excessive payments based on false promises that they could later refinance."
Republican White House hopefuls attack Obamacare but take money (Reuters)
Four Republican governors got at least $352 mln from Obamacare while trying to dismantle it http://t.co/LdTrXNVe2H@andysullivan#muckreads
— Brian Ellsworth (@brianpablo10) April 1, 2015"Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Texas Governor Rick Perry, all staunch opponents of President Barack Obama's 2010 Affordable Care Act, have collectively applied for and won at least $352 million through grant programs set up by the law, federal records show."
Women, Incarcerated: Systemic Abuses of Women in Prisons and Jails (RH Reality Check)
She was arrested for shoplifting but the punishment was the permanent loss of her child >http://t.co/mV1e1tuYbh#muckreads#reprorights
— Sharona Coutts (@sharonacoutts) April 2, 2015"The problems include substandard conditions for pregnant prisoners; widespread failure to provide treatment or medical care for women with drug dependency, who comprise the overwhelming majority of women inmates; frequent denial of care for women experiencing miscarriage; forced induction of birth; and, ultimately, the termination of women's parental rights because of rigid federal and state laws ostensibly intended to protect children."
Prosecutor, Defense or Even Judge — All Played by Same Lawyers(St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Web of lawyers in Missouri municipal courts raises conflict of interest questions. http://t.co/fiyb6qDeIy#muckreadspic.twitter.com/dCYVqQVRqX
— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) March 30, 2015"These dual, or in some cases triple and quadruple roles … mean the lawyers regularly appear before each other, switching places in court. … It's a practice that wouldn't fly at the state court level — and which critics say raises questions about how justice is served in these small communities."
