Better Newspaper Contest

Page 48 Best News Coverage Under Deadline Pressure/Category 1 First Staff The Herald-Times (Bloomington) The Inauguration of Donald Trump Great coverage of many different aspects of the news of the day. Second Staff Kokomo Tribune Tornadoes Tear Through Area It's evident that the news team fanned out in order to get on-the- ground reports to humanize this huge story. Third Staff The Herald Bulletin (Anderson) 'Like a bomb going off' Wonderful, comprehensive news reporting. Best News Coverage with No Deadline pressure/Category 2 First Carson Gerber Kokomo Tribune Warrants in the dark This is a great look at the dangers officers face on the job. Serving a warrant might not sound like a dangerous act, but this shows how treacherous it can be—especially at night. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this because of the writing and the angle of the story. Second Seth Slabaugh The Star Press (Muncie) Why did BSU president leave? This is a great investigative piece looking into the departure of Ball State University president and contentions with the university's board of trustees. It really took some digging and some work on the writer's part. Third Javonte Anderson Post Tribune (Merrillville) Region airport used for deportation In recent months, we've heard a lot of immigration and deporta- tion. But this story brings these issues to life. Hearing about Jaure- gui and how her husband is being deported is heart-breaking. But it's heart-warming to hear about the dedication of those advo- cates who meet to pray for the deported and those they leave behind. Beautiful job! Best Ongoing News Coverage/ Category 3 First Keith Roysdon The Star Press (Muncie) FBI probe in Muncie Covering a story that spanned two years with multiple angles, this package is thorough and places the reader in the situation with information from top to bottom about each organization involved with the case. Second Joseph Paul Journal & Courier (Lafayette) Cops Behaving Badly Third Staff The Elkhart Truth Norman Gary shooting Division 5 The Inauguration of Donald Trump: Workshop Staff The Herald-Times (Bloomington) A presentation on the global refugee crisis turned into an effort to persuade legislators to support local refugee resettlement during one of Friday morning's Inaugurate the Revolution events. The discussion, "Refugee Crisis and Resettlement Workshop," was presented at Rhino's All Ages Club on Friday morning by four Indiana University students, Lydia Lahey, Esther Yoon, Bilal Khan and Zahra Bhoy. Yoon and Bhoy spoke on behalf of Oxfam, an international confederation of charitable organizations focused on the alleviation of global poverty, while Lahey, Khan and several of the 15 audience members represented No Lost Generation, an IU group that is part of a refugee support initiative among college student organizations. The hour long panel featured discussions about reasons why someone could become a refugee, what the resettlement process looks like and common misconceptions about what happens after a family is placed in a community. "We have some uncertainty in our answers and that's OK. That's why we're here, to learn," Khan said. The group ran through some statistics, noting that worldwide, 65.3 million people are displaced —meaning they have fled their homes but have not crossed a border. An additional21.3 million people are refugees, Khan said. Lahey said that an average refugee stays in a camp for 17 to 22 years. "These are people that don't have homes to go back to," she said. Peter Dorfman was in attendance representing the Bloomington Refugee Support Network, which had previously hoped to welcome refugees to Bloomington this spring but has since had to put those plans on hold. "We are waiting to see what happens with the federal budget, and then see what Exodus plans to do going forward," Dorfman said, referring to Exodus Refugee Immigration based in Indianapolis. "If for whatever reason we can't get support from Exodus, we still plan on moving forward. Exodus isn't our only option. If it has to be a private effort, it'll be a private effort." To finish up the session, the group handed out a list of phone numbers of Indiana's representatives in Congress and encouraged people to pull out their cell phones. Carson Gerber Kokomo Tribune It's around 1:30 a.m. when Howard County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Jordan Buckley and Deputy Adam Whitfield pull up in front of one of the buildings in Summerset Apartments, located just off Smith Road. The parking lot is quiet. Almost every window in the apartment complex is dark, but a nearly full moon is almost as bright as the street lights scattered along the sidewalks. Buckley walks up to an apartment door. The residence is the last known address of a man wanted on a warrant for missing a court hearing stemming from his arrest for possession of a synthetic drug. He knocks, and the door swings open. It wasn't locked or fully latched. Buckley is instantly on alert. The open door reveals a dark stairwell leading up to the apartment. Whitfield joins Buckley as they slowly make their way upward, repeatedly announcing their presence. "Sheriff's department!" yells Buckley. "Sheriff's department!" No answer. The two continue to slowly climb the stairs until they are inside the apartment. From the street, their flashlights can be seen through the windows sweeping the residence to see who might be living there – or hiding there. Buckley and Whitfield search the living room, then the bathroom. It appears there's no one home. Then the bedroom door suddenly swings opens, and a man standing only in his boxers appears. "Hands up! Put your hands where I can see them!" Buckley shouts. The man complies. It doesn't take long for the Buckley and Whitfield to discover this isn't the person they're looking for. After a brief discussion, he informs the officers the wanted man had been staying at the apartment, but the resident had just kicked him out two days before and didn't know where he was staying now. Why didn't he answer when they announced their presence? The man said he had been fast asleep. He didn't hear the deputies announce themselves. He only woke up when he heard them inside his apartment. Buckley wishes the man a goodnight as he and Whitfield head back to their squad cars. "That's a situation that could have went south quickly," Buckley says, calling the stairwell they climbed a "death funnel" that made them easy targets had someone decided to start shooting. Buckley knows better than anyone how far south a situation can go while attempting to serve an arrest warrant at night. Warrants in the dark Pay and partnerships link Muncie cop, gun dealer For the complete story, visit hspa.com. For the complete story, visit hspa.com. Keith Roysdon The Star Press (Muncie) A complex web of payments and partnerships mark the relationship among the Muncie Sanitary District, a local gun dealer and the Muncie Police Department's internal affairs officer. Jeff Burke is the owner of McGalliard Guns. Jess Neal is the Muncie Police Department's professional standards officer and a veteran drug enforcement officer. The two are also frequent business partners and each has benefited from dealings with the Muncie Sanitary District, the city's sewage-and-trash collection utility. The Star Press reported in February that the sanitary district bought a former flea market building from Burke for $395,000, more than twice its sale price a month earlier. But the district also bought a building from Neal for three times what he paid for it and has paid the police investigator's private temporary staffing company tens of thousands of dollars to provide Muncie City Hall data entry clerks as well as for "security" for empty houses owned by the sanitary district. The sanitary district's attorneys rent office space in a building co- owned by Jeff Burke, and Burke's son, a local real estate broker, has been paid thousands of dollars to perform "appraisals" for the sanitary district. And Neal's employer, the Muncie Police Department, has done tens of thousands of dollars in business with Neal's frequent business partner, Burke. When the department bought 110 Glock handguns in 2015, more than 100 officers who wanted to buy back their guns had to do so through Burke's gun shop. The Star Press reviewed hundreds of pages of documents and conducted numerous interviews over several weeks during a period when the FBI was actively investigating possible wrongdoing in Muncie city government. The newspaper's investigation, covering money and relationships that might or might not be part of the FBI probe, showed at least the potential for conflicts of interest and ethical violations. For the complete story, visit hspa.com.

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