When two separate shootings, described as ”suspects firing at each other between cars” by police, resulted in multiple children being shot, including an 8-year-old who was killed, Statesville Record & Landmark reporter Ben Gibson brought the story to readers and continues to cover the case as it follows the suspects through the court system.

In this episode of the Behind the Headlines podcast, Teri Barr talks with Ben Gibson about the ways violence affects smaller communities like the one he covers, the weight of responsibility that comes with talking to parents following a tragedy, and where the cases are at present.

Links:

Addison, Kutteh address city after two shootings on Monday night (Jun 29, 2021)

Community mourns child's death after shooting, asks for answers (Jun 29, 2021)

Howell family asking for help after shooting (Jun 29, 2021)

Statesville police asking for witnesses to come forward (Jul 7, 2021)

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When Nebraska officials refused to release information related to the number of residents getting COVID-19 vaccinations, Omaha World-Herald reporters Julie Anderson and Henry Cordes dug deep into federal data.

What they found last year was the widest gap in the country between urban and rural vaccination rates. 

In this episode of Behind the Headlines, Teri Barr talks with Cordes and Anderson to get answers to some of the big questions surrounding their work and check in on how things have been going in the months since their earliest articles about vaccination went up.

Links:
Nebraska's gap between urban and rural vaccination is widest in nation (June 28, 2021)
Omahans hesitant to get COVID vaccine need convincing that the shots are safe, effective (Sep 14, 2021)
Vaccinated, boosted Nebraskans 46 times less likely to need hospitals than unvaccinated ones (Jan 12, 2022)
Nebraska's COVID case growth at 85% last week, now at unprecedented levels (Jan 17, 2022)
COVID cases and hospitalizations up in Nebraska but coming down elsewhere (Jan 24, 2022)

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In this episode of Behind the Headlines, host Teri Barr talks with Tulsa World Editor Jason Collington, assistant editor Kendrick Marshall, and and reporter Randy Krehbiel.

They share some of the new information learned while covering the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre this year, along with the many things that remain unknown, and why a search for answers still continues.

The horrible historic event, which left 35 square blocks in ashes and hundreds dead over the course of Memorial Day weekend 1921, erased decades of success for African Americans who had built solid homes and prosperous businesses in the Greenwood District of the city, also known as “Black Wall Street.”

Many believe it started when a young black man, 19-year-old Dick Rowland, was accused of assaulting the white elevator operator, 17-year-old Sarah Page, triggering the mayhem that followed.

"Revisit the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre": https://tulsaworld.com/news/revisit-the-history-of-tulsas-race-massacre-of-1921/article_0e9e3208-a109-11ea-8fcb-d779f15e9e22.html

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Earlier this year, the Sioux City Journal published Stolen lives: The epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, a special three-part series by reporter Dolly Butz, multimedia producer Jesse Brothers and visual editor Tim Hynds.

Dolly Butz spent over a year on the project, investigating the national epidemic affecting Native women and examining steps that tribal officials and others are taking to stop the cycle of violence against Native women.

Rooted in conversations with victims’ families, interviews with tribal officials and activists working to raise awareness of ​ missing and murdered Indigenous women, Dolly's articles used profiles of four Native women in Siouxland, whose deaths are either unsolved, or the result of domestic violence, to ground and personalize the series.

For the first episode of our show, Teri Barr followed up with Dolly about the work that went into the reporting out the series and where things stand in the wake of her articles.

You can find the Stolen lives series and more of Dolly Butz's work, along with a full collection of images and videos HERE:

https://siouxcityjournal.com/news/local/special-journal-report---stolen-lives-the-epidemic-of-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women/collection_580ffb59-ceb4-5102-80cd-7639339aebbf.html

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We're excited to tell you about a new program we're debuting soon, Behind the Headlines.

Hosted by Teri Barr, the show features interviews with journalists from Lee Enterprises newsrooms in 26 states whose dogged reporting has made a valuable impact on the front page… and beyond.

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