The best of the week’s news by Lindsay Beyerstein
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Anthony Chammond, Creative Commons.
The Best of the Week’s News
The Sidney Hillman Foundation is proud to announce that Bryan Stevenson will be the recipient of the inaugural George Barrett Award. This prize goes to an attorney whose work exemplifies the public spirit of the crusading Nashville civil rights attorney George “Citizen” Barrett.
Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to fighting poverty and challenging racial discrimination in the criminal justice system. Based in Alabama, the EJI fights against wrongful convictions, executions, and excessive sentences. Stevenson is the author of the bestselling book, Just Mercy, a memoir about his work as a public interest lawyer. His 2012 TED Talk, “We Need to Talk About Injustice,” has been viewed over 2 million times.
John Marino, Creative Commons.
The Best of the Week’s News
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire broke out 114 years ago today, on March 25, 1911. One hundred and forty-six garment workers, mostly immigrant women, died in the blaze. The fire became a catalyst for the nascent labor movement.
Today, Workers United/SEIU, the New York City Fire Department, and city school children, mark the anniversary at the official commemoration ceremony at the cite of the fire.
11:30am-1:00pm, at Washington Place & Greene Street.
Gravity knives, illustration: Knifeworkchey.blogspot.com.
The Best of the Week’s News
Albertogp, Creative Commons.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution won a 2012 Hillman Prize for exposing a massive teacher cheating ring in Atlanta’s schools. The scam has been called the largest academic fraud in U.S. history.
Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of 12 teachers accused of changing answers on standardized test papers to give their students higher scores. Twenty-one of the original 35 defendents struck plea bargains, and 2 others have died.
Left to right: Judge Jim Stanford, and Canadian Hillman Prize winners Emily Mathieu, Randy Risling, and Michael Cooke of the Toronto Star; photo by Katherine Palmateer.
The fifth annual Canadian Hillman Prize ceremony was a night to remember. See all our photos from Thursday night’s event at the Drake Hotel in Toronto.
These awards honor excellence in socially conscious Canadian journalism, with a special emphasis on reporting that brings about change for the common good.
Kainaz Amaria, NPR.
Daniel Zwerdling of National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” wins the March Sidney Award for “Injured Nurses,” a four-part series that reveals the shockingly high rate of crippling back injuries among nurses in the face of widespread indifference by hospitals.
Nurses, nursing assistants, and orderlies suffer more disabling back injuries on the job than any other class of workers, including police officers and construction workers. Over 35,000 nursing staffers hurt their backs badly enough to miss work every year, with many sustaining permanent, disabling injuries.
Read about the making of “Injured Nurses,” in our Backstory interview.
Mediageek, Creative Commons.
The Best of the Week’s News
Photo credit: Ian Martin, Creative Commons.]
The Sidney Hillman Foundation announced the winners of the 2015 Canadian Hillman Prize, Wednesday. The 2015 Canadian Hillman goes to Kevin Donovan, Jesse Brown, Jayme Poisson, Emily Mathieu, and Randy Risling for “Sexual Assault and Harassment in Canada — from Jian Ghomeshi to College Campuses,” which appeared in the Toronto Star. This coverage exposed Canadian media superstar Ghomeshi as a serial abuser of women and delved into the pervasive problem of sexual violence on university campuses.
An honorable mention goes to Kevin Rollason of the Winnipeg Free Press for telling the story of Brian Sinclair, an aboriginal man who died of a treatable infection in a hospital emergency room because the staff ignored him for hours.
An second honorable mention goes to Kathy Tomlinson and Raj Ahluwalia of CBC News “The National” for exposing employer abuses of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program.
Learn more about all the Canadian Hillman honorees and their outstanding work.
