Page 6 - Wanda Bertram News Today

Black individuals make up only 4 percent of Iowa’s population but are 25 percent of the prisons populations, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Black people are sent to prisons at a rate of 9.1 times higher than whites, the data shows.

Good news for Connecticut residents: The state saw a 4% overall decrease in crime in 2022. The latest "Crime in Connecticut" annual report shows a 13% reduction in violent crime, and property crimes are down by 3%. The state credits public safety initiatives, while others credit programs addressing root causes of crime. ...

A new contract between the Florida Department of Corrections and Keefe Commissary Network has increased the costs of snack food and toiletries sold inside prisons.

While Maine election officials determine if former President Donald Trump will appear on next years presidential ballot, legal challenges nationwide rely on a Civil War-era provision of the U.S. Constitution for the answer. Section Three of the 14th Amendment disqualifies anyone from serving in public office who "engaged in insurrection or rebellion against" the United States. ...

New data shows that a Los Angeles County program to help people reintegrate into society after incarceration is significantly reducing crime - a program funded by Proposition 47. A new report on the Re-entry Intensive Case Management Services program, or RICMS, finds a 17% reduction in recidivism - a big improvement over the 6% reduction found in the average re-entry program. Vanessa Martin is the director of reentry for LA Countys Justice, Care and Opportunities Department. ...

A recent report found Black people make up the majority of Connecticuts prison population. The Prison Policy Initiative brief reported Black people make up 43% of the incarcerated population, three times higher than the national average. Yet, they only make up 10% of the states general population. ...

On March 6, 2020, a Kentuckian in Lexington tested positive for the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, and Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency.

The Lantern is looking at the COVID-19 pandemic, a time of fear and economic upheaval, rapidly-changing guidance and rampant misinformation.

The attorney general of Kansas shows his support for Israel following ongoing attacks on the Jewish state... Overland Park police search for the driver of a semi involved in a fatal hit and run.... Kansas regulators take up a proposed rate hike request from Evergy... and a suspect has been identified in the Colorado deaths of two Emporia women. Those stories and more inside.

To Syrita Steib, the University of New Orleans denied her first application for admission in what seemed like lightning speed. With equal speed, though, the university accepted her second application. The difference? The second time around, Steib didn’t disclose her criminal history. “I checked the box, I was denied within 24 hours,” said Steib, founder […]