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Lead pipes have been banned since the 1980s, but millions of residents in Illinois and across the Midwest remain exposed to lead from water lines — and the prospects for equitable and quick remediation for low-income families and people of color could be dimming, a Lee Enterprises examination of public records and interviews shows. Read the full story here and listen to a conversation with reporter Lauren Cross, who provides additional details about the problem and potential solutions. About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here.

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. In this latest episode, Virginia Annable, a reporter for Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team based in Hickory, North Carolina, discusses her story about Johnathan Howard Hayes, a nurse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Hayes stands accused of murder and attempted murder of patients in a hospital where he worked. Hayes is accused of intentionally administering a near-lethal dose of insulin to a patient in the same year he was nominated to be a nurse of distinction. He is also accused of administering similar lethal doses of insulin to two other patients in early 2022, killing both, according to Winston-Salem police. Hayes was arrested in October 2022, on one count of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of murder. Read the story NC nurse accused of killing 2 patients was family man with history of medicine mismanagement About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Headliner and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically: Terry Lipshetz: Welcome to another episode of behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises, and your host in this latest episode, Virginia Annable, a reporter for Lee Enterprises public service journalism team based in Hickory, North Carolina, discusses her story about Jonathan Howard Hayes, a nurse in Winston Salem, North Carolina, who is accused of killing two patients with fatal doses of insulin. Hayes was arrested in October 2022 on one count of attempted first degree murder and two counts of murder. Virginia, welcome to the program. Virginia Annable: Thank you for having me. Terry Lipshetz: Can you talk a little bit about the case, what exactly happened and where things stand at the moment? Virginia Annable: Sure, yeah. This case came to public attention in October 2022, when the district, attorney of Forsyth County and the atrium, Wake Forest Baptist Hospital, came out with a press conference and announced that they had arrested Jonathan Howard Hayes. He was a nurse at Wake Forest, and he was accused of killing two patients and attempting to kill a third. Since then, there hasn't been a lot of movement in the case, but it really caught the public's attention. Just the fact that there was this nurse who lived in the community, had been a nurse for 20 years, on the surface, seemed like everything was right. And then they were accusing him, of some pretty horrific things. So it really caught the attention of the whole state with these accusations. Terry Lipshetz: Has there been a trial date yet? What's the status? Virginia Annable: He has only appeared in court for his first appearance. They gave him no bond. And since then, there's been a couple dates set for an appearance. And it just keeps getting pushed back. It's really gotten dragged out. I mean, it's been almost a year now and, there's been very little movement on it. Jonathan Hayes is accused of killing two patients with lethal doses of insulin Terry Lipshetz: You talk a little bit about the two patients that died and also the one that survived, but what was the cause of death and what is he essentially being accused of here? Virginia Annable: The hospital gave a really thorough timeline and a lot of information into the police, and that was all detailed in the search warrant application. So we have a really good lo

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. In this latest episode, Hayleigh Colombo, a reporter for Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism Team, talks about her story on logo apparel for colleges and the labor that is being used to produce the clothing. Read the story Broken threads: College clothing made in factories rife with labor violations, poverty wages About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically: Terry Lipshetz: Welcome to another episode of behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee Enterprises and your host in this latest episode, Haley Colombo, reporter for Lee Enterprise's public service journalism team, talks about her story on logo apparel for colleges and the labor that is being used to produce the clothing. Haley, welcome to the program. Hayleigh Colombo: Thanks so much for having me. Terry Lipshetz: Hayleigh, can you provide just an overall synopsis of what this story is about? Because it felt like there was a lot of pieces in it. Hayleigh Colombo: I think it's important for people to know when they go to the university bookstore on football Saturday and they're buying a new T shirt or whatever to represent their favorite team, I think we make a lot of those buying decisions and don't necessarily think about what all went into it. What all went into making that shirt that is now on, the rack at my favorite university and being sold for $30 or whatever. $25. And what all went into it is this incredibly it takes an incredibly complex global labor supply chain to make those clothes, to bring them to consumers. And the reality is that the people who had the hardest job in making that shirt were compensated leap. And often those workers are getting poverty level wages that are hard for them to subsist on in their home countries making the US equivalent of a dollar 2 /hour which is even in countries where it costs less. To live or the expenses are less. It's still not enough for them to have a good life, to have the even calories that they need to subsist on. And there's lots of abuses that take place in these apparel factories, whether it's people not having the right to form a union or, when they try to form a union being retaliative against for that, sexual harassment, wage theft. And our universities, which are some of our most well known brands and most important institutions in this country, they themselves are, profiting off of this system because they earn millions of dollars of royalties from the sale of this gear. So we wanted to kind of delve into the conditions that this year is being made under and delve into what, if anything, universities have done, are doing to ensure that the people who actually make the garments with their logos on it are being treated fairly. Terry Lipshetz: You had an interesting anecdote early in the story about a factory worker from Honduras. Can you talk a little bit about that example that you used about the working conditions and his wages? Hayleigh Colombo: Yeah, absolutely. So I spoke with famous demas Michael Cardona Bar, and he is a worker in a factory that makes Nike gear. so he had recently worked on a University of Arizona alumni t shirt that Nike is selling for or that the university bookstores or retailers are selling for $35. He has to make up

The American justice system guarantees a presumption of innocence and the right to legal counsel. For those that cannot afford an attorney, public defenders are available to provide a defense. But a new report from Emily Hamer, a reporter for Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism team, reveals that public defenders across the country are overworked. In the story "Public defenders work 3 times too many cases, milestone study and new data show," Hamer's research found public defenders across America regularly work triple the cases they can effectively handle, and some work upwards of 10 times too many cases, according to an analysis of Lee Enterprises data based on a milestone study of public defender workloads.  Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism team requested caseload data from all 50 states to conduct the first-ever national analysis of public defender workloads using the new National Public Defense Workload Standards. The analysis proves public defenders are severely overworked — a problem that threatens the constitutional right to effective counsel.  In this episode of Behind the Headlines, Hamer discusses the story, consequences of ineffective counsel and potential solutions. Read more Public defenders work 3 times too many cases, milestone study and new data show Broken defense: People’s right to counsel routinely violated across West About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically: Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Lee and your host. In this latest episode, Emily Hamer, a reporter for Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism team, discusses her story “Public defenders work 3 times too many cases, milestone study and new data show.” Emily, welcome to the program. Thanks so much for having me. Before we dive into this current story, this isn't something that's new to you. You've been working a little bit on public defender topics for a little while now. Can you talk a little bit about previous reporting you did for your series: “Broken Defense: People's right to counsel routinely violated across the West.” In that series we really wanted to take a deep dive into what's happening into public defense systems across the U.S. and because I think we kind of everybody sort of assumes that public defenders are underfunded or they're not paid well and they're really overworked. But I think that people sense that's so commonly accepted. People don't really think it's a problem that we should actually try to fix. So my series really sought out to examine that issue and look at how it's affecting real people's lives who are going through the criminal justice system. So we found people who lost jobs, lost homes while they were stuck in jail, while they're still presumed innocent, but they're waiting for an attorney to represent them. And there just wasn't one available. That's happening in Oregon right now. There are also people who they plead guilty to misdemeanors before ever talking with a defense attorney at all because the the justice system is kind of set up to pressure them into pleading, pleading out their case and just getting it over and done with before they ever talk to that public defender, even though they have a constitutional right to that. So we found about more than 100,000 misdemeanor cases each year where pe

There has been a lot of change in college sports as many major Division I schools continue to consolidate into one of the Power Five conferences. The Big Ten currently has 14 members with four more schools set to join in 2024. Prominent conferences also negotiate for big television contracts, and the Big Ten has just ended its longtime agreement with ABC and ESPN and entered into a new deal with CBS. In this latest episode of Behind the Headlines, Amie Just, a sports columnist for the Lincoln Journal Star and Husker Extra, discusses a story for Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism team that looks at that new TV deal. Read the full story: How the Big Ten's new TV deal with Fox, CBS, NBC and Peacock works About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically:   Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. I'm Terry Lipshetz, a senior producer for Leon, your host. In this latest episode, Amie, Just a sports columnist for the Lincoln Journal, star in Husker Extra, worked on a story for Lee Enterprises public service journalism team that looks at a new television contract for the Big Ten conference and what it means for fans. Amie, thank you for joining the program today. Yeah, thanks for having me. So can you give a little bit of a background on what you worked on and what this new contract is for the Big Ten? Yes. So Nebraska sends Big Ten fans for as long as football has been televised through cable networks. They have gotten really used to going to ABC and ESPN and for big games that will be different. Now, with the Big Ten using CBS as well as its previous partners in NBC and Fox and its own internal network with the Big Ten Network, it's a little different. And so I wanted to explain to fans what this will look like and how different it could be, especially at the beginning, because no matter who we are, a change is hard, right? So I approached it. My story from that perspective was just how will this be different for viewers who are tuning in at home? What is the most noticeable change then that viewers might see right away? I know ESPN know ABC, and instead of that CBS four games. Now, if a Big Ten team is playing on the road against an SEC team or, you know, any other conferences that have partnerships with ESPN, then those games could still be on those networks. And then in the postseason, four bowl games and whatnot. Then those games could still be on ABC and ESPN's family of networks. So it's not going away completely, but it is going away for your Big Ten games. Why the change? Does this just come down to money? Is that simply it? Yeah. So what the FCC did its big deal there a few years ago and CBS was cut out of the picture for the FCC. So the FCC is moving forward just solely with ESPN and ABC for their games moving forward. And you'll see that change take place, not this season, but next season for that. In the meantime, then, will fans still get the same number of games that they would expect? Normally, this season on ESPN? Or is there a little bit of a you know, with the FCC still on CBS, are they occupying some slots that might go to the Big Ten in the future? Yeah. So there are there are seven games for the Big Ten that'll be on CBS this season as CBS and ESPN or CBS and the SEC phase out of their partnership. So I believe there will be a couple Big ten games on ESPN in the non-conference wh

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. In this latest episode, Patrick Wilson, a reporter for Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team, talks about his reporting on the Virginia State Police. After spending at least $1.6 million over a decade for the purpose of recruiting minority troopers, the percentage of sworn Black employees of the Virginia State Police dropped, according to department data. Black troopers made up 10% of the department in 2013. Today, that figure is 9%. We discuss the data and more details included in the story. Read the story Virginia State Police loses Black troopers even after diversity focus About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. In this latest episode, Molly Parker, a reporter for Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team, talks about her reporting of the state of institutional care for people with developmental disabilities in the state of Illinois. The Illinois State Police division that looks into alleged criminal wrongdoing by state employees spends more time investigating workers at seven residential centers than it does at any other department’s workplaces, including state prisons. Molly discusses the types of abuse reported and what is being done to improve the situation.  About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. In this latest episode, Hayleigh Colombo, a reporter for Lee Enterprises Public Service Journalism team, talks about a story she’s working on about PFAS, which are frequently referred to as “Forever Chemicals.” PFAS are found in rivers, lakes, streams, make their way into drinking water and have been linked to numerous health problems. We discuss the story, which focuses in on levels found in New York water supplies, efforts at the federal and state level to filter out PFAS, and the options people have to reduce exposure. READ MORE: PFAS ‘forever’ chemicals found in nearly 300 New York water systems at unsafe levels About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the three years since the murder of George Floyd was caught on a bystander’s phone camera, law enforcement agencies large and small across the nation have invested in body-worn cameras and dashboard cameras for patrol vehicles. As part of a seven-month investigation, Lee Enterprises and Type Investigations reached out to more than 170 law enforcement agencies across much of the United States seeking information on topics including diversity, citizen complaints and the use of cameras. READ MORE: Camera use by local police departments rises, but are they worth it? Experts disagree Of the 142 agencies that answered questions on camera availability or use, 93 said they had both body and dashboard cameras for at least one of their members and vehicles. Twenty-four agencies said they had bodycams but no dashcams. Sixteen said they had only dashcams. Only seven said they had neither bodycams nor dashcams. Our guest today is reporter Karen Robinson-Jacobs, a member of the Public Service Journalism team at Lee Enterprises and a fellow at Type Investigations, who has been working on the story. We discuss the research process as well as the findings. About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nearly three quarters of more than 100 law enforcement agencies across much of the U.S. don't reflect the racial makeup of their communities, data supplied by the departments to Lee Enterprises shows. As part of an investigation by Lee and Type Investigations, agencies were ranked based on the gap between the proportion of officers and leadership in the agency who identify as people of color and the percentage of people of color in the communities they serve. Of 105 departments that serve diverse communities, 76 under-represent their percentages of people of color by 10 points or more. Some have gaps of more than 30 percentage points. The largest gap, just more than 43 percentage points, is in Martinsville, Virginia. READ MORE: 3 years after George Floyd's death, are local police as diverse as their communities? Our guest today is reporter Karen Robinson-Jacobs, a member of the Public Service Journalism team at Lee Enterprises and a fellow at Type Investigations, who has been working on the story. We discuss the research process as well as the findings. If you appreciate what we’re doing with this program, we encourage you to invest in local journalism by supporting the newspaper in your community. About this program Host Terry Lipshetz is a senior producer for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, he produces the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, co-hosts Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the producer of Across the Sky weather and climate podcast. Lee Enterprises produces many national, regional and sports podcasts. Learn more here. Episode transcript Note: The following transcript was created by Adobe Premiere and may contain misspellings and other inaccuracies as it was generated automatically: Welcome to another episode of Behind the Headlines, where we feature experts and journalists discussing a variety of topics. Nearly three quarters of more than 100 law enforcement agencies across much of the U.S. don't reflect the racial makeup of their communities. Data supplied by the departments to Lee Enterprises shows. As part of an investigation by Lee and type investigations, agencies were ranked based on the gap between the proportion of officers in leadership in the agency who identify as people of color and the percentage of people of color in the communities they serve. Of 105 departments that serve diverse communities, 76 underrepresented their percentages and people of color by ten points or more. Our guest today is reporter Karen Robinson Jacobs, a member of the public service journalism team at Lee Enterprises and a fellow at Type Investigations who has been working on the story. We discussed the research process as well as the findings. We are welcoming Karen Robinson Jacobs, an investigative reporter for Lee Enterprises and a fellow with type investigations. Karen, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Can you tell us a little bit about what you're reporting on? Absolutely. We are wrapping up a seven month investigation, looking at law enforcement in about 15 states and looking at them through a number of different lenses and to just sort of backtrack. May 23rd is going to be the third anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by a former police officer in Minneapolis. And that was in the summer of 2020. So back in the summer of 2020, after weeks of protests that numerous cities in the United States, Lee's Midwest papers decided to look at how represented to law enforcement in those areas were of the communities that they served. How diverse are they? How much does diversity match the diversity of the communities that they serve? So in many respects, this project, which is a joint project between Lee Enterprises and type investigations, where I am a fellow, is an expansion of the 2020 effort, but also a follow on look to see what has happened in the past three years. How many total agencies did you request inf

(Originally published Feb. 7 as part of the Hot off the Wire podcast.) An 1835 treaty between the Cherokee Nation and United States that led to the death of thousands on the Trail of Tears included a provision that would allow the Cherokee to seat a delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. Nearly 200 years later, the Cherokee have renewed calls for Congress to honor the treaty and seat its delegate. But what would that mean for the Cherokee Nation as well as other tribes not covered by that treaty? What issues would a delegate focus on as a non-voting member of Congress? Dr. Julie Reed, an Associate Professor in History at Penn State University and a citizen of of the Cherokee Nation, recently wrote an article for The Conversation called:  Cherokee Nation wants to send a delegate to the House – it’s an idea older than Congress itself. That article serves as an entry point for a discussion on the topic between Reed and Terry Lipshetz, senior producer for Lee Enterprises and host of Hot off the Wire. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In October, billionaire business magnate and investor Elon Musk completed his purchase of the social media platform Twitter. Since that time a variety of moves to cut costs as well as try and generate more revenue for the platform have led some to wonder whether Musk’s acquisition was the beginning of the end for popular microblogging site.  While Twitter has many critics, Dr. Anjana Susarla,Professor of Information Systems at Michigan State University, is raising concerns over a world without Twitter as the platform has proven to be an important source of real-time information as well as geotagged data.  Susarla recently wrote an article for The Conversation that serves as a launching pad for a discussion with Lee Enterprises senior producer Terry Lipshetz: What the world would lose with the demise of Twitter: Valuable eyewitness accounts and raw data on human behavior, as well as a habitat for trolls. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.