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.
Violence spiked. No one responded. Now kids at five elementary schools are getting lessons in fear (Tampa Bay Times)
"It led me to believe that God didn't want my family in Florida." http://t.co/gRxQulisZ8#FailureFactories
— Ron Brackett (@rontimes) August 21, 2015"On the day Salimah was hospitalized, there had already been more than 1,100 violent incidents at the schools in 2013-14. The experience left her mother, Tammy Bullock, so disturbed that she moved the family back to Philadelphia. She said she would rather take her chances in that city's public school system than remain in St. Petersburg. 'I've never seen anything like this in my whole life," Bullock said of Campbell Park. 'It led me to believe that God didn't want my family in Florida.'"
Ticket to nowhere: The hidden cost of driver's license suspensions (The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Traffic racket? When not paying ticket brings 2x penalty of hit-and-run injury: http://t.co/3m5H2mI7bb#muckreadspic.twitter.com/LNA2cdL26W
— Amanda Zamora (@amzam) August 18, 2015"Without valid driver's licenses, they lose job opportunities and fall deeper into financial straits. Some even end up in jail — a cost to the community — for not paying their traffic fines. In an already deeply segregated city, a disproportionate number of those affected are minorities. Ultimately, the city may just erase the debt, never collecting on its money at all."
Second-chance cops: 'My son wouldn't be dead if they hadn't hired him' (The Denver Post)
Second-chance cops become issue in Rocky Ford after fatal shooting: http://t.co/Q8VFI5xQNi via @chrisosher#muckreads
— Greg Griffin (@GregGriffin) August 17, 2015"At least four of Rocky Ford's 10 officers have had problems in previous law-enforcement jobs or had criminal convictions that might have kept them from being hired at bigger departments or in other states, The Denver Post found. ... 'Any larger enlightened agency does a thorough background investigation,' said the former police chief in Aurora. 'But smaller agencies in smaller states like Colorado don't have robust investigations. They might not even check with a prior employer.'"
A tale of two New Orleans (BuzzFeed News)
the Crescent City is at risk of losing something much more valuable than what it has gained. http://t.co/wKt9i1i42l
— One Voice Radio (@OneVoiceRadio) August 20, 2015"...while in most cities gentrification is caused by a simple desire for prime real estate, in New Orleans the draw is the very culture that the resulting changes to the city is eroding. Like many natives of the city, Domonique Meyers thinks New Orleans is already in danger: 'It's 'bout to be extinct.'"
Sons of indicted Swiss financial adviser keep business in the family (Bloomberg Business)
My exclusive: How indicted Swiss adviser's offshore business stayed in the family; he's still a fugitive: http://t.co/yyXOnSspFK#muckreads
— Jesse Drucker (@JesseDrucker) August 19, 2015"'People are indicted all the time,' said Dustin Milne, the Zurich attorney representing [Josef] Beck's company, Beck Verwaltungen AG, and his sons' firm, which manages $22.7 million for a handful of mostly wealthy Americans in New York and Florida, according to an SEC filing. 'Should the family stop being interested in running the family business? Should they stop looking for opportunities that they heard about at the dinner table?'"
Unused oil and gas gear threatens habitat, drinking water (E&E Publishing)
Slew of abandoned oil and gas wells threaten water and wildlife on federally protected land #muckreads@CorbinHiar: http://t.co/XpvBC0Bz4n
— Jennifer Gollan (@jennifergollan) August 19, 2015"'Orphaned wells can pose environmental hazards because hydrocarbons, salts and groundwater mingle,' the OIG said. ... Surface seepage is a particular problem because it can harm humans and wildlife as well as 'increase the risk and ferocity of wildfires by providing hydrocarbons as additional fuel,' the OIG added. The agency estimated in a May fact sheet that there are 450 unplugged oil and gas wells throughout the system that no longer have a known or solvent operator. Completely cleaning up those orphaned sites could cost taxpayers in excess of $20 million."
