Shoree Pierce

For this analysis, I used the article titled 'EPA fails to warn families of lead contamination where smelters once stood'

The reporter that wrote this piece was able to link other stories relating to this topic, such as the link to USA Today's investigative report about the issue. The reporter also linked, or tagged, search words related to the article so that if you clicked on to them, you would be led to a list of articles that focus on the same search terms.

The reporter had to possess the computer skills of information gathering, as well as researching past research on current topics.

Source: www.nicar.org

Two black men from Nashville filed a class action lawsuit against ABC and the producers of the reality television show The Bachelor for purposeful discrimination against people of color, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Nathaniel Claybrooks and Christopher Johnson's suit, according to the Vancouver Sun, says ABC has never put a single person of color - whether African American, Hispanic or Asian - in the central role of The Bachelor or The Bachelorette.

Attorney representing Claybrooks and Johnson, Cyrus Mehri told Entertainment Weekly, "...[the producers of the show and ABC] are sending a message of exclusiveness - of denying people opportunity - and that has a negative effect on this country that we plan today to start to turn around."

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with Minnesota legislative leaders, including Mark Dayton, on Friday.

As reported by the Pioneer Press, Minnesota legislators were put in the hot seat after the visit from the commissioner, insisting that if a new Vikings' stadium was not approved this year, the team would have no other choices but to relocate.

"This is the time to get things done," Goodell said to the Star Tribune. "I've been here several times tone the stadium front over the years. In 2006, they moved forward with a stadium for the Twins and the Gophers. We were asked to move to the next year. And it's now 2012."

Friday, murder suspect Thomas James Fox faced a grand jury in court after being indicted with the fatal stabbing of Oakdale nanny, Lori Baker.

According to the Star Tribune, Fox brutally stabbed and killed Baker in her apartment as she tried to break up with him.

It is also reported key witnesses to the murder included inmates who served time with Fox, so disturbed by his demeanor, decided to help convict Fox.

Pioneer Press reports Fox was formally charged with first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree intentional murder committed in the course of aggravated robbery. Fox faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without possibility of release.

In what the LA Times calls a landmark ruling, a judge in North Carolina vacated the death penalty for a man convicted of murder due to prosecutors allegedly engaging in systematic racial discrimination.

The prosecutors deliberately struck black potential jurors in death penalty cases.

According to the NY Times, Friday Judge Gregory A. Weeks order the death sentence of the convicted to be changed to life in prison without parole, which is the first decision of its kind under the controversial Racial Justice Act of North Carolina, passed in 2009.

It is also reported Weeks said in a 167-page ruling the prosecutors "intentionally used the race of [jury pool] members as a significant factor in decisions to exercise peremptory strikes in capital cases."

Prosecutors plan to appeal the decision.

According to RTT News, a U.S. Geological survey said a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit Papua, Indonesia on Saturday.

It is also reported the quake hit nearly 29.8 kilometers beneath the ocean floor near the north coast of the Papua province.This earthquake closely follows a 6.1-magnitude struck off Indonesia's Sumatra Island, RTT News reports.

The Guardian reports that although the powerful earthquake hit and panicked residents to vacate buildings, homes, and schools, authorities said it did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami.

It is also reported that the area has suffered a few quakes exceeding 8.0 magnitude, and is prone to these natural disasters due their location along what is named the "ring of fire" on the Pacific Ocean.

According to the LA Times, Jada Pinkett Smith decided to recently address the public rumors about a separation from her long-time husband Will Smith in an interview with the magazine Gala, translated by People magazine.

"These rumors are completely untrue ... our lifestyle hasn't changed," Jada told the magazine, according to the LA Times. "Before we had the kids, we were already far away from each other quite often because of separate projects."

After a media frenzy, circling her marriage for months, Jada put a stop to the circus, according to People magazine, after she was quoted replying to a question of the couple living at separate estates, "That's ridiculous. We've always lived together."

Police have made an arrest in the case of a 22-year-old shot after assailants attempted to rob him of his bicycle.

Jody Patzner Jr. died after collapsing onto the sidewalk a few blocks from home after being gunned down, while he delivered food to a neighbor, according to PostBulletin.com.

The Pioneer Press reports Hezekiah Hamiliton, 24, was arrested in connection with the murder Wednesday, one block away from where police were called after the shooting according to a Minneapolis police spokesperson Sgt. Stephen McCarty.

The Pioneer Press also report that Hamilton is expected to be charged Friday.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A witness in a federal trial concerning nine people involved in sex trafficking tells jurors she was solicited for sex in apartments in Minneapolis.

As reported by ABC News, the young woman testified Monday that at 12-years-old, she was expected to sexually service gang members for free.

They also report she told jurors gang members used force to lead the 6th grader into sex trafficking between Nashville and Minneapolis.

According to the Associated Press via Star Tribune, the young woman is one of four unidentified Sdomali female victims listed in the originally, unsealed indictment in 2010. The majority indicted were of Somali descent, and were members or associates of three Somali gangs: the Somali Outlaws, the Somali Mafia, and the Lady Outlaws.

According to RT News, climatologists say the weather community is beginning to worry about the dry spell throughout the U.S. It is thought to be one of the worst droughts in recent years.

RT News also reports 48 of the 50 states in the U.S. are experiencing at least moderate drought conditions, and this experience could lead to catastrophe for the country's agricultural and economic businesses.

According to USA Today, this year's 61% of 48 states in the "abnormally dry" drought conditions is the highest percent of dry or drought conditions since September 2007.

USA Today reported the U.S. has not been this dry in five years and wildfires and brush fires have become common in recent weeks because of the dryness and windy conditions.