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Deep red Utah wants to keep voting by mail

Matt Vasilogambros

March 12, 2024 |

Stateline |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Utah

Utah has universal vote-by-mail, in which every eligible voter receives a ballot in the mail ahead of elections. Even as other Republican-led states have placed more restrictions on voting by mail, Utah legislators have rejected proposed changes, and roughly three-quarters of likely voters in 2024 say they think the process produces “fair outcomes.”

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Don't Vote for Just One: Ranked Choice Voting Is Gaining Ground

Matt Vasilogambros

December 02, 2022 |

Stateline |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

Ranked-choice voting, which allows voters to rank their preference of candidates rather than choosing just one, was rolled out in Alaska this year, and exit polling showed that roughly 85 percent of voters found the system "simple" to use. The voting method has now been adopted in 62 jurisdictions across the U.S.

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Gun Buybacks Are Popular. But Are They Effective?

Matt Vasilogambros

August 30, 2022 |

Stateline |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Richmond, Virginia

Gun buyback programs through organizations like the Robby Poblete Foundation help get unwanted firearms out of households and off the streets. Recently, the Foundation’s first gun buyback program received 474 firearms from residents, as more gun buyback programs have been popping up across the country.

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Red Flag Laws Are Saving Lives. They Could Save More.

Matt Vasilogambros

October 05, 2021 |

Stateline |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia have enacted red-flag laws, most of them since the 2018 Parkland, Fla., school shooting. The laws, also called extreme risk protection order laws, allow law enforcement officials or family members to petition courts to confiscate guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others. Use of the laws has grown and advocates say they have saved lives. But the growth has been slow, largely because of widespread ignorance of the laws among the public and even police. Some states have begun to fund education and training campaigns to rectify that.

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Many in Jail Can Vote, but Exercising That Right Isn't Easy

Matt Vasilogambros

July 16, 2021 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Chicago's Cook County Jail enabled 2,200 incarcerated people to vote in the November 2020 election by opening the jail to voter registration drives, civic lessons, distribution of voter education materials, two weekends of early voting, and four polling places inside the jail. Most people held in local jails nationwide are eligible to vote but usually don't, due to lack of awareness, intentional barriers, and logistical hassles. Cook County helped people exercise their rights and provided them with education to improve their reentry to society after prison.

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Roadkill Moose Fed Alaska Families for Years. Then Came COVID-19.

Matt Vasilogambros

December 16, 2020 |

Stateline |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Alaska

Thirty states including Alaska, Oregon, Montana, and California legalized "the salvaging of roadkill" as a means of reducing food waste and supplying food-insecure families with meat. The coronavirus pandemic has hampered these efforts for many of the charities involved, but individuals in the community are still "figuring out ways that ensure the animals aren’t wasted.”

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How Your Local Election Clerk Is Fighting Global Disinformation

Matt Vasilogambros

July 20, 2020 |

Stateline |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Many entities are working with social media companies to flag election-related disinformation. The California Secretary of State emails voters about how to report false information so the state can flag it and the Arizona Secretary of State verifies official accounts with social media companies. In the private sector, the startup VineSite uses artificial intelligence to identify and flag false information and the nonprofit Mitre has an app used by 160 election officials to report social media disinformation. Officials have a good relationship with social media companies, but there is room for improvement.

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Training Police to Step In and Prevent Another George Floyd

Matt Vasilogambros

June 05, 2020 |

Stateline |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

While most police-reform ideas focus on top-down imposition of standards, peer intervention puts the burden on individual police officers to prevent misconduct. Grounded in studies of bystanders’ behavior in the face of abuses by others, the method first was adopted by the New Orleans Police Department in light of widespread misconduct following Hurricane Katrina and has been credited with that department’s “remarkable progress” in shifting its culture. Now its use is spreading nationwide.

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Nashville's Case for Progressive Immigration Policy

Matt Vasilogambros

November 18, 2015 |

The Atlantic |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

The southern United States may not seem like the most welcoming place for new immigrants and refugees. But the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the Welcoming Tennessee Initiative are just a few programs in Nashville designed to transform the city into one that warmly welcomes immigrants.

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Why Des Moines Can Be a Model for Urban Schools

Matt Vasilogambros Mauro Whiteman

October 08, 2014 |

The Atlantic |

Multi-Media |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Des Moines, Iowa

In the state of Iowa, refugees come from all over the world and send their children into the public school system. The Des Moines public schools serve many disadvantaged, poverty-stricken children who do not have English language skills. The school district has seen progress by coaching teachers, investing in building renovations, receiving grants for providing students with laptops and iPads, among many other healthy changes to encourage learning.

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