Community Corner
Principal Delivers, Amazon Problems, CA Fires: Patch Partner News
California's peak fire months are coming, Amazon has delivery problems, a Denver principal helps deliver a teacher's baby:.
Every day, Patch brings stories to its readers from more than a dozen news and information partners. These organizations contributing to Patch range from Kaiser Health News to the Racine County Eye to Chalkbeat – and others, both local and national.
As much as a news organization, Patch is a publishing platform that would love to share your thoughts, ideas and information, too. Here is just a sample of some recent posts. If you'd like to appear on the Patch platform, and have your work be among the stories that attract more than 80 million reads each month, contact colin.miner@patch.com.
Feds Try To Block Philly's Supervised Injection Site
By Kaiser Health News
Find out what's happening in Across Americafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Philadelphia could become the first U.S. city to offer opioid users a place to inject drugs under medical supervision. But lawyers for the Trump administration are trying to block the effort, citing a 1980s-era law known as "the crackhouse statute."
Justice Department lawyers argued in federal court Thursday against the nonprofit, Safehouse, which wants to open the site.
Find out what's happening in Across Americafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain, in a rare move, argued the case himself. He said Safehouse's intended activities would clearly violate a portion of the federal Controlled Substances Act that makes it illegal to manage any site for the purpose of unlawfully using a controlled substance. The statute was added to the broader legislation in the mid-1980s at the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in American cities.
What To Know As California's Peak Fire Months Loom
By CalMatters
History shows that September and October, with their hot, fierce winds, are the state's worst times for fire
California fire officials have learned through hard experience to temper their optimism.
Having just endured more than a decade of rampaging fires — 14 of the 20 most destructive fires in state history have occurred since 2007 — fire bosses say this year the glass is half-full.
"We've got a few things going for us at the moment," said Scott McLean, a spokesman for Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency. "We still have a snowpack. Our upper elevations haven't dried out. Because of that, we are able to continue our fuel-reduction projects."
AZ Panel Questions Officials On Efforts To Help Native Women
By Cronkite News
Arizona lawmakers questioned administration officials Wednesday on what they are doing to deal with the problem of missing and murdered indigenous women — and they weren't always satisfied with the answer.
Officials with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services said they're trying, but are often hampered by a lack of funding and inconsistent record-keeping when it comes to crimes against Native women.
"A missing person report that comes in isn't necessarily a crime when it's reported to one of our police departments out there, so we have to treat those with more … more of a response," said Charles Addington, deputy director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Office of Justice Services.
A Chicago Truck Delivering Holiday Packages; A Crash; A Family Never The Same
By ProPublica
On the corner of 28th Street and Drake Avenue in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, the family of Telesfora Escamilla created a shrine for their mother, decorating a tree with silk flowers, ribbons and Our Lady of Guadalupe candles.
Escamilla was in a crosswalk at that intersection three days before Christmas in 2016 when a driver delivering Amazon packages in a cargo van turned left and hit her. She died that day, two weeks shy of her 85th birthday.
The delivery driver, who was working for an Amazon contractor at the height of the holiday rush, was indicted on a felony charge of reckless homicide but was acquitted in a bench trial this summer. Escamilla's children are suing Amazon, the contractor and the driver. The driver declined to comment; the contractor did not return calls seeking comment; and Amazon declined to comment.
Denver Principal, Dean Deliver Teacher's Baby — At School
A new school year always means new beginnings, but one Denver middle school community took that more literally than most.
Sixth-grade reading teacher Lindsay Agbalokwu was expecting her first baby in early September, but when she woke up with mild contractions Tuesday, she wasn't sure if she was really in labor. She went to work anyway at DSST: Conservatory Green, a charter school in northeast Denver.
But by the time the school's morning assembly had wrapped up, it was clear that Agbalokwu wouldn't be finishing out the day. Seventh-grade teacher Marissa Kast rushed to get her car, as Principal Natalie Lewis and Dean Chris Earls helped Agbalokwu down the stairs and out of the building.
If you work at a news organization or a nonprofit and would like to partner with Patch, contact Patch's Manager of News and Content Partnerships, Colin Miner, at Colin.Miner@Patch.com
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
