Deadspin #Police-#Shooting Database Update: We’re Still Going

By Kyle Wagner

Last Wednesday, we launched an impossibly ambitious project: cataloguing every police-involved shooting in America over the last three years. After one week, we’re further along than we could have imagined. Continue reading Deadspin #Police-#Shooting Database Update: We’re Still Going

Rev. Dr. William Barber II on North Carolina’s Fight for Democracy | BillMoyers

Mariya Strauss, Political Research Associates

Mariya Strauss is the economic justice fellow at social justice think tank Political Research Associates. You can follow her on Twitter @mariyastrauss.


Editor’s note: The Moral Mondays movement began as a grassroots response to North Carolina’s rightward lurch after Republicans won complete control of the state’s government for the first time since 1870. Modeled on the civil rights movement, it has united a diverse group of citizens in opposition to the draconian legislative agenda that’s turned what was once the most moderate state in the South into a laboratory for conservative ideology. Continue reading Rev. Dr. William Barber II on North Carolina’s Fight for Democracy | BillMoyers

These seven charts explain how Ferguson—and many other US cities—wring revenue from black people and the poor – Quartz

“Offender-funded”

In its violent crackdowns on demonstrations since a white police officer shot 18-year-old Michael Brown in early August, Ferguson police revealed a fresh proclivity for abusing its citizens. However, the city’s finances suggest the St. Louis suburb’s criminal justice system has been stealthily exploiting residents—particularly those who are black or poor—for years. Ferguson’s economy steadily withered over the last decade, as did its population. Yet even as the number of adult residents fell 11% between 2010 and 2013, fines collected by the city’s court system surged 85%, hitting $2.6 million last year.

Continue reading These seven charts explain how Ferguson—and many other US cities—wring revenue from black people and the poor – Quartz

Jared Bernstein: Chair Yellen Looks Under New Rocks, Finds Same Thing that’s Under Old Rocks

By Jared Bernstein
August 24, 2014

I yield to no one in my admiration for the careful, thoughtful, and reality-based economics practiced by Fed Chair Janet Yellen. So I was taken aback a bit by a section in her Jackson Hole speech on Friday.

It was the part where she gave a number of reasons why the absence of wage pressures may not, paradoxically, be signaling that considerable slack remains in the job market, and therefore, may not be signalling that the Fed should wait on raising rates to stave off faster inflation. Continue reading Jared Bernstein: Chair Yellen Looks Under New Rocks, Finds Same Thing that’s Under Old Rocks

Tracking Police-involved Killings in the US

A Gawker article caught my eye this weekend. It is entitled: “What I’ve Learned from Two Years Collecting Data on Police Killings.” In it, I expected to learn about different state and national agencies and watchdog groups that do just that. Much to my dismay, no one really does. That is, with the exception of two or three reporters who’ve recently started, no one really does. Continue reading Tracking Police-involved Killings in the US

Cyclical vs. Structural: Bivens and Shierholz Turn Over Every Stone to Find Out | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

By Jared Bernstein
August 21st, 2014 at 9:45 am

As central bankers gather for their annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, a top agenda item is evaluating the current and future amount of slack in the US economy. In this regard, they’d be well advised to check out this new study from the two economists at the Economic Policy Institute which provides an exhaustive examination of the issue.

Continue reading Cyclical vs. Structural: Bivens and Shierholz Turn Over Every Stone to Find Out | Jared Bernstein | On the Economy

KPCC: Invisible Dropouts: Thousands of California Kids Don’t Get Past Middle School | 89.3 KPCC

Sarah Butrymowicz

Devon Sanford’s mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer when he was in the eighth grade. After barely finishing at Henry Clay Middle School in South Los Angeles, he never enrolled in high school. He spent what should have been his freshman year caring for his mother and waiting for police to show up asking why he wasn’t in school.

No one ever came. Continue reading KPCC: Invisible Dropouts: Thousands of California Kids Don’t Get Past Middle School | 89.3 KPCC