News21 is a part of the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation’s Initiative on the Future of Journalism. Background on the News21 element is available on the Carnegie site. >>>>Bios in brief: Meet the 2009 fellows<<<< Here is an excerpt from the Carnegie report, Journalism’s Crisis in [...]
Medill reporters wrap up fall News21 stories as Obama picks green leaders
December 15, 2008 – 10:07 am
President-elect Barack Obama selected Nobel laureate Steven Chu to direct the Energy Department today as Medill News21 reporters wrap up their fall coverage. Chu, a physicist who heads the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, supports alternative energy fuels and research as a critical response to global warming. He faces a daunting job. National security risks from [...]
Wrapping Up News 21′s Immigration Coverage
November 30, 2008 – 7:56 pm
News 21′s immigration coverage ends this week, after 6 months of ICE raids and tight electoral races. Within the dual themes of “New Voters” and “Old Fears,” we tracked the increasing power and rising visibility of immigrant voters, along with the backlash against them in places as far-flung as Hazleton, Pa. and Farmers Branch, Tex. [...]
Quick Hit: Could You Pass a Citizenship Test?
November 30, 2008 – 3:25 pm
The U.S. Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services unveiled a revised civic portion of its citizenship test in October.The test is unchanged in format– it consists of 10 questions drawn from a pool of 100, and you have to answer six correctly– but it purports to focus more on the principles of our government rather [...]
Economic Crisis Puts a Strain on Immigrants
November 30, 2008 – 3:12 pm
El Salvador will be especially hard-hit by the economic crisis in the United States. (Miami Herald video) A series of stories in the Miami Herald has been following the effect the economic crisis is having on immigrants. Immigrants, especially those working in construction or service jobs, have been hard hit, and the impact is apparent [...]
E.U. Seeks Pact with Africa to Limit Immigration
November 29, 2008 – 6:15 pm
African immigrants captured off the coast of the Canary Islands last month were detained in Spain. (AP Photo) Like illegal Latin American immigrants in the United States, illegal African immigrants have caused contraversy in Europe. Recently, the European Union’s member states agreed on a pact that would curb illegal immigration, limit unskilled immigrants and refugees, [...]
Virginia Officials Figure Out How to Live With Immigration
November 25, 2008 – 8:29 pm
Virginia, a once-conservative southern state that is becoming more and more suburban and diverse, has been the scene of several immigration skirmishes in recent years, as local authorities tried to stem the flow of illegal immigrants to the rapidly-growing state. Now, the Virginia Commission on Immigration has recommended a softer approach. More English classes, in-state [...]
U.S. Citizens’ Foreign Widows Denied Residency
November 25, 2008 – 7:18 pm
Both sides of the immigration debate have called for a reform of our legal immigration process, which can be Byzantine and choked with red tape, and which often seems unfair. Here’s an illustrative example. CBS News’ 60 Minutes took a look at the plight of immigrant widows, whose marriages to U.S. citizens were not vetted [...]
Slate Details Gov. Napolitano’s Links to ‘America’s Toughest Sheriff’
November 24, 2008 – 7:22 pm
The other day the News 21 blog looked at the future of the Department of Homeland Security, and I noted that President-elect Obama’s likely nominee to head it, Ariz. Gov. Janet Napolitano, is known in her home state as tough but moderate. Writing in Slate today, former Arizona Republic reporter Tom Zoellner suggests the tough [...]
